Dwight Phillips Jr. is starting to look like the kind of player Georgia can’t afford to leave buried on the depth chart.
The Bulldogs already have Nate Frazier and Chauncey Bowens back to handle the bulk of the work at running back, so Phillips has naturally been pushed a little out of the spotlight. But with Georgia searching for more explosive plays, he’s the sort of third-year option who could force his way into the conversation.
Head coach Kirby Smart made it clear Phillips is more than just another name in the backfield.
“Dwight has worked his tail off,” Smart said. “How can he help us?
He’s one of the most explosive players we have on our offense. If we’re gonna be more explosive, then we’ve got to get guys that when they touch the ball, big plays happen.”
That’s the lane Phillips seems built for. He won’t replace Zachariah Branch one-for-one, but Georgia is looking to make up for what Branch brought in the aggregate: the security blanket for Gunner Stockton and the instant threat to turn a touch into a score. Phillips brings the burst and open-field wiggle that can fill part of that void, even if he does it from a different position.
Smart suggested the Bulldogs may not use Phillips in just one way, either.
“The form of touches may change, but he’s gotta touch the ball because he’s been one of our most explosive guys,” he said.
Phillips has the kind of athletic background that makes the upside easy to see. His father, Dwight Phillips Sr., won Olympic gold in the long jump at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, and his mother Valerie was also a track star.
Last season, Phillips got into nine games as a reserve back and logged 35 carries for 210 yards and a touchdown. Now he’s drawing attention in fall camp, where observers have said he’s broken off multiple long touchdowns and added weight. At 5-foot-10, 185 pounds, he was already on the smaller side, so the extra bulk could help him earn more snaps.
Georgia doesn’t need Phillips to carry the offense. But if he can pop a long run here and there, that changes the feel of a drive in a hurry. That kind of juice matters, especially when a team is chasing more big plays.
Offensive coordinator Mike Bobo said the search for explosiveness could come from a lot of places.
“Is there a young guy that emerges? Are these guys a little bit better than you thought of?
We're more explosive in this [proverbial] personnel group,” he said. So it's an evolving thing that, as a coach, you're trying to find the right mixture of who to put on the field and when and try to help your team get first downs and be explosive.”
In Other News...
Georgia Fans Already Divided Over Another Sanford Stadium Gimmick
Georgia football is leaning into the kind of game-day presentation that can turn Sanford Stadium into a visual talking point before the first snap. The program announced it is asking fans to take part in a stadium striping event for the week four matchup against Oklahoma, a look it used last season, and it is also planning a white-out for the week two game against Western Kentucky. For a fan base that treats home-field atmosphere as part of the product, the message is clear: the Bulldogs want the stands to look as loud as they feel.
The response, as usual with these kinds of promos, has already split the room. Some fans like the coordinated look and the way it can make Sanford Stadium pop on television, while others see it as one more unnecessary gimmick layered onto an already big Saturday. With Oklahoma coming to town in week four, the striping idea is getting extra attention, and it will be worth watching whether the latest attempt at a themed crowd brings more buy-in the second time around. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia Suddenly Has A Chance To Unlock A Former 5-Star Up Front
Xzavier McLeods retirement at the start of fall camp for the 2026 season changed the look of Georgias interior defensive line almost overnight. What had been a steady part of the rotation now has to be replaced by committee, and Kirby Smart has already signaled that the Bulldogs will sort out the snaps through competition rather than hand the job to one player.
That opens the door for Jordan Hall, a junior whose career has been slowed by injury issues, and for sophomore Elijah Griffin, whose talent gives Georgia a chance to get more out of the position group than it may have expected a few weeks ago. How much of that upside turns into actual production will depend on who can stay on the field and who can take advantage of the extra work now available up front. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia Fans Have Every Reason To Push Back On Jeff Brohm
The scheduled home-and-home series between Georgia and Louisville is off, and both schools reportedly agreed to cancel it as the SECs move to nine conference games continues to reshape future slates. From Georgias side, the explanation appears tied to the growing difficulty of fitting everything in around an expanded conference schedule, a problem that has forced plenty of moving parts behind the scenes for athletic departments trying to balance competition, travel and long-term planning.
Jeff Brohm, though, offered a different version of events when he suggested Georgia was the side responsible for pulling the plug. That is where the frustration can linger for Bulldogs fans, especially with Louisville also known to have had its own trouble lining up Power Four opponents. The series is gone either way, but the debate over why it disappeared has left enough room for both schools to point in different directions. [Read more 🡒]