Kirby Smart reveals how Kenny McIntosh has improved, next steps

UGA running back Kenny McIntosh has been turning heads at fall camp as he enters his senior season for the Bulldogs, and head coach Kirby Smart detailed the areas of his game he’s improved and what’s impressed him out of McIntosh’s recent practice performance.

“Well his work ethic, he’s always been a worker but he was in the shadows of the other guys and now he steps up, he leads, he pushes guys, he’s got better stamina. There were times when he’d get tired in practice in the past, he might be gassed and taking reps but now he’s the fresh guy. He’ll go cover a punt, he can run routes out of the backfield, he’s elusive,” Smart said.

McIntosh has been the third leading rusher for the Bulldogs the past two seasons, playing behind recent draft picks Zamir White and James Cook. But he also made the most of his touches, racking up over 700 all-purpose yards last season between rushing, receiving, and returning along with five touchdowns. And with White and Cook now gone, it will be on McIntosh and Kendall Milton to take on the majority of the touches for the Bulldogs this season.

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“He has to work really hard on his weight, to maintain his weight and I think it’s really important he can stay about that 205, 210 mark for bulk and protecting himself. But he’s had the best camp he’s ever had by far in terms of no mental lapses, picking up pressures, he’s done a tremendous job,” Smart said.

The UGA rushing attack has been a staple of the program for years, and McIntosh approaching his peak form as the season approaches is a great sign for the Bulldogs moving forward.

Kirby Smart reveals next step for freshman, new starters following fall camp

UGA‘s 2022 team will look very different than their national championship squad from last season, as they had a record 15 players selected in the NFL draft this year. Because of that, the Bulldogs will have to rely on more of their younger talent this season, and head coach Kirby Smart spoke on how many of his underclassmen he expects to contribute this season. 

“It all depends on injuries during the year, as it is now, I don’t know what you define as young if you just mean the freshman class, probably half of them will have to play a role; whether that’s special teams or a backup or a substitution role when they go in and play, some of them may start. But if you talk about young players, like guys that didn’t play last year, they’re going to play more this year. There’s certainly even a larger number and you get up into 45, 50 percent of our roster would be freshman and sophomores playing, that actually have to go play,” Smart said. 

Smart also talked about how he and his coaching staff are prepping their younger players who may be less experienced.

“So anytime you have that you’re susceptible to lack of experience mistakes, anxiety mistakes, composure mistakes; so we try to create situations in practice to make them want to do right as much as they can and feel like they’re in a game. So that when they’re in a game, they can just relax and go play. But there’s a lot of those guys that are going to help us, I think more and more we’re finding every year there’s more freshman that have to play and contribute,” Smart said.