Watching Brian Herrien over the last several years at the University of Georgia, if one was to sum it his running style with one word, it would most likely be “punishing.” The senior tailback talked about just that during his interview on Monday.

“My running style, I kind of like to bruise, I kind of just want to hit the defense as much as I can so then as the game goes on, the defense is not going to want to come back making the same tackles,” said Herrien. “They’ll kind of get to the side, hesitate a little bit and at that point, I can just run by them.”

That physical running style gives Herrien the opportunity to be successful in short-yardage, down and distance plays, but it is more than just about brute force for Herrien.

“It’s just my attitude. Once I’m on the field, I like to think to myself I don’t think anybody can stop me. I just think that I outsmart people when it comes to situations like that,” said Herrien. “A lot of people like to wait and hesitate; so, I’m just going to go ahead and go in and go ahead and try to get those yards early and fast. I like to keep my feet moving because most people like to stop their feet and I know that if I keep mine moving and get low enough, I probably get those yards.”

And for Herrien, he says that those short-yardage situations, the tough yards are his favorite type runs.

“My favorite runs usually aren’t the longest runs,” said Herrien. “They are the hardest ones, like the tough ones that shouldn’t have been a gain, or should’ve been a loss and kind of get back to the line of scrimmage or a gain a couple of yards.”

Herrien and his fellow Georgia tailbacks have a name for those tough yards, “Dawg yards.”

“We call it Dawg Yards. If the offensive line opens a big hole and you run through it, that’s kind of like the offensive line’s part; but the Dawg Yards come from you when you get contact and you still break the tackle or you make somebody miss and after contact you get yards, that’s Dawg Yards,” said Herrien. We want the runs like that instead of the open hole. We want to work for a lot of them.”

In the 43-17 win over Tennessee, Herrien was Georgia’s leading rusher with 11 carries for 88 yards and a touchdown, averaging 8 yards per carry. On the season, the senior is second on the team with 251 yards and 4 touchdowns on 40 carries.

The next victim up fro Brian Herrien and Runnin Back U are the South Carolina Gamecocks, which Georgia hosts for a 12 Noon kickoff on Dooley Field at Sanford Stadium.