Georgia Running Back Room: An Offseason Revamp Success Story

Georgia football's running back room proved to be an offseason revamp success story after Saturday's performance during GDay.

The Georgia football program wrapped up its annual GDay spring game this past weekend, and fans were able to come away from it with a lot of positives. One of the biggest was how talented and deep the running back room looked. The Bulldogs made some needed additions to the position this offseason, and it has the running back room looking completely different than it did just last season.

At the start of the 2023 college football season, the reigning back-to-back national champion Georgia Bulldogs were poised to make a run at a third straight. Head coach Kirby Smart had compiled yet another roster that fit the mold of what national title winners look like in today's age of the sport. However, if there were a position that looked a little out of place, it was the running back room.

Leading into the new season last year, Georgia was battling the injury bug at running back. Sophomore Branson Robinson suffered a season-ending injury before the season even started, Kendall Milton was dealing with a hamstring and Daijun Edwards was battling a leg injury as well. That left the Bulldogs will Cash Jones, Andrew Paul, who was fresh off recovery from an ACL tear and true freshman Roderick Robinson to start the year. Still plenty of talent to work with but not the running back room Georgia fans are used to boasting every year. So much so that wide receiver Dillon Bell took in-game reps at

Luckily enough for Georgia, veterans Milton and Edwards remained healthy throughout the year and were able to carry the load for their team one last time before entering the 2024 NFL draft. Once the season was over though, Georgia was in need of more options. So in typical, Coach Smart fashion, he and his staff attacked the recruiting trail.

One of the eight transfers Georgia brought in this offseason was former Florida running back Trevor Etienne. A player who had stacked up two years of SEC experience and could become an immediate contributor on Georgia's offense - which is exactly what he showcased on Saturday during the scrimmage.

The Bulldogs also signed three running backs from the 2024 recruiting class: Chauncey Bowens, Dwight Phillips and Nate Frazier. So within just a couple of months, Georgia went from having two healthy scholarship running backs returning for another season, to three multi-year scholarship running backs, three true freshmen and B. Robinson fighting his way back from injury.

Since Saturday's scrimmage, Paul decided to enter his name into the spring transfer portal window after a strong spring scrimmage showing, but the Bulldogs remain in a good position. B. Robinson appears to be on track to be good to go near the beginning of the 2024 season and both R. Robinson and Etienne looked the part of a solid 1-2 punch in the SEC.

It also shouldn't go without mentioning that Georgia managed to revamp the position in the midst of searching for a new running backs coach this offseason. Former coach Dell McGee took the head coaching gig at Georgia State which then led Georgia to hire Georgia Tech's running backs coach Josh Crawford.

Things look a little different than they did this time last year for Georgia's running back room, but they are in a much better place than they were a season ago, and all it took was a couple of months for Coach Smart and his staff to get things back to the Georgia standard for a running back room.

Other Georgia News:

• Georgia Spring Practice Comes to an End - What We've Learned
• Malaki Starks Shares how Kirby Smart has Helped his Development
• Why Fans Should Expect a Heavy Dose of Gunner Stockton and Carson Beck on G-Day

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