Georgia football: predicting 2019 rushing totals pre-spring practice

Georgia football begins spring practices next month. The Bulldogs have at least three premier running backs participating in spring practices.

Running Back U may have had one of its brightest stars depart after 2018, but the status quo remains the same in Athens. Georgia football will again be the place to see great running backs in 2019. The question isn’t about how much the Dawgs will run the ball. It’s about how many yards the running backs will accumulate in 2019. Here’s a prediction for their totals as of right now.

D’Andre Swift

He’s already considered a Heisman Trophy favorite. D’Andre Swift should again have a great year for the Bulldogs. He overcame injuries last year to rush for 1,049 yards and he added another 297 in receiving yards. Swift reached the end zone 13 times. In two years in Athens, he has 2,117 yards of offense and 17 total touchdowns.

He’s a proven workhorse and one of the SEC’s most dangerous players when healthy. He might have a bigger supporting cast this season, but Swift is the still the no. 1 back in the offense.

Prediction: 1,300-plus rushing yards; 400-plus receiving yards; 20 total touchdowns.

James Cook

Brother of Florida State great Dalvin Cook, James Cook had a fairly quiet true freshman season. He did manage to gain 373 yards of total offense though. But Georgia’s coaches want every player to bulk up and learn how to block, even scat backs like Cook. We already know Kirby Smart loves Cook as a running back, he raved about him last summer. His usage comes down to how well he can block.

Prediction: 600-plus rushing yards; 300-plus receiving yards; 10 total touchdowns.

Brian Herrien

Not many people had even heard about Brian Herrien when he enrolled back in 2016. But he’s been a fixture of Georgia’s offense since his very first game when he scored a touchdown early against North Carolina. Since then, he’s played behind the stars, but he has nearly 1,000 career offensive yards. He’s a good third down back who can block, sneak up the middle and catch passes. As a senior, his role should increase again.

Prediction: 400-plus rushing yards; 100-plus receiving yards; six total touchdowns.

Zamir White

I know what you’re thinking, but we don’t know how healthy Zamir White will be when he returns. He isn’t even confirmed for spring practices yet. He tore both of his ACL’s in the span of 12 months. That’s not easy to comeback from. We all know his potential, and there’s no reason right now to suspect he won’t live up to it in the future. But his 2019 is still in doubt until we see him.

Prediction: 400-plus rushing yards; sub-100 receiving yards; eight total touchdowns.

Kenny McIntosh

Another unproven rusher is incoming freshman Kenny McIntosh. No one’s been giving the no. 11 ranked running back much credit so far. But he’s clearly talented, he’s got decent size, and Georgia has the best offensive line in college football. Simply put, don’t sleep on the kid.

Prediction: 300-plus rushing yards; sub-100 receiving yards; four total touchdowns.

These predictions are based only on what we’ve seen out of everyone so far. Another set of predictions will come after the G-Day game once we’ve seen Cook and Herrien, and maybe even White play.