MOULTRIE – Two of the most outstanding rushing games ever by a Packer running back came in the 1984 and 1985 seasons.

One was a 222-yard, three-touchdown effort against Dougherty on Nov. 9, 1984 at Mack Tharpe Stadium.

The other, on Sept. 27, 1985, was 245-yard, three-touchdown performance against Tift County in Tifton.

The author of those two performances was T.J. Edwards, who rushed for 2,505 yards and 6.5 yards an attempt during his junior and senior seasons at Colquitt County High.

Edwards went on to play a season at Duke, then finished at Georgia Tech, where he played on the 1990 national championship team and still holds the school record for most kickoff returns in a season, kickoff return yardage in a season and kickoff yards in a game.

His quick feet and great vision have led Edwards to selection to the Colquitt County Sports Hall of Fame. He will join the other 13 members of the 2004 class at the annual induction banquet to be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 14, at the Colquitt County High cafeteria.

Tickets to the banquet are $15 and are available at Modern Cleaners and at the Moultrie-Colquitt County Chamber of Commerce.

The banquet speaker will be Edwards’ former Colquitt County High football teammate Muzzy Jackson, now the assistant general manager for the Kansas City Royals.

Edwards is the older brother of Antonio Edwards, who was selected to the Hall of Fame in 2002.

“T.J. had great, great running back skills,” said his high school coach Jim Hughes, also a Colquitt County Hall of Fame member.

“He had great feet, great vision. And he was tough son of a gun.”

Edwards was a sophomore on Hughes first Colquitt County team, but was injured early in the season and played little.

In 1984, he and Nate Lewis, Darrell Funderburk, Stacy Middlebrooks, John McCranie, Horace Robinson, Johnell Walker, Roger Miller and Rodger Hall and others helped bring the Packers back to region prominence by posting a 9-2-1 record and a berth in the region championship game.

The 1984 season started with both Edwards and Lewis, who will join his former teammate in being inducted into the Hall of Fame this year, in the Packers backfield. Lewis was moved to receiver, where he went on to an outstanding college and professional career.

“It was T.J.’s development as a running back that allowed us to move Nate to wide receiver,” Hughes said. “T.J. was clearly the better running back. Nate was clearly the better receiver. And then Darrell became more and more comfortable running the offense.”

Edwards finished the season with 1,098 yards and 12 touchdowns. In addition to the big night at home against Dougherty, he had 104 yards against Appling County, 123 against Bainbridge, 138 against Monroe and 163 against Westover. In the region championship game loss to Valdosta, the Packers only score came on a 53-yard pass from Funderburk to Edwards.

Edwards may have been even more exciting as a senior, rushing for 1,416 yards, an average of 6.5 yards a carry, and 10 touchdowns. He also scored on a punt return.

His 1,317 yards during the regular season fell just 59 yards short of the region record set in 1976 by Central of Thomasville’s Terry White.

Colquitt opened the 1985 season with a loss to Lowndes, despite 121 yards from Edwards. The following week, he outdueled future Florida State and San Francisco 49ers star Dexter Carter by rushing for 189 yards and two touchdowns in a 32-20 victory over Appling County.

The following week, Edwards ran wild against the Blue Devils with 245 yards and touchdown runs of 18, 44 and 76 yards.

Against Bainbridge, Edwards scored from 2 yards out with 49 seconds remaining to help give the Packers a 22-17 victory over the Bearcats.

Two weeks later, Edwards rushed for 125 yards and caught a 35-yard touchdown pass from James Lee as the Packers beat Valdosta 21-14 at Cleveland Field. The next week, Edwards had 157 yards against Westover, scoring on 60-yard run and a 63-yard punt return.

The Packers won their second straight subregion title two weeks later in a 14-6 victory over Dougherty in which Edwards had 112 yards rushing.

He finished the Packers career with 13 games in which he rushed for more than 100 yards. He also returned 26 kickoffs for a 23.7-yard average; returned nine punts for 88 yards and a touchdowns; ran for 22 touchdowns; caught passes for three more and added four two-point conversions.

Edwards was named All-State and was listed by the Atlanta-Journal Constitution as one of the state’s top 30 prospects. He also was named to the Orlando Sentinel’s All-South team and was selected for the North-South All-Star game.

“I have a lot of admiration for him,” Hughes said. “What a weapon he was at running back.”

But he was more than just a fine football player.

“The other thing about T.J. was that he was one of the most intensely competitive people I’ve ever encountered, even in the classroom,” Hughes said. “He went to the classroom every day determined to excel. I always admired his determination to improve himself.”

Edwards played his freshman season at Duke, but then transferred to Georgia Tech. He played in 26 games for the Yellow Jackets from 1988-1990, rushing for 612 yards on 149 carries and scoring 10 touchdowns. He also caught 19 passes for another 197 yards and two more scores.

But he wrote his name indelibly in the Georgia Tech record book in 1989 when he returned 35 kickoffs for 831 yards, still school records. He ranks fifth all-time in kickoff returns at Georgia Tech.

In the game against Duke in 1989, he had 184 yards in kickoff returns, including a 74-yarder.

Edwards’ college career was beset by injuries. He earned the starting tailback job his senior season, but ankle and hamstring injuries limited his ability to perform.

Still, the Yellow Jackets went 11-0-1 in 1990, beat Nebraska in the 45-21 in the Citrus Bowl and were declared national champions in the UPI poll.

The Associated Press poll gave the title to once-beaten, once-tied Colorado.

“When he left Tech, the coaches had nothing but good things to say about him,” Hughes said.