Georgia doing best to address concern of running back depth

While who starts at quarterback is the biggest question for Georgia headed into the 2023 season, there might not be a bigger concern than the position right beside the signal caller in the backfield.

Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs have just five scholarship running backs on their roster: Kendall Milton (Senior), Daijun Edwards (Senior), Branson Robinson (Sophomore), Andrew Paul (Redshirt Freshman) and Roderick Robinson (Freshman). While that number isn’t far off from what the norm in Athens has been under Smart, the situation is a little bit different this year.

We’ll start from the top and work our way down. Milton and Edwards are both healthy coming in. That’s great news considering both were banged up at times during the spring, and Milton saw his come to an early ending due to a hamstring injury.

As for the older of the two Robinsons – not related – Smart said on Tuesday at SEC Media Days that he won’t be full speed for the start of fall camp after suffering a foot injury in the spring. Meanwhile, Paul continues to work his way back from a torn ACL suffered this time last year, putting more pressure that you’d probably like to on a true freshman to be ready to roll early in his career.

RELATED: Kirby Smart shares latest injury report for Georgia at SEC Media Days

What does all this mean? It means that the Dawgs have reason to be concerned about depth. Walk-ons Cash Jones, Sevaughn Clark – who pulled his name out of the transfer portal to return to Georgia – and Tennessee portal pickup Len’Neth Whitehead are very much in the conversation at this point in time.

“I don’t know. Stetson Bennett was a pretty good walk-on that did a lot of good things. It could be this extreme or he could be like some other walk-ons who are role plays who provide depth,” Smart said when asked about what the expectations are for Whitehead, an Athens native. “We don’t know yet. We haven’t had Len’Neth in our program. He hasn’t been a part of it. He’s got to improve his conditioning level. Even when he was at Tennessee, as I understand it, he was injured a lot of time. So a lot of his background has been injuries. He’s got to get in shape and go into a competitive room and earn it.”

Georgia landed Whitehead in May. A former four-star, he turned down scholarship offers to walk-on in Athens after spending his first three seasons in Knoxville with the Volunteers.

Whitehead started his collegiate career as a linebacker before moving to running back in 2021. He had 32 carries for 207 yards and two touchdowns that season including an impressive nine-carry, 76-yard day against Missouri – earning him SEC Co-Freshman of the Week. Whitehead however missed the entirety of the 2022 campaign, a continuation of a seemingly constant battle against the injury bug for him.

Whitehead wasn’t the only consideration to add depth at the running back spot. Smart said that there were discussions had about potentially playing Class of 2023 signee and summer enrollee Kyron Jones at the position. Jones was listed as an athlete during his recruitment and at one point an NC State commit with plans to play running back for the Wolfpack. However, when Georgia flipped him, it was with the intention of Jones’ future being in the secondary, something the Bulldogs ultimately will still do despite alternative considerations.

“We discussed it. Didn’t feel like it was favorable for the kid’s career. Probably debatable if it was good for the team because we have depth problems at DB as well,” Smart said when asked about Jones as a running back. “In terms of being able to develop players, it was going to hurt his development to do it. If we were that desperate, like if we didn’t have Len’Neth maybe or we didn’t have Sevaughn Clark come back we might have considered it. But I didn’t think it was best for the kid and he ultimately was going to do what is best for the team.”

Branson Robinson will make his way back at some point in time. Same goes for Andrew Paul getting back to full speed. The concerns at running back are only temporary, but also show a potential weakness for Georgia this season should things go south: depth for the Dawgs in the backfield.