Trevor Etienne was not the No. 1 running back at Florida. In both his seasons with the Gators, Etienne finished second on the team in rushing.

Now heading into his first season with the rival Bulldogs, Etienne is seen not just as a top option, but the No. 1 running back in the SEC.

Etienne joined Auburn running back Jarquez Hunter on the Preseason First Team All-SEC last week.

Safe to say expectations are very high for the Florida transfer.

“Being able to pick him up out of the portal, such a talented running back,” Georgia quarterback Carson Beck said of his new running back. “[He’s] someone that’s going to make a huge impact. Obviously we’ve only been able to see so much from him through the spring to the summer, learning the offense, but I think he brings a lot to the table for us and I’m super excited to see what he’s able to do.”

Etienne is one of nine transfer portal additions for Georgia this offseason. The running back is the favorite to easily be the most impactful, in large part because of what Georgia lost last coming off of the 2023 season. Kendall Milton and Daijun Edwards are both off to the NFL, creating a hole at the top of the depth chart.

That Georgia was able to land such a talented running back — he topped 700 rushing yards in each of his first two seasons at Florida — was a win for Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs. That it came at the expense of the rival Florida Gators made the transfer pickup all the sweeter.

“He’s special. He really is,” safety Malaki Starks said of Etienne. “Playing against him at Florida, you know what kind of athlete he is, what kind of guy he is. But having him in the locker room, having him on the team, it just brings something out of you that we didn’t have before.”

Starks got a long look at Etienne this spring, as the All-American defensive back was recovering from offseason shoulder surgery.

Etienne worked quickly to impress his new teammates, not just on the field but in the locker room as well. Etienne is the most experienced of Georgia’s running backs entering the season, as the Bulldogs also bring in three freshmen to pair with Branson Robinson and Roderick Robinson.

While Roderick Robinson is seen as the bruiser, Etienne — with his start-stop ability — is expected to be a home run threat for the Bulldogs. Georgia hasn’t had a 1,000-yard rusher since the 2019 season when D’Andre Swift last did so for the Bulldogs.

“It’s just another threat you add to the offense,” Starks said. “We’ve got a lot of threats on the offense and you just add him and you’re adding multiple threats you didn’t have before.”

There are still some questions about when Etienne will make his debut for the Bulldogs. Etienne had a traffic-related arrest in March and Smart declined to say whether or not Etienne — or any other Bulldog for that matter — will be suspended. Etienne’s case has been resolved in court.

“We don’t talk about the suspensions. We have them,” Smart said. “I think it’s pretty obvious that we’ve done them in the past. You guys know when we do them. Each of those cases is very different and they’ll be handled in different ways.”

The opener likely means a great deal for Etienne, as his brother, Travis, starred at Clemson before becoming a first-round pick for the Tigers. The game will be played on Aug. 31 in Atlanta. The game is set for a Noon kickoff on ABC.