Todd Gurley never lost to Florida on the field during his Georgia football career.

The running back rushed for 118 yards and a touchdown in a 17-9 win in 2012 and ran for 100 yards and a touchdown and scored on 73-yard reception in a 23-20 victory in 2013.

It’s the game he was forced to sit out 10 years ago this week and that still doesn’t sit well with him these days.

“I ain’t going to lie,” Gurley told the Athens Banner-Herald. “I remember watching that Georgia-Florida game. I was like so, so mad. They had like 300 or 400 yards rushing against us. It was crazy. I knew if I was playing, we would have won.”

Florida rushed for 418 yards to be exact in a 38-20 win despite 156 rushing yards from Nick Chubb.

Gurley was serving a four-game NCAA suspension for taking more than $3,000 from memorabilia dealers for his autograph.

“It all comes back full circle,” Gurley said. “Got suspended for the name, image and likeness. Now look at me representing Bush’s Beans.”

Yes, Gurley has hooked up with Bush’s to pitch its new Hot Honey Grillin’ Beans

“The official beans of the SEC,” Gurley makes sure to mention.

Gurley’s last NFL season was in 2020 and he’s taken advantage by being a globetrotter and spending time with family in Tarboro, N.C. and Baltimore.

“It’s been good, man,” Gurley said.

His travels have included New Zealand and Australia for NFL flag football championships and to an NFL Academy in London. He’s also traveled to Thailand, Bali, South Korea, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Canada and the Caribbean.

“I’ve been ripping and running,” he said. “That’s always been a passion of mine. I just love seeing different cultures, meeting new people and opening up my mind. That’s the reason I do tweet that I’m grateful and thankful because I get to go to these different places and I love these countries. You see the stuff they have to go through and how they live and how easy that I got. I just got to play football for a living and make money and being able to travel the world. I try not to take that for granted.”

Gurley said he just had a baby girl named Amaya.

“So that’s been a blessing, a blessing to me, man,” he said. “Just making sure I’m taking care of myself health-wise, working out, just staying physically in shape and just living life, man.”

He is now retired after three Pro Bowl seasons during a six-year NFL career.

The No. 10 overall pick by the Rams in 2015 played five seasons with that club before playing with the Falcons in his last season in 2020. Knee issues cut short a career that included 6,082 rushing yards and 67 touchdowns, paired with another 2,254 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns.

He still makes his home in Los Angeles.

“I’m just a sports fan,” Gurley said. “I still live out here in L.A., so I’m still with two football teams, two basketball teams, two baseball, two hockey. This is like my favorite time of the year because I love Halloween.”

Gurley attended a Georgia-Florida game in Jacksonville since his retirement working with T-Mobile.

He’s gone to a few college football games this year including Georgia-Clemson in Atlanta.

That’s where freshman running back Nate Frazier paid his respects to Gurley by doing a bow after a touchdown like he did.

“It’s funny, man,” Gurley said. “I only did that one time. It’s not like a thing I did 40 times, you know what I mean. I literally did it my last game back.”

That was a 34-7 win over Auburn, his return game from the suspension that ended with a season-ending knee injury.

Gurley said he met Frazier last year at the South Carolina game in Athens.

“Respect to him,” Gurley said. “Appreciate him paying homage. Excited to see what he does at the University of Georgia.”

Gurley said he tells players today: “Go have fun. It’s football. Don’t take it too serious.

"I guess if they don’t like it now, they can go hop in the portal and go somewhere else which is kind of cool, too.”

Gurley played three Georgia seasons and is fourth on the all-time rushing list with 3,285 yards. His 109.5 yards per game from 2012-14 is second best in program history after Herschel Walker.

“I can’t believe it was 10 years ago, man,” Gurley said. “Time definitely goes by super fast.”

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Todd Gurley dishes on life after football, world travels, UGA suspension