NEW ORLEANS — It isn't just that University of Georgia running back Knowshon Moreno has a fluid overdrive allowing him to accelerate past defenders, that amazes his own teammates.

Nor is it that he can hurdle an opponent or drop a shoulder and run one over when the situation demands.

What has set Moreno apart since the first day he put on pads for the Bulldogs is what he does those times after someone — or, more likely a crowd — finally brings him down.

"He'll pop right back up as if it is nothing," said Bulldog center Fernando Velasco. "He's ready to go again. Amazing."

For this they call the 20-year-old redshirt freshman the "Energizer." It is said with equal parts awe and respect for the level of energy and tenacity Moreno brings to the game, be it a dog days of August two-a-day practice, or under the lights of a big game.

And it is why the 5-foot-11, 207-pounder will be the most dangerous player on the field for the Warriors to contend with when the University of Hawai'i meets the Bulldogs here in the Sugar Bowl Jan. 1.

The Bulldogs have a stable of able, veteran running backs, but it is Moreno who is emerging as the star and someone UH head coach June Jones compares to Barry Sanders.

"When we had Barry (at Detroit), we'd block everybody and leave one guy for Barry and he'd always make the guy miss," Jones said. "He (Moreno) is the same way."

Not only can't the Warriors allow Moreno, a first-team freshman All-American, to run wild like he did against Florida (196 yards) and Troy (188) in a season where he has averaged 106 yards per game, but they can't let him inspire a whole team as he has come to do.

For when Moreno runs ... and runs — he has carried as many as 33 times in a game — the Bulldogs feed off his intensity and drive.

"I look at him and I ask myself, 'How does he do that?' 'cause I know I'm tired and winded," Velasco said. "But he gives you that energy, that something extra."

Ask Moreno about it and his body language suggests that he is surprised everybody doesn't do it. Indeed, as a young high school player in New Jersey, where he became that state's all-time scoring leader with 43 touchdowns in 10 games as a senior, Moreno at first didn't understand why people considered him an oddity. To him it was natural.

"It is the only way I know how to play," he suggests.

When he got to Georgia, which won out in recruiting over Florida and Virginia Tech, among others, the veterans had heard his story. They were skeptical.

"I figured we'll see what he's about when we put on the pads," Velasco said.

In one of the first scrimmages head coach Mark Richt can recall, "there was a time in the spring when he ran a play off to the right with a cornerback isolated on him. The defender was in a pretty good football position, but Knowshon was just able to hurdle right over him."

But even before he took their breath away and earned comparisons with Sanders and his own hero, Walter Payton, Moreno earned the Bulldogs' respect when they found that he had no idle. That he took no shortcuts. Knock him down, he bounces right back up. Level him with a hit and he pops up seemingly fresh. It can be, "maddening" for opponent, offensive tackle Chester Adams said. "Other teams just look at him like, 'What is this guy doing?' But that's who he is. You hit him harder and he gets back up quicker the next time."

Sometimes, teammates say, opponents think Moreno is trying to show them up. Rather, they point out, he is just being himself.

"In the offseason, in practice, he always goes all-out," Adams said. "That's who he is."

Offensive coordinator Mike Bobo found the quality so refreshing that he said he counseled Moreno not to lose it. "I've told him to remember what got you here — and he has."

The Warriors, too, know not only what, but who, has helped get the Bulldogs here. And, who they can't let beat them.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.

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