Elijah Holyfield’s role in UGA offense was worth the wait

Holyfield, son of former boxing champion Evander Holyfield, played sparingly the past two seasons as Chubb and Michel completed four-year UGA careers in which they combined for 8,407 rushing yards, including more than 1,200 apiece last season. But now, with Chubb and Michel having moved on to the Cleveland Browns and New England Patriots, respectively, Georgia’s revamped tailback rotation includes a long-awaited prominent role for Holyfield.

Sophomore D’Andre Swift, Georgia’s third-leading rusher last season with 618 yards, has started each of this season’s first three games, although he didn’t play after the Bulldogs’ first two possessions in last week’s win over Middle Tennessee. Holyfield, a junior, is the co-No. 2 tailback on the depth chart alongside Brian Herrien, also a junior. Freshman James Cook also is part of the tailback-by-committee approach behind the Bulldogs’ stellar offensive line.

“Everybody is seeming to get their fair load of carries,” Holyfield said. “I think it’s working out really well.”

But going into Georgia’s SEC East game at Missouri on Saturday (Noon, ESPN; 95.5 FM and WSB 750 AM), Holyfield is the Bulldogs’ leading rusher, with 200 yards, including team highs of 100 against Middle Tennessee (despite not playing in the second half of a 49-7 rout) and 76 against South Carolina.

This, in short, is what he had been waiting for.

“At first, I was a little bit impatient,” he said. “But I learned good things come to those who wait, so it is all working out.”

The wait may have lasted a year longer than initially expected, because Chubb and Michel could have entered the NFL draft after their junior seasons. Much to the Bulldogs’ benefit, they returned for their senior seasons last year.

Holyfield had only 56 career carries for 322 yards before this season. But on the practice field the past two years, coach Kirby Smart consistently saw from Holyfield the “same thing that I see now” – a tough, physical, motivated player who loves the game.

“For two years, you know, Sony and Nick got all the accolades and got all the credit and deservedly so,” Smart said. “But those kids last spring – talking about Holyfield and Herrien – showed me right away what they had because they got a lot of carries and handled it well and were physical. And I thought, ‘We’ve got two good backs that nobody is going to know about.’”

Tailback is like many positions on this Georgia team, well-stocked with talent that keeps competition intense.

“Nobody has a chance to be comfortable on this team because there is so much competition,” Holyfield said. “I think that is what makes us really good.”

An area where Holyfield is striving for improvement is pass-catching.

“One of the managers throws me 110 balls every day after practice,” he said. “It’s one of the things I knew coming into this season I needed to work on to become a more complete back. I’ve worked on it a lot, and I’m looking forward to letting it show.”

The constant need for improvement is one of the lessons he learned from Chubb and Michel.

“Even when they would have a great game,” Holyfield said, “they were always back in the film room the next day, trying to get better.”

One scene from last week’s game haunts Holyfield: He had a career-long 66-yard run on the opening drive, but failed to score a touchdown on the play. As Middle Tennessee safety Gregory Grate chased him from an advantageous angle, Holyfield tried to avoid Grate by “slowing down to try to make him run past me or something.” Instead, Grate took Holyfield out of bounds at the 7-yard line.

Holyfield said that play was a topic of discussion between him and his father after the game: “He said he wished I had scored, said I probably should have just kept running. He said, ‘Trust your speed.’

“I was very mad I didn’t get in (the end zone),” Holyfield said. “But it’ll be OK – I’ll get more opportunities.”