Running backs helping drive hot Georgia start

Just how deep is Georgia at running back?

For linebacker Roquan Smith, just going up against them in practice can be more of a challenge than some games present.

“All of them — it’s a challenge, week-in and week-out, and day-in and day-out, going up against those guys everyday in practice,” Smith, a Macon County product, said in a news conference Monday in Athens. “But I feel like going against those guys everyday will prepare you for just about any back you’re going to face in the country.”

For fourth-ranked Georgia, that depth at running back has been one of the main reasons the Bulldogs reached the season’s midpoint with a 6-0 record. They host Missouri (1-4) on Saturday before taking a week off in preparation for the Oct. 28 rivalry game against Florida.

Five Georgia running backs have topped 100 yards for the season, paced by Nick Chubb’s 618 yards and Sony Michel’s 406 yards.

Chubb’s season is emerging as one that could yield some national awards, as he leads the SEC by 95 yards over Benny Snell Jr. of Kentucky, the No. 2 rusher in the conference. But Michel’s complementary yards give Georgia’s backfield into a 1-2 punch, something that wears down opposing defenses and frees up quarterback Jake Fromm to throw the football.

“Sony is the guy that nobody talks about, and he has had one of the best couple of runs we have had all year,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said at Monday’s news conference. “He was really productive the other day. I think they those guys obviously take away from each other when it comes to national recognition because they do not get the carries. but they do not care about that. The reason they came back was to win and that is the ultimate goal. Right now, they are helping us achieve that.”

As a team, Georgia is rushing for 268 yards per game, second in the conference to Alabama’s 302.

“They’re a physical group; they challenge and push each other,” tight end Jeb Blazevich said. “I think that’s why that room is so special, because of what they’re able to do within the running back room. They always push each other and give each other grief if they get taken down after one hit; I think that’s why none of them really do.”