Saturday, June 11, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

JOE HAWK: Georgia rookie Bergeron, AFL's youngest player, catches on quickly

Troy Bergeron, Georgia's 21-year-old rookie, has helped the Force reach Sunday's ArenaBowl. Photo by Clint Karlsen.

Troy Bergeron had an idea the day would come. Heck, things had been going so well -- three receiving touchdowns in each of his first five games, then four in his sixth -- that the Arena Football League's youngest player, at all of 21 years and four months, figured his day of comeuppance couldn't be too far off.

What surprised him was that it didn't come at the aggressive hands of an opposing defense.

Rather, it came at the playful hands of his Georgia Force teammates.

Well on his way to the league's Rookie of the Year award, Bergeron was teasingly brought down a notch after practice one day when a few of the Force's veteran players wrapped him in trainer's tape and threw him in the showers for a good drenching.

Up until then, there hadn't been many things Georgia's offensive specialist couldn't extricate himself from. This, however, was one.

"Some of the other rookies, they helped get me out," Bergeron said Friday.

Appropriately, it has been Bergeron who has helped the Force, in just its fourth season, get out from the long shadow cast by more established American Conference teams and reach Sunday's ArenaBowl against the Colorado Crush at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Bergeron caught 105 passes during the regular season for an AFL rookie-record 1,372 yards. He finished with 31 touchdowns, second on the team to the 33 of fellow rookie Derek Lee. With their combined 64 scores, Lee and Bergeron were the top receiving touchdown tandem in the league.

Then in Georgia's playoff victories over Tampa Bay and Orlando, Bergeron added 17 receptions for 167 yards and five more scores.

Not bad for a guy with limited football experience.

Sure, Bergeron was a standout receiver for Shaw High School in Columbus, Ga., back in 2002. He was even given a full-ride scholarship to Auburn.

But this 6-foot-2-inch, 180-pound speed burner saw his career path take a different route when the Tigers told him they wanted him to play defensive back, not receiver. Bergeron transferred to Middle Tennessee but remained there only one semester of his redshirt year after his fiancee, Sharee, gave birth to the couple's son, Cameron.

Bergeron returned to Columbus to be with his family and planned to attend Troy State. However, Middle Tennessee wouldn't release him from his scholarship.

So instead of playing college football, Bergeron spent 2003 working at a supermarket and a factory before trying out with the now-defunct Columbus Wardogs of af2 last year.

His success was immediate and profound: 1,220 yards and 26 TDs.

That resulted in a phone call this past winter from Georgia coach Doug Plank and an offer to try out with the indoor game's big boys.

Soft spoken and unassuming to a fault, Bergeron -- who turns 22 on Dec. 3 -- credits his teammates with making him a better player and a better person. That latter development, specifically, he says, is a result of his friendship with former San Diego State standout Ricky Parker, the Force's defensive specialist.

"I get it every day, especially from Ricky," Bergeron said. "Every time he sees me, he has something to say."

Parker chuckles at the mention.

He terms Bergeron as "like my little brother, so I'm just doggin' him out." But it's clear he holds affection -- and appreciation -- for his young teammate.

"He's bright, a bright kid. Very talented," Parker explains. "He's just got so many things going for him, how he plays the game and how much he wants to listen and learn. This was just his first year, so he's still got some things to pick up to get better.

"That's what I tell him. `Work hard, work hard every day on the little things. That's what will set you apart from everybody else.' "

Not that Bergeron isn't already separating himself from much of the AFL field.

He admits to having learned a valuable lesson in Georgia's second game, when he mishandled a ball off the net on a third-quarter kickoff, which resulted in a fumble, a Los Angeles Avengers' score and led to a loss. What he learned was that he had to bounce right back, which he did with big plays over the team's next four games -- all victories -- as Georgia went on to a 13-5 record entering Sunday's noon kickoff against Colorado (12-6).

"I didn't know what to expect when I got here," Bergeron says of the AFL. "This has been a huge learning experience, but I've been lucky to have teammates who care about me and coaches who are teaching me to get better.

"Considering how I got here, that's all I can really ask for."

That, and maybe an AFL championship ring.

Joe Hawk's column is published Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. He can be reached at 387-2912 or jhawk@reviewjournal.com.