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First full offseason at Georgia paying dividends for Dwight Phillips

Jeremy Johnsonby: Jeremy Johnson09/04/25JeremyO_Johnson
Dwight Phillips/Georgia
Georgia running back Dwight Phillips Jr. (20) during Georgia’s game against Marhsall on Dooley Field at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Ga., on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025. (Tony Walsh/UGAAA)

Georgia’s first touchdown of 2025 belongs to Dwight Phillips. The sophomore took a pitch from Gunner Stockton in the first quarter of Saturday’s 45-7 win over Marshall and scampered 17 yards for the first score of the season. Phillips finished the opener with 60 yards on five carries.

“I saw my teammates make some incredible blocks, which got me 1-on-1 with the safety, and I just made a play,” Phillips told reporters of the play on Tuesday.

Phillips has come on strong as a sophomore. He contributed last season and had a few moments as a true freshman. He scored a 4-yard touchdown to help Georgia defeat Florida in Jacksonville last season.

He’s come back as a different player. Phillips has added weight to his frame. He was not an early enrollee at Georgia. This offseason was his first.

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart praised the former four-star signee for his development in the offseason.

“Well, his progression has been weight room, develop, grow, protect, protect the ball, get bigger, get stronger,” Smart told reporters on Tuesday. “He needed the weight room really badly when he got here. He’d never really been in a hardcore weightlifting off-season program. You remember, he didn’t get the spring before his freshman year, so his first true developmental off-season was to be here and lift and get after it. And he did those things. He still is a work in progress. He knows he has areas he has to improve on. But the great thing about Dwight, Peanut, is that he’s not afraid of the hard work. He embraces what his weaknesses are, and he’s trying to get better at those.”

Dwight Phillips is loved in Georgia’s locker room

Phillips has taken the nickname ‘Peanut’. It’s a nickname that was coined by Georgia assistant Will Muschamp. The sophomore has built a strong connection in his year in Athens.

The endearing nickname is only a piece of the puzzle.

“How they came up with my name is Coach Muschamp, he was in the team meeting room, I guess he had said it,” Phillips said. “And being loved by my teammates, I love them back, you know? We all built a brotherhood here.”

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