Kirby Smart praises RB Nate Frazier after 3 touchdown performance

Two guys really stood out for Georgia football in their win over UMass on Saturday. The first was Carson Beck, but Georgia fans are used to him playing well so that was just more of the same. But the second player who exploded on the scene was a pleasant surprise.

And that was freshman running back Nate Frazier.

Frazier finished Saturday's game with 21 carries for 136 yards and a whopping three touchdowns. Those touchdowns all came in the second half, which helped Georgia put this game well out of reach.

Kirby Smart saw what every Georgia fan saw, and that was an electric performance from Frazier, and he discussed just how great Frazier has been after Saturday's game.

"More confidence. You know, he's still – he's still learning things. He still messes up," Smart said via 247sports.com. "But he's electric. He's different when the ball hits his hands. He bursts in the hole. He probably sometimes too fast. He doesn't – he's not patient sometimes. But you talk about a kid that runs hard, works hard, and loves it. And those linemen love playing with him."

"Well, nothing different, he did the same thing this week. He's done every week, he competes in practice, he gets better. I mean, he had a big, physical offensive line. He had small guys, and that created a huge advantage for us."

Nate Frazier has stepped up when Georgia's needed him most

Georgia has really needed Frazier to be the best version of himself these last few weeks with so many running backs out with an injury. And what did Frazier do? He exceeded all expectations.

It's important to remember that Frazier is just a freshman, so the potential for him is higher than Georgia has seen at the running back position in quite some time. And all these extra game reps this year are only going to help him improve even faster.

So while it is important for UGA's other running backs to get healthy, it is nice to know that everyone can count on Frazier to play well when Georgia needs him to. It's important to stay focused on this season still, but as a fan it's impossible to not look towards the future and how great Frazier could be in the coming years.