Dwight Phillips Jr. may have to carry load for Georgia again

ATHENS — Dwight Phillips Jr. might be one of the smallest players on the Georgia football team, but no one is carrying a bigger load in the run game for the nation’s No. 1 team.

Phillips is likely to be the lead back again when the Bulldogs (6-0, 4-0 SEC) play host to Auburn (3-2, 1-2) at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.

The 185-pound Phillips, coming off a 17-carry, 120-yard rushing performance (both team highs), told media this week he’s ready for whatever coach Kirby Smart asks of him.

The Bulldogs rank fifth in the SEC and 30th in the nation in rushing, averaging 213 yards per game rushing, an important statistic as UGA’s run game sets up the play-action pass game.

Phillips is ready for more work.

“I feel a little beat up, but through six games I bet everyone is feeling a little bruised up,” Phillips said, asked about his health after the physical 20-17 win at Alabama.

“I’ll rely on my treatment and feel better. Anything to help my team week in and week out, I’m willing to do.”

Georgia has a bye the following week, so it would make sense for Smart to rest Nate Frazier and his sore ribs this Saturday knowing a “free” game weekend is ahead.

UGA will still have five regular season games and as many as five more games after that depending on its postseason draw and run in the College Football Playoff.

UGA tailback Chauncey Bowens is expected to be on the first injury report of the week when it is released on Wednesday night, as well, with a lower extremity injury.

But the way Phillips is playing — along with sophomore Bo Walker — the Bulldogs should have a solid 1-2 punch.

Fact is, Phillips has earned the starting position even in the unlikely event Frazier and/or Bowens were to return, as he proved the most impressive runner of the three to this point this season.

Walker has proven capable in the backfield, too, breaking off a 59-yard run in the 38-24 win over Vanderbilt on Oct. 3 and carrying 10 times for 69 yards into the teeth of a Tide defense that entered the game ranked 10th in the nation in rush defense.

“I love Bo, great work ethic, he ran the ball good,” Phillips said. “He brings a lot, he’s explosive, as well.”

Perhaps, but Phillips — who has run 100 meters in 10.24 seconds — has the potential to be the most explosive back in the SEC, if not the nation.

As impressed as most everyone was with Phillips’ performance, he essentially shrugged it off as just doing his job.

“Really, just a next man up,” Phillips Jr. said of his tole. “My teammates and coaches had the confidence in me, and I took advantage of the opportunities.”

There will be more opportunities ahead, as Phillips has gone from being projected as the No. 4 tailback coming out of spring drills, to emerging as a bonafide rising star for the Bulldogs.

UGA tailback carries, yards

Dwight Phillips Jr., 37 carries, 280 yards