“Run the damn ball, Bobo.” That is how we started our look ahead to the 2025 season. Georgia has been known as RBU, Running Back University. They have had a plethora of running backs who could come at opponents with flash or thunder. That was missing in the 2024 season, where the running game was anemic and just not very Dawg-like. While 2025 may not have ended with a national championship, a second straight SEC Championship is still nice. 2025 did show us that RBU is back in Athens. Let’s take a look at Georgia’s resurgent run game in 2025 and its newest addition to the coaching staff, offensive line coach Phil Rauscher.
RBU Is Back in Athens: Georgia Adds Phil Rauscher
RBU Runs Wild in 2025
How bad was Georgia’s running game in 2024? The numbers were bad enough to make a Damn Good Dawg cry. Georgia saw season lows in yards per carry, rushing touchdowns, and rushing yards per game.
| Season | Yards Per Carry | Rushing Touchdowns | Rushing Yards/Game |
| 2021 | 5.26 ypc | 29 TDs | ≈191 yards/game |
| 2022 | 4.8 ypc | 34 TDs | ≈205 yards/game |
| 2023 | 4.8 ypc | 30TDs | ≈190 yards/game |
| 2024 | 4.06 ypc | 24 TDs | ≈124 yards/game |
Georgia returned to its RBU and saw a notable resurgence in 2025. It put 2024 in the rearview mirror and became one of the most balanced and effective units in the SEC. After falling to the middle of the SEC pack in 2024, Georgia improved to finish with the fourth-ranked rushing attack in the SEC. The Dawgs averaged more than 182 yards per game in 2025 and finished with 31 rushing touchdowns on the season. These are the numbers that have become the standard Between the Hedges.
The run game showed up in three distinct areas in 2025.
- Red Zone Efficiency: Georgia traded field goals for touchdowns in 2025. Georgia moved from a middle-tier red zone rushing team in 2024 to a top-3 unit in the SEC in 2025.
- Road Dawgs: In 2024, Georgia struggled to run the ball away from home. Georgia averaged 145 ypg in 2024, which is not good enough. In 2025, that number jumped to 167.6 ypg on the road/neutral sites. Those numbers proved big in wins in Knoxville, The Plains, Jacksonville, and StarkVegas.
- Balanced Attack: Many hands (or legs in this case) made light work in 2025. Georgia had a number of contributors in 2025 that helped provide balance and allow the Dawgs to attack from a variety of players. Here is who stood out most in 2025.
Frazier and Stockton Lead
What a difference a year makes. Georgia was able to lean on opposing teams and wear them down physically. 2025 was the year of the vaunted Georgia “Death March.” They would take over games late in the third or fourth quarter. Wearing out opponents, securing a comeback, or driving the proverbial nail in the opponent’s coffin. Here were the biggest contributors in 2025.
- Nate Frazier: Frazier was RB1 for most of the year. He averaged 5.4 yards per carry and overcame some fumble issues earlier in the season to lead Georgia when it mattered most. Frazier showed the versatility to get tough yards when Georgia needed it most, as well as the ability to hit a “home run” if the defense broke.
- Gunner Stockton: Stockton was a game-changer in 2025. He replaced Carson Beck, who was more known for his arm than his legs. Stockton’s 3.6 yards per carry isn’t sexy and doesn’t fly off the stat sheet. His mobility, ability to buy time, and then tuck the ball and dive for a first down did. Stockton was the leader of this offense.
- Chauncey Bowens: Bowens came in and played a big role when Frazier needed a blow or worked through his ball-control issues. He averaged 5.1 yards per carry. Bowens and Frazier will be a key one-two punch as they both return in 2026.
- Dillon Bell: Bell was Georgia’s Swiss Army knife. His ability to motion from the slot into the backfield forced defenses out of their base packages, creating favorable light-box looks for Frazier and Bowens. But it just wasn’t window dressing. Bell finished the 2025 season with over 250 rushing yards and 4 rushing touchdowns, complementing his 600+ yards in the receiving game to become Georgia’s most dangerous all-purpose threat.
Georgia Adds to RBU in 2026
RBU will look a bit different in 2026. Frazier and Bowens will return to anchor the room; the supporting cast is undergoing a makeover. Roderick Robinson II, whose 2025 campaign was hampered by a lingering hamstring injury that limited him to just 6 carries for 22 yards, entered the transfer portal in early January and has since committed to UAB.
Georgia will also bid farewell to two reliable veterans who exhausted their eligibility: third-down specialist Cash Jones, who leaves after a career-best 195 receiving yards in 2025, and the finisher, Josh McCray, who exits Athens after punching in three touchdowns as a heavy-package goaline specialist last season.
To fill the void, Smart dipped into the portal to land former Kentucky standout Dante Dowdell, a 225-pound “bruiser” with 560 yards of SEC experience who will help fill in the hole left behind by McCray. We will also have a new young Dawg to look out for. 2026 signee Jae Lamar has a chance to be ELITE. Lamar is a dynamic 4-star prospect from Colquitt County.
Phil Rauscher Impact
The stabilizing of the Georgia offensive line helped lead to RBU’s resurgence this season. Stacy Searels did an excellent job this season, mixing in a number of young guys and playing through starting center Mike Bobo’s injury to get the running game back on track. Searels was assisted this offseason when Phil Rauscher was hired as an analyst after his time with the Jacksonville Jaguars ended last season. Rauscher was a favorite of Georgia’s Big Skill guys. Players credited his “NFL insight” with helping the unit develop technical expertise, even as the team navigated six different offensive line combinations early in the season. Earlier this week, Smart and Georgia announced that Rauscher and Searels will be swapping roles for the 2026 season. Rauscher will become the offensive line coach, and Searels will move to an analyst position. RBU looks locked and loaded for a strong 2026.
Main Photo: Joshua L. Jones / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
