Zamir White impresses in first half of preseason matchup vs. 49ers

The Las Vegas Raiders got a look at their backfield without Josh Jacobs on Sunday afternoon in their preseason matchup against the San Francisco 49ers. And if Jacobs holds out for some time during the 2023 campaign, former Georgia Bulldogs‘ star Zamir White could be in line to see plenty of work. White certainly looked impressive on Sunday against the 49ers, rushing for 43 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries in the first half.

Zamir White has moved up to the top of the Raiders’ depth chart at running back since Jacobs’ contract standoff has continued into fall camp. The former Georgia star had plenty of room to run and got some outstanding blocking from the Las Vegas offensive line on Sunday on their opening drive.

Check out the clip below.

Zamir White getting some outstanding blocking from the Raiders OL to start this game pic.twitter.com/fQ2eYRlV6o

— Josh Norris (@JoshNorris) August 13, 2023

Later in the drive, White punched it in for the score from the one-yard line. Check out that clip.

Zamir White takes it in for 6!

📺: #SFvsLV on NFL Network
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/duSBuYvB61pic.twitter.com/QbyZYGm7f2

— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) August 13, 2023

On the Raiders’ opening drive, White had seven carries for 28 rushing yards and a touchdown. Last season for Las Vegas in his rookie season, the former Bulldog had 17 carries for 70 rushing yards in limited action. If things break the right way, he could be seeing many more opportunities this fall.

The Raiders are currently winning Sunday’s game against the 49ers 24-7 with 14:17 remaining in the fourth quarter. The game is being televised on NFL Network. For their next preseason game, the Raiders will face off against the LA Rams on August 19th.

The 5-foot-11, 214-pounder played three years during his time with Georgia. White played in 38 games, including 23 starts during his time with the Bulldogs. He finished his career with 382 carries for 2,043 yards on the ground, averaging 5.3 per carry, and 25 rushing touchdowns. Despite not being a consistently featured back at Georgia, he managed to churn out 2,043 rushing yards, which currently ranks 15th in school history. The Las Vegas Raiders selected White in the fourth round of the 2022 NFL Draft with the 122nd overall pick.

Zamir White was a highly decorated prospect out of high school

Coming out of high school, White was the top running back in the 2017 recruiting class, according to the On3 Industry Rankings. White was named to the USA Today 2017 All-USA First Team offense, NC Preps Player of the Year, and first team all-state in North Carolina after rushing for 2,086 yards and 34 touchdowns in 11 games his senior season. He was ranked as the 12th overall prospect in his class and received offers from some of the top programs in the country, before ultimately committing to the Georgia Bulldogs.

On3’s Justin Rudolph also contributed to this article.