Teammates bullish on Zamir White

Although the answer won’t truly be known until the season-opener at Vanderbilt, when it comes to running back Zamir White, teammates spoken to Friday were bullish on what fans will ultimately see.

“Zamir is a workhorse, and in this camp, he’s going to show everything that he’s done and what he has overcome,” linebacker Monty Rice said. “We’re in for a show.”

By now, White’s story is a familiar one.

The nation’s top-ranked running back, according to Rivals in 2017, White tore his ACL in November of his senior year, recovered, only to injure the ACL in his other leg while covering punts during fall camp.

While that might have been enough for some running backs to reconsider their current status, not White.

On the contrary.

According to teammates, the North Carolina native has worked even harder than before, more determined than ever to become an integral part of Georgia’s running back corps along with D’Andre Swift, Brian Herrien, James Cook, and freshman Kenny McIntosh.

Head coach Kirby Smart said White will be treated the same as the team’s other backs.

“Zamir is cleared, so he’ll be thudded like every other back. We’ll progress from there,” Smart said. “We don’t tackle until the first scrimmage anyway.”

Nobody is more excited for White than Swift.

“I think everybody should be excited about what he might do,” Swift said. “I was talking to him 20 minutes ago, and he was just so happy to play football again. He’s a real self-motivated young man. I asked him if he’s good, and he said, 'Yeah, can’t wait.' I’m ready to see him go.”

Fingers are certainly crossed that White will be back to his former self.

“It’s hard for everybody in the organization, because he was doing so well and then to get injured on a play where he didn’t even have the ball,” Swift said. “He’s worked extremely hard to get back to this point, and we’re really excited for him.”