Georgia's running back room is a bit of an interesting mix at the moment.
There's Kendall Milton, the veteran former five-star from California. Daijun Edwards wasn't as highly recruited but provides the South Georgia toughness Kirby Smart loves. Andrew Paul is the redshirt freshman bouncing back from a torn ACL. And of course, there's receiver-turned-part-time running back Dillon Bell.
Milton gave his take on Georgia's running backs when he met with the media on Wednesday evening. First, he addressed his own play and the criticism of him being injury-prone.
"It's crazy because any injury you don't really expect it to happen," Milton said. "You don't really think it's going to happen. It's just been kind of freak injuries and things like that. So at this point I just try to do more mobility and doing yoga every night. And trying to do just little stuff to just keep the joints and things like that loose, keep everything in a good place, just kind of be preventative."
Edwards shares the lead-back role with Milton. After missing the first two games of the season, Edwards has picked up 314 rushing yards and five touchdowns.
According to Milton, it's Edwards' running style that makes him so special.
"He doesn't try to rush a play to be there or he doesn't take it too slow at the same time. He's super patient, and when the hole opens up he takes full advantage of it," Milton said. "I've always told him he has a mean dead leg, one of the best dead legs I've seen. He puts that to use, as y'all can see. He puts it to use basically every game, making defenders miss. To compare him to somebody, nobody really comes off the top of my head. He's just a downhill runner. I call him Frank. People call him Daijun, I call him Frank. Frank Gore. That started a long time ago with Kenny and Zamir and James. That started back then."
Bell is the third-leading rusher on the team with 109 yards. His move to the position came mainly out of necessity due to injuries to other backs including Milton and Edwards.
While that role might not be as significant with those players getting healthy, Milton said the running back room has already adopted Bell as one of their own.
"He's been super accepting of his role on the team," Milton said. "He hasn't complained or anything. When I was off to the side and he first came to the running back group, it wasn't like any complaining. He wasn't tripping off of leaving the receiving room for that time. He just took advantage of his moments. He brings a lot of versatility to the table as a running back. As y'all see, he has a crazy acceleration. He has the ability to make defenders miss. He has the ability to catch out of the backfield."
Paul has amassed just 14 carries so far this season. He's still rounding his way into form after tearing his ACL in fall camp last season.
"With the ACL, it's not the easiest to come back from because there's a lot of things in the back of your head," Milton said. "But he's been pushing every single day. His development has just went through the roof. Every day he continues to work hard, continues to get better. Like I said, he asked me and Daijun what can he do better on certain plays because he's just one of those people that he's always striving to be great or always trying to find that little niche to take his game to the next level."
That quartet, along with Cash Jones and injured freshman Roderick Robinson, form the running back room of the No. 1 team in the nation. It's a group of different shapes and sizes, but it's a collection of backs Milton has full confidence in moving forward.
"I feel like the sky's the limit, you know?" Milton said. "It's a lot of different types of backs, so I feel like it'll be able to open up the offense and be able to put different schemes and different plays and things like that. Like I said, I'm just excited for the running back room because everybody — we push each other every single day to make each other better, to get through that barrier."
