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Kenny McIntosh Georgia football running back

Georgia was already asking senior running back Kenny McIntosh to do a lot. Be the team’s best pass-catching running back, help pick up the load left by Zamir White and James Cook, return kicks and emerge as a vocal leader on the offensive side of the ball.

Now, following a season-ending injury to Andrew Paul and a nagging hamstring injury to Kendall Milton, they’ll be asking even more of McIntosh.

Related: What Georgia tailback injuries could mean to Bulldogs’ offense, rotation

Fortunately for the Bulldogs, McIntosh is turning in not just the best fall camp of his Georgia career but one of the better efforts of anyone on the team this fall.

“He was in the shadows of those other guys and now, he steps up and he leads. He pushes guys. He’s got better stamina,” Kirby Smart said. “He has had the best camp he has ever had by far in terms of no mental lapses and picking up pressures. He has done a tremendous job.”

McIntosh has always been overshadowed, dating back to his youth when he followed behind his two older brothers who went on to play at Notre Dame and Washington State. When Georgia signed McIntosh as a member of the 2019 recruiting cycle, his commitment only came after another running back, John Emery Jr., de-committed.

Each year at Georgia McIntosh has upped his rushing and receiving totals. Last season he finished with 330 rushing yards and 242 receiving yards. He also memorably threw a touchdown pass in Georgia’s Orange Bowl win over Michigan.

He probably would’ve filled the Gatorade cooler too if you asked him to.

With White and Cook off to the NFL, McIntosh was always going to inherit a bigger role in this offense. Knowing that bigger role was coming, McIntosh worked this offseason to improve his strength and conditioning. Smart wants his weight to remain in the 205 to 210 range so that he can better handle the rigors of being a lead running back in the SEC.

“He can do everything,” Georgia running backs coach Dell McGee said. “He can run inside tackles, he can run outside tackles, he’s really good on the perimeter. He has really, really good hands. Probably some of the best hands since D’Andre (Swift). He’s good at running routes, he’s a blitz pickup on third down, so he’s definitely a complete back.”

The Swift comparison is an interesting one from McGee. In 2018, Swift split the workload with Elijah Holyfield. That proved to help both running backs, as each topped 1,000 rushing yards. Swift was the more explosive of the two running backs, while Holyfield was often tasked with fighting for the harder yards.

It’s easy to see McIntosh in the former role. Whether or not he has as much wiggle as Swift is inconsquencle given all the work McIntosh has put in this offseason. It’s clear Georgia has big plans for him this season.

It’s just that the injuries in August might have made those plans a tad bit bigger.

“All of his hard work and his patience will come and pay off this year, but I think the sky is the limit for him,” McGee said. “He’s definitely going to be an integral part of our offense and he will be relied upon heavily.”

Milton has been held out of both scrimmages with a hamstring injury. No one would deny Milton’s talent, but availability continues to be a question for the junior running back. He’s missed time in each of the past two seasons with MCL injuries.

Paul seemed to be ahead of freshman Branson Robinson to this point, but the former’s ACL injury changes that. Daijun Edwards will be counted upon this fall, but with all the injuries he too seems to be inline for a much bigger role for Georgia.

“I think, through practice, you build days up and stack days, you build confidence, and the coaches try to find roles for those guys,” McGee said. “Everything that we do and make decisions about all come from how you do at practice and execute those assignments.”

Whoever ends up emergining as the second running back though seems to at this point be in support of McIntosh as opposed to being an equal in the way White and Cook or even Swift and Holyfield were.

Georgia will be careful too put to much on McIntosh’s plate this fall. Consider what happened to Swift in the 2019 season. After having just 163 carries in the 2018 season, that number jumped to 193 through the first 12 games of the 2019 season. Swift was slowed late in the year by injuries and had just three carries in Georgia’s final two games, one of which was a 37-10 drubbing at the hands of LSU.

The Bulldogs are now a program that must be more concerned about where they are at the end of the season rather than the beginning. One only has to look at Alabama last year to see the importance of having healthy skill players in December and January.

With two running backs already injured — Paul is out for the season — it is paramount that Georgia is able to strike the right balance between getting the most out of McIntosh, while not overdoing it to where he is worn down at the end of the season.

It’s another big ask of McIntosh this fall. But if his fall camp, and really his Georgia career to this point, is any indication he is more than up to the task.

“He’s learned a lot from James and Zamir,” McGee said. “He’s also a good example of, just like James and Zamir were, of staying the course, not being too anxious to enter the NFL or enter the transfer portal, just being patient.”

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