Position Preview: The long tradition of RBU continues

Departures

There’s absolutely no denying the losses of D’Andre Swift and Brian Herrien at the end of last season is going to hurt. Both waited their turn behind the two-headed monster attack of Nick Chubb and Sony Michel. Now it’s time for the next generation of UGA running backs to step up.

Since last year Prather Hudson and Darius Jackson both moved over from RB to DB. While there are no seniors, the stables aren’t exactly empty with a total of 9 Running Backs currently listed on the roster. Two Juniors, Two Redshirt Sophomores, One Sophomore, One Redshirt Freshman and 3 true Freshman who may or may not redshirt this year.

Returning Starts

There’s no real surprise in the returning stars at Running Back. The general consensus seems to be our depth chart will start with:

1. Zamir White (R.S)

2. James Cook (Jr)

3. Kenny McIntosh (S)

Just two days ago Coach Dell McGee talked about Zamir & James as providing a lot of leadership & experience in the room and complementing each other. They’ve picked up what they learned from Swift & Holyfield and they’re now taking that role on for the younger guys. He was also clear nothings been decided yet in terms of where all the guys will fit. He expects a balanced offense under new Offensive Coordinator Todd Monken.

Beyond our returning stars, we return 3 other RB’s on the roster:

Sevaugn Clark (R. F) – He had limited action last year against Murray State & Arkansas State. Clark played QB as a senior completing 74 passes for 936 yards and 9 touchdowns and also rushing 156 times for 857 yards and 15 touchdowns. He also lettered in Track.

Garret Jones (R. S)

KJ McCoy (Jr) – KJ spent a year at East Georgia State before transferring to Georgia. He participated in Spring Drills in 2019. His Senior year at Swainsboro, he rushed for 712 yards on 115 carries and 8 touchdowns.

New Recruits

Kendall Milton is a 5 star recruit out of Clovis, CA. He’s 6’ 2” and 220 lbs. Georgia beat out Alabama, LSU and Ohio State among others in signing him. Kendall was selected for the 2020 All-American Bowl. He’s the nephew of former NFL linebacker Kevin Hardy. When Kendall committed in July of 2019, our own Macondawg described him as a back who runs through contact, has excellent lower body strength & balance with extremely quick feet for his size. He runs a little more upright than you’d prefer but he has great vision and the patience to let plays develop. Six months later, he compared Milton to the typical Georgia RB type – biggish backs with great vision and better than expected quickness.

Daijun Edwards is a 4 star recruit out of Moultrie, GA. He’s 5’ 10” and 201 lbs. He was rated the #9 RB nationally by Rivals. He rushed for 4,413 career yards on 715 carries in 55 games. He was on the All-State Class 7A first team offense. Mr. Sanchez wrote our review when Edwards committed and said he has some nice hands, a little power, speed and shifty hips. Coach McGee talked about Edwards as having played in the toughest division in Georgia and being very productive with a hard-nosed mentality and having speed & burst for those explosive plays.

Kurt Knisely, joined the Bulldogs as a preferred walk-on out of Athens Academy Watkinsville, GA. He’s 6 ft even and 200 lbs. His Hudl profile listed a 4.53 40-yard dash time, bench weight of 320 and squats of 455. As a Senior he had 13 carries for 147 yards in 3 games. As a Junior he only played in 1 game where he had 3 carries for 7 yards. I expect we’ll see Mr. Knisely more on the scout team than on the field.

Given the full stables, I imagine we’ll see one or more of the freshmen redshirting this year. I’m not sure Kendall Milton will be that guy. He’s listed as one of the top 4 running backs on our roster so an injury to any of the top 3 could press him into service.

Coaching Staff

Running Backs Coach Dell McGee returns for his 5^th season with the Bulldogs this year. In his four years with the Bulldogs he’s coached Nick Chubb (Cleveland Browns), Sony Michel (Patriots), D’Andre Swift (Detroit Lions), Elijah Holyfield (Philadelphia Eagles) and Brian Herrien. He’s also been named the 2018 National Recruiter of the Year along the way. I think it’s fairly safe to say the current group of Running Backs will be well coached.

New to the team this year are Offensive Coordinator Todd Monken and Offensive Line Coach Matt Luke. Both have been covered extensively here at Dawg Sports so I won’t add anything new here.

Summary

White & Cook each played in 13 games last year rushing for 408 & 188 yards respectively. White had 3 touchdowns to Cooks 2 last year. They are clearly the #1 & #2 backs. McIntosh was breathing down their necks playing in 12 games rushing for 174 yards and 2 touchdowns. The question now is how much does Kendall Milton factor in and can he overtake any one of those 3 in the depth chart. It’s an exciting time to be playing Running Back at Georgia. There’s a great group of guys in the stable. We are truly, truly blessed.

That’s all for now......y’all play pretty and......

GO DAWGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BEAT COVID!!!!!!!!!