ATHENS — It’s understandably hard to evaluate your running back room when you’re down 28-0 four possessions into the game. Carson Beck ended up throwing the ball 50 times on Saturday, largely due to the fact that Georgia spent much of the game trailing.
Trevor Etienne once again led Georgia in rushing, totaling 55 yards and a touchdown on his 12 carries.
The running back situation behind Etienne though has elicited a lot of chatter.
Freshman running back Nate Frazier — who led Georgia in rushing against Clemson — did not play in the loss.
“Nate’s doing a great job. He’s improving week to week,” Smart said on Monday. “He takes a lot of pride in his performance. He’s a hard, hard worker. He’s very conscientious about it.It’s very clear to see the type game it became after three series or four series. That wasn’t going to be a patient, methodical game that might fit Nate more than what it turned into.”
Senior Cash Jones meanwhile, saw the second most snaps of any running back.
Part of that is because of Jones’ skillset. He’s the platonic ideal of a third-down running back, excelling as a pass catcher while also being Georgia’s best pass blocker.
He played 27 snaps against Alabama. Smart thought it could’ve been even more.
“It was his kind of game,” Smart said. “He’s really good at pass pro. He’s really physical at pass pro. He’s really good at route running. He understands leverages. He’s been in our system a long time. Plays great on special teams. He’s earned everything he’s gotten.”
Smart added he would’ve liked to have gotten Branson Robinson more work against Alabama, with the redshirt sophomore finishing with only 2 carries. As for Roderick Robinson, Smart still doesn’t have a timeline as for when he might return from a toe injury that has kept him out of every game this season.
Through four games, Etienne is Georgia’s clear lead running back. He’s the only Bulldog to have double-digit carries in either of Georgia’s SEC games.
Jones is a steadying force in the running back room who brings a needed skillset. Especially if the Bulldogs are going to have to throw themselves back into games with how slow they’ve started of late. Georgia has just one offensive touchdown in its three first-half games against Power 4 opponents.
“It’s something that we really want to do, and we haven’t done a very good job at it,” Jones said of the slow starts. “I know Carson (Beck) and Coach (Mike) Bobo, they’re very smart people. They’re going to put us in the best situation possible to win. So we’ve just got to execute and we just have little minor things, communication and stuff like that that we’ve messed up on, and I feel like that affects us in certain ways.”
As for Frazier, he’s an enigma at this point. His participation has dropped in each game, as he did not play a single snap in the loss against Alabama.
Again, some of that can be chalked up to the game flow. And for as talented as Frazier has shown he is, he’s still just a freshman.
“My freshman year coming into this game it was not easy, but he’s done a great job,” Jones said of Frazier. “He’s crazy fast. His feet are insane, but he’s doing a great job and we’re just trying to find ways to be able to put him on the field and use his speed and his quickness.”
