Kendall Milton, Daijun Edwards adjust to veteran role in RB room

Georgia running backs Kendall Milton and Daijun Edwards were stepping into bigger roles this time last year, and they’ll be doing so again in 2023. With Zamir White and James Cook off to the NFL, Milton, Edwards and Kenny McIntosh acted as a three-headed monster for the Bulldogs in the backfield this past season. Rushing for more touchdowns as a team than any other in College Football, Georgia’s ground game averaged over 200 yards per game – good for top 20 in the country.

Now with McIntosh expected to hear his name called during April’s 2023 NFL Draft, Milton and Edwards once again will be asked to do more. They’ll have help, but this time, there’s not anybody older than them to be looking up to.

“I feel like I’ve done a good job in terms of holding my own and trying to live up to that tradition inn the running back room,” Milton told DawgsHQ during the postseason. “We’ve got multiple backs that are all talented and have different tools in their box to lift their game, and I feel like us as a whole, we have done a great job of living up to the ‘RBU’ name, running the ball hard and doing what we can to contribute to the team.”

“It’s been exciting,” Edwards added, speaking on the increased role he received during 2022. “I just kept playing, and it happened. We play with toughness and are physical. Everybody’s got the physical nature to them.”

With McIntosh gone, that toughness and physicality Edwards speaks of is expected to be the identity of Georgia’s running back room next season. McIntosh had it in him too, but he also brought to the table some flashiness in the passing game with over 500 yards receiving. The returning running backs don’t even account for half of that. Sure, they’ll receive more opportunities to catch the ball without McIntosh there, but the ground and pound element of their game is likely going to be the bread and butter for the backs in 2023.

“Toughness and physicality. There’ve been a lot of games where when it came down to it we had to run the ball to get a lot of those extra yards. Daijun especially in that Missouri game, there’s been a lot of games throughout the season where we have to lean on that physical nature and have lived up to what we want to be,” Milton said. “We want people to feel our power and feel us when we run the ball, and I think we’ve made that known every game.”

Milton and Edwards are two of the four returning running backs alongside freshmen Branson Robinson and Andrew Paul. Robinson rushed for 330 yards and three touchdowns – two in the National Championship – on 68 carries. Meanwhile, Paul missed the entirety of the season with a torn ACL suffered during fall camp.

“He’s tough to hit. He’s a bowling bowl. He can do everything, for real,” Edwards said about Branson. “He’s a tough runner, he’s fast, physical, he’s twitchy. He’s the real deal.”

Georgia also signed San Diego, Calif. native Roderick Robinson out of Lincoln High School in its Class of 2023. The nation’s No. 10 ball carrier according to the On3 Consensus, Robinson won California Player of the Year. He’s a new face that the backs are excited to see, especially Milton being from The Golden State.

“I talked to him a little bit. It’s very exciting because in the past, me growing up when I was watching College Football, most of the California athletes would either stay West Coast or go PAC-12 or something like that. The shift now to where a lot of athletes are going to the SEC, Big Ten, places where football is known for being bigger, it’s great because it’s kind of putting us on the map as a state,” Milton said. “I would let him know to embrace all the moments, soak up everything. When you get here there’s a lot you have to learn, a lot you have to adjust to so try to soak everything in and don’t get overwhelmed because at times when you’re learning a whole new playbook, on a new team, in a new city, at a new school it can kind of get overwhelming. Rely on your brothers, and if you ever need anything, your brothers are always there for you. Enjoy the process because that’s what it’s all about.”

Georgia begins spring practice in less than a month with all five of the running backs on campus. Paul is expected to be limited in participation as he continues to recover from his 2022 injury while the younger Robinson gets a jump start as an early enrollee learning from the likes of Milton, Edwards and Branson Robinson too.