With D’Andre Swift in the NFL, who are Georgia’s options at running back in 2020?

It’s a simple coaching philosophy, really: Get the most out of the players on your team.

That’s the mindset that new Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken expressed when he met with reporter Aug. 25. Nowhere will that effort to maximize players’ skill sets show up more than the Bulldog running back room.

The running back depth consists mainly of five players: junior James Cook, redshirt sophomore Zamir White, sophomore Kenny McIntosh, and four-star freshmen Kendall Milton and Daijun Edwards. It’s a relatively inexperienced group, with White leading the returners with 78 carries last season.

“They all bring certain qualities to the game of football,” Georgia running backs coach Dell McGee said. “Losing D’Andre Swift was a big loss, but we definitely have five guys that are capable and would do a good job this year.”

McGee is right in that each back brings a little something different to the table.

White is more of a downhill power back. Cook is a quick, shifty runner who can make defenders look silly in the open field. McIntosh seems to be more of a slasher, while it remains to be seen how Milton’s and Edwards’ attributes will translate to the college level.

Cook seems to be the most interesting player due to his ability as a pass catcher. He leads the returning running backs with 16 catches and 132 receiving yards in 2019. White, by comparison, had just two receptions for 20 yards.

That’s where McGee comes in. He knows some backs are better receivers than others. It’s his job to erase any deficiencies to benefit players both in college and for a potential NFL career.

“In the next level, which all our guys aspire to be, you have to develop that part of your game if you want to be an every-down running back,” McGee said. “It adds various things to our offense as well. The more you can do, whether it’s catching the ball, running great routes, protecting the quarterback, creating yards in the running game, the better off you’re going to be.”

Those skills, for Cook in particular, bring to mind visions of having two running backs on the field at once. McGee said “anything’s possible” when asked about such a formation, saying specific plans will be up to Monken.

The good news for McGee is that the running back room has proven to be unselfish during his time in Athens. Twice in his four seasons at Georgia, the Bulldogs have had a pair of 1,000-yard rushers. Every year, there is a steady rotation in the backfield, preventing one back from shouldering too big of a load.

“It’s definitely a philosophy of ours,” McGee said. “We feel like the more guys that we can play to keep our running backs fresh, they’re able to be more explosive, have less mental breakdowns and they’re able to assess the game and stay involved in the game and execute at a high level when their number is called.”

However the rotation shakes out, the Bulldogs have plenty of talent to keep their reputation as “RBU” alive. It’s up to McGee and Monken to figure out how to maximize those skills and keep the Georgia rushing attack as potent as ever.

“Every running back and every player on our offense has a stronger quality than others,” McGee said. “Moving forward, I think we will use those guys in the correct manner.”