Freshmen Todd Gurley, Keith Marshall rush No. 5 Georgia to front

• Todd Gurley and Keith Marshall have shared the carries for No. 5 Georgia
• The freshman pair has taken over because of Isaiah Crowell's dismissal
• They committed to Georgia together after knowing one another in high school

ATHENS, Ga. — A sign in the University of Georgia football complex boasts coach Mark Richt has sent 64 players to the NFL, which doesn't happen unless you've won enough tough recruiting battles to get them on campus in the first place. But what could turn out to be the most important recruiting score of Richt's career was surprisingly easy to pull off.

After a tumultuous offseason, Georgia is 5-0 and ranked No. 5 heading into Saturday's monster showdown at No. 6 South Carolina largely because of freshmen running backs Todd Gurley and Keith Marshall, who grew up 75 miles apart and now constitute the Southeastern Conference's top rushing attack one year after deciding they wanted to attend college together.

"We just clicked," said Gurley, a native of Tarboro, N.C., who currently leads the SEC in rushing at 107.2 yards a game. "We had most of the same schools recruiting us and we took our visits together, so we just get along and still get along. We're not selfish people, and we like to help each other out."

In the conventional paradigm of recruiting, it was an unusual decision. Most skill-position prospects in the top 50, where Gurley and Marshall were ranked by Rivals.com, expect to contribute right away. Coming to Georgia meant not only would they have to share snaps with each other but also with Isaiah Crowell, the SEC's freshman of the year in 2011.

At first, even Georgia's coaches weren't sure they could make that pitch.

"They sold us on it," Richt said Tuesday. "They weren't afraid to be on the same team, and they had a dream of one day sharing the load wherever they went."

That dream began when they met at a track meet in Myrtle Beach, S.C., two years ago and immediately bonded over their football futures.

"I didn't know anybody back home that was going through the same thing, so I started talking to him a lot," said Marshall, a Raleigh, N.C., native who committed first in December. "We each made decisions on our own, but we wanted to go to the same school."

For Georgia, it might turn out to be the difference in a run to the SEC title and beyond. Because when Crowell was dismissed in June after two felony weapons charges, it did more than create an opportunity in Georgia's backfield. Suddenly, the Bulldogs needed their freshmen to produce.

"You just didn't know what you were getting," senior wide receiver Tavarres King said. "You knew you had two of the best recruits in the nation, but this is the SEC, and it's a crazy game, so we weren't sure how that was going to pan out."

Concerns were alleviated quickly, and now the talk in Athens is just how much this tandem, which King nicknamed "Gurshall," can distinguish itself at a school whose running back tradition includes Herschel Walker, Garrison Hearst, Rodney Hampton, Terrell Davis and Knowshon Moreno.

The two are off to a good start. Gurley, long considered the lesser of the two prospects, has proved to be the kind of powerful, between-the-tackles runner every SEC team needs against the conference's tough defensive fronts.

Marshall, who broke a 75-yard touchdown run in last weekend's 51-44 victory against Tennessee, supplies outside speed.

Together they've already accounted for 964 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns, which puts them on pace to be one of the most productive duos in SEC history. They've already won the league's freshman of the week award four times. It will be even more impressive if they can sustain that pace in the coming weeks.

South Carolina has one of the nation's best rushing defenses, allowing 77.6 yards a game. Florida, the other big hurdle for Georgia to win the SEC East, is fourth in the league in total defense.

"For it to happen the way it's happened so far, I can't imagine them dreaming it up better," Richt said. "Some of it was our attrition, and some of it is the fact that they are very coachable, teachable and very serious about learning what to do. I think they are different in their styles, and it's effective."