Georgia's Kirby Smart Emphasizing Improved Run Game

After finishing 102nd in the nation in rushing last season, averaging 124.4 yards per game, Georgia knows it needs to run the football more effectively in 2025. It was the lowest the Bulldogs have finished in rushing during the Kirby Smart era, which is why work on the ground game has been an emphasis.

“We have to be better at running the ball game, better at stopping the run. But that all comes with whom you play,” Smart said. “I tell people all the time, if we play three academy schools on defense, we’re going to not lead the league in rushing because they’re going to rush the ball on you. If you play the top five rushing defenses out of 15 games, you’re going struggle to run the ball.”

Georgia played six of the top-50 rushing defenses in college football last season. That included the Ole Miss Rebels, who finished as the nation’s No. 2 rushing defense, allowing just 80.5 rushing yards per game.

That success against the run for the Rebels certainly translated when the Bulldogs made the trip to Oxford in November. Georgia’s ground game was held to just 59 yards rushing in the 28-10 loss.

“You have to be able to run the ball when you have to be able to run the ball, which is at the end of the game to close it out,” Smart said. “We had two very unique road games where, I don’t think we really need to run the ball the entire second half, because we had to throw it. We had to throw it almost every now and then because Alabama and Ole Miss were behind.”

The struggles have seen Georgia make some changes in how it practices running the football. Which, according to Smart, has seemingly been paying off as the run game “looks a little bit” better heading into the year.

“But our goal was to say, okay, on each individual run last year, how do we get better at that? Spring practice, we really targeted that. We changed a lot of things we do to make it better,” Smart said. “This summer, we’ve changed things we’re doing that I won’t disclose, that we’re saying, okay, how do we get better at running the ball? We gotta run the ball more. We gotta practice running the ball more. So that’s a big point of emphasis for us.”

In addition to the added emphasis behind closed doors, Georgia is excited by the players that Georgia has at the position.

“So, as far as the running back room, I’m excited as hell about the running back room,” Smart said. “I think we got a good running back room, but we certainly lost a really good one.”

That good one is Trevor Etienne. The former Florida transfer played just a season in Athens before going to the NFL. Playing in 10 games, Etienne ranked second on the team in rushing with 609 yards and nine touchdowns on 122 carries.

“I mean, we had a really good back last year. A lot of times, a really good back helps you run the ball,” Smart said. “And when he was completely healthy and ran the ball well, we were better offensively. He had two really good games against Texas.”

While Georgia lost Etienne, they bring back sophomore running back Nate Frazier who, after playing as a true freshman, is expected to lead a young room. Although he won’t have to do it alone, as Georgia added senior Illinois transfer Josh McCray via the transfer portal.

“I like his physicality,” Smart said of McCray. “He’s a kid from Alabama that we knew out of high school.”