Georgia RB recruiting and how Dell McGee sells idea of talented trio

ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia added a third running back commit in its Class of 2024 just over a week ago when On3 five-star Nate Frazier announced his decision to be a Bulldogs. Joining Chauncey Bowens and Dwight Phillips who were already on board, Frazier’s commitment moves the Dawgs closer to feeling comfortable with the depth that they’ve got.

“I would say that they see the room,” Georgia running backs coach Dell McGee said when asked about how it is he’s been able to get three backs on board. “We have two seniors in Kendall Milton and Daijun Edwards that are leaving the program. We have Andrew Paul who’s coming off an injury. It still takes time for running backs to get their legs up under them. They also saw the fact that Branson (Robinson) was dealing with an injury, and we still hadn’t gotten to our allotted number of six running backs. We’ve been under our allotted number. We’re basically just getting to six. It wasn’t really a sell.”

“Like I’ve said previously, running backs have all flourished at the University of Georgia. That’s the expectation,” he continued. “They want to be a part of that, just being competitive and having the chance to better themselves as men, and just the influence of me being in their life plays a big, big part of that.”

Since Kirby Smart took over as head coach, Georgia has signed multiple running backs in four classes – interestingly enough every other year (2016, 2018, 2020 and 2022). Once – in 2021 – did the Bulldogs not take a running back, converting Lovasea Carroll to defensive back upon his arrival and never before have they signed three in a single class. As McGee said though, the Dawgs have been below their target of six scholarship players the entire time he’s been here and taking three in 2024 should get them there.

Georgia Running Backs by Class
2016 – Elijah Holyfield, Brian Herrien
2017 – D’Andre Swift
2018 – Zamir White, James Cook
2019 – Kenny McIntosh
2020 – Kendall Milton, Daijun Edwards
2021 – N/A
2022 – Branson Robinson, Andrew Paul
2023 – Roderick Robinson

Why is it that getting to six is such a priority for McGee now when he hasn’t had that number before with the Bulldogs? Well, you’d have to think that the injuries he’s seen the room battle over the last few seasons factors in.

In the spring, Georgia was down to just one scholarship back not battling some sort of an ailment and that was an early enrollee. The year before, because neither Branson Robinson nor Andrew Paul enrolled in the spring, the Bulldogs had just scholarship backs to work with. McGee wants to get those numbers up so that depth never has to be a concern.

As for what it is he looks for in a running back, McGee says that’s changed over his time. Working with three different coordinators already and a fourth starting this season, each of them wants the running back role to look a little different. It started under Jim Chaney as a more physical brand of football, establishing the line of scrimmage early on. Over time, that shifted to more open sets with the backs involved in the passing game under James Coley and Todd Monken. The expectation is for the same to stay true under Mike Bobo‘s direction.

“I would say, philosophically, where we’ve gone from the three coordinators we’ve had, it’s kinda changed because of who we’ve had in the room,” McGee said about the traits he tries to recruit in his running backs. “First, getting here with Coach Chaney, just establishing that line-of-scrimmage run game, plus, we had two really good backs that were older that had carried the load and understood running the football. It wasn’t a whole lot to teach there. Kinda progressing through Coley and even into Monken, getting the backs more involved in the passing game has tremendously increased.”

“I think your recruiting philosophy has to change a little bit to cater to what the coordinator wants. When Monken was here, he showed that he wanted to have running backs that were able to create things in space, catch the football, create matchups for linebackers. And I think that philosophy will still stand,” he continued. “It does change according to what that coordinator wants and also the leadership of Coach Smart. Everything still goes through Coach Smart, so we are looking for guys that are talented, guys that can run fast, guys that got vision, things that you don’t really have to teach. And then, maximize whatever the redeeming qualities that they have.”

Of course Georgia will have to hold on to the three running backs committed, but all three seem solid in their committed status. Frazier has an official visit set for September 16th for the South Carolina game while Bowens and Phillips have made clear their respective recruitments are shut down.