Georgia looking to create 1-2 punch with healthy running backs

ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia entered the 2023 season with hopes of having a veteran-led rushing attack with a 1-2 punch of Daijun Edwards and Kendall Milton. A pair of seniors, Edwards and Milton had waited their turn behind the likes of Zamir White, James Cook and Kenny McIntosh. They contributed in specific roles, but this year was their opportunity to be the premier backs.

That hasn’t been the case up to this point – at least not consistently. Milton missed time during the spring and was sidelined some during fall camp too, both due to hamstring injuries. He made it back for the season-opener, but Edwards suffered a sprained MCL in the team’s second scrimmage that kept him out for the first two games. Both suited up against South Carolina, but Milton fell victim to an MCL sprain of his own that put him back on the injury report.

Milton has since returned, scoring a touchdown in Georgia’s win over Kentucky on Saturday, and Edwards has done his part in carrying the load, having himself a 100-yard day against South Carolina and scoring two touchdowns in each of the UAB and Auburn contests. However, with both backs finally ready to roll at the halfway point of the regular season, it seems UGA could have the 1-2 punch it was looking for all along.

“I feel great about it,” Milton said. “You know, me and Daijun, we came in as freshmen together. You know, we were those young guys on third team working together. Just to be at this point now where, you know, we’re both healthy and both at a point to where we can both be on the field together, I’m excited.”

“I feel like it was big. Just him being back, that physical nature he brings, it was good,” Edwards added on Milton’s recent return. “We’re capable of having big games, for real. Capable of a lot. I feel like we have really good potential. We’ve just got to keep working.”

According to the two ball carriers, they push each other on a daily basis. It’s something that helps both get better and supports the healthy dynamic between the two of them. When Edwards was out and Milton was on the field, the quieter of the two of them found a voice to help his teammate. The same was true when the roles were reversed and Milton was sidelined watching Edwards.

On the season, Edwards leads the team with 60 carries for 314 yards and five touchdowns, all team-highs despite only playing in four games. Milton, who has seen action in five, has 31 carries, 143 yards and a pair of trips to the end zone. Dillon Bell and Roderick Robinson have added two touchdowns each, as has Carson Beck, while other rushing scores have come from walk-ons Cash Jones and Sevaughn Clark plus tight end Brock Bowers. Running back Andrew Paul also has a receiving score to his name.

“To be honest, I feel like the sky’s the limit, you know? Right now we have a lot of different backs between me, Daijun, Cash, AP (Andrew Paul), everybody. It’s a lot of different types of backs, so I feel like it’ll be able to open up the offense and be able to put different schemes and different plays and things like that,” Milton said about what the future this season could look like for the Georgia running backs. “Like I said, I’m just excited for the running back room ’cause everybody — we push each other every single day to make each other better, to get through that barrier. After a play, we’ll come back to the huddle and be like, ‘Did you see this? Did you see anything?’ Just trying to get that feedback to make each other better. I just want to see everybody succeed at the end of the day.”

Ultimately, in order to see everybody succeed, health will be the biggest key. Both Edwards and Milton have suited up in the same game just three times this season, and Georgia’s been without Roderick Robinson for two of those. Milton, who has a longer list of injuries tied to his name over the course of his career, is doing everything he can to hold up his end of the bargain with the running backs.

“It’s crazy because any injury you don’t really expect it to happen. You don’t really think it’s going to happen,” Milton said. “It’s just been kind of freak injuries and things like that. So at this point I just try to do more, like, mobility and doing yoga every night and trying to do just little stuff to just keep the joints and things like that loose, keep everything in a good place, just kind of be preventative. This is football. It’s a physical sport. Things are going to happen, so you can’t eliminate anything, but if you can lower the chances by doing the little stuff off the field then I feel like it’ll help out.”

“I mean, to be honest, I’ve said this before, going through my career — especially at this point — you just learn to be able to control what you can control,” he added when asked what he would say to critics that claim he’s injury prone. “Outside noise, criticism, that’s all going to be a part of it — especially as you continue to level up in terms of this game. But you just get to a point that you just control what you can control. You can’t worry about what other people think because at the end of the day the outside noise isn’t going to do anything for your game, you know what I mean? You’ve just got to do what you’ve got to do, put the work in, and everything plays itself out.”

Top-ranked Georgia takes to the road this weekend to play Vanderbilt. Kickoff time from Nashville is set for 12:00 p.m. ET, 11:00 a.m. locally, on CBS with the Bulldogs considered to be big favorites – 31.5 points according to VegasInsider.