Five-star Georgia football running back Zamir White tore his ACL in a scrimmage at Sanford Stadium this past Saturday. He will miss the entire 2018 season.
Since James Cook committed and ultimately signed with Georgia football less than a year ago, everyone in the Bulldog Nation, myself included, raved about how for the third time in just seven years, the Bulldogs signed two blue-chip running backs in one class.
Cook, the no. 3 all-purpose back according to 247 Sports, was a tremendous bonus to a class that already included Zamir White, the no. 1 running back overall. As the higher ranked running back in the 2018, White received most of the attention. At times, James Cook seemed like a forgotten player, despite being ranked no. 41 overall.
To me, that seemed odd considering a trend at Georgia dating back to the freshman seasons of Todd Gurley and Keith Marshall. The lower ranked running back has come to Georgia and had the better freshman season.
When Marshall committed to Georgia in December of 2011, he was the talk of the town in Athens. 247 had him ranked as the no. 2 running back and as the no. 13 player overall in the nation. Gurley committed to Georgia less than a month later to much less fanfare. He was still highly ranked by 247. No. 73 player overall and the no. 6 running back.
Fans looked forward to watching both backs play between the hedges. But Marshall’s speed and sudden cuts were mentioned much more than Gurley’s power and acceleration. As the 2012 season went on, the attention shifted to Gurley. He appeared as a running back who was physically ready for the SEC coming out of high school, while Marshall was a change of pace back. A good change of pace back, great at times. But Gurley was the star of Georgia’s offense.
Gurley ended his freshman season with 1,502 yards of total offense. 1,385 of those coming on the ground. And he scored 17 rushing touchdowns, two-shy of Garrison Hearst’s school record. I mentioned that Marshall was great at times, that reflected in the stats as well. He added 850 yards of total offense with nine touchdowns. He rushed for 100 yards three times that year.
Just two years later, Georgia struck gold with running backs again. This time with a pair of top five running backs. No. 3 Sony Michel committed first in April 2013, no. 5 Nick Chubb committed two months later in June. Both were ranked in the top 35 out of all high school player according to 247. So, this time around, the backs shared the spotlight.
Both had similarities to their predecessors from the 2012 class. The higher ranked back was known more for speed and agility, while the lower ranked back was known for power and acceleration. And like “Gurshall”, Michel and Chubb had opportunities to shine early in 2014.
Michel had the better start to the season, but a shoulder injury took him out of action and he wasn’t 100-percent again until the Belk Bowl. He finished his freshman year with 516 yards of offense with six touchdowns. Chubb however, stayed healthy and dominated the competition for 1,760 yards of offense and 16 touchdowns.
That brings us to 2018 and the enrollment of Georgia’s newest running back duo; Zamir White and James Cook. Based on 2012 and 2014, we maybe should have already expected Cook to have the better freshman season. It certainly looked that way nine months ago when White tore his ACL while still playing high school ball. And it’s just inevitable at this point with White tearing his other ACL just a few days ago. The trend of lower ranked running back’s performing better than their counterpart as freshman will certainly continue this season.