Standing behind the podium, the smile on Kendall Milton’s face confirmed what most already figured was true.
“I have the utmost confidence at this point,” Georgia’s senior running back exclaimed.
It’s easy to understand why he feels that way.
Milton enters Saturday’s SEC Championship (4 p.m., CBS) on arguably his best stretch of football as a Bulldog, with 41 carries for 359 yards and five touchdowns. He’s also scored touchdowns in seven consecutive games.
Bulldog fans familiar with the ups and downs of Milton’s career can appreciate why he feels this way.
Milton’s four years in Athens have seen the California native have to overcome injuries throughout, primarily knee and hamstring ailments.
That’s no longer the case.
When Milton talks about confidence, he quickly mentions the work of his offensive line. Besides that, he believes it’s the confidence his teammates have in him that has allowed him to play at the level he currently is.
“You want to be trusted, you want to be able to know that, you know your brothers are believing you,” Milton said. “Before every game, before practice, before today's team run, our O-line will say ‘Be like K-Mill, run the ball like you know how to do.’ They just keep fueling me, letting me know stuff.”
Knowing his offensive coaches believe in him enough to keep giving him the opportunities means a lot, too.
“Between Coach (Dell) McGee, Coach (Kirby) Smart and Coach (Mike) Bobo, when you know when your coach is constantly putting you in a position to kind of have the ball, you appreciate that trust they have in you,” Milton said. “Every day, I’m like, 'Thank you for believing in me, thank you for letting me have the opportunity,' because at the end of the day, everybody wants to be on the field. Those are probably the two biggest things that have led me to be able to have the confidence and be able to, you know, just trust my game.”
Milton’s overall numbers are certainly impressive, as he and Daijun Edwards have combined to give the Bulldogs one of the better 1-2 punches at running back in the SEC.
Edwards still leads Georgia in rushing with 148 carries for 780 yards and 11 touchdowns, followed by Milton with 99 carries for 644 yards and 10 scores. He’s averaging 6.5 yards per carry.
Smart agrees that Milton’s looking like a different back now that he’s healthy.
“He's running with confidence. I feel like he's hitting the hole a lot harder, because he's more confident, and being explosive is getting to the secondary,” Smart said. “You're not going to be an explosive run offense if you don't get your backs to the secondary. And that's one thing we've been able to do is get him past that first level, and he's running through a lot of arm tackles, too, which is really important to be an explosive run team.”
Milton smiled that he had not noticed the pain that he’d been inflicting on would-be tacklers.
“I don't personally like to even think about it at the moment. Right when I get tagged, I look back to the sideline,” Milton said. “My line makes me do a little celebration, so maybe after a touchdown there be a little celebration, but to be honest. I really don't even think of it. Maybe if I'm watching the film and watching the runs, I'll be like, ‘Oh, sheesh.’ But in the moment. I don't even think of it.”
