Nate Frazier is unquestionably one of UGA’s most important players for 2026.
His 947 yards rushing last season were the most for a Bulldogs running back in seven seasons. He was also arguably one of the most challenging players for Georgia to hold onto during the open transfer portal period in January. Frazier would’ve commanded a lucrative price on the open market. It was a big win for UGA to keep him in the fold.
Now the Bulldogs hope their investment pays dividends.
Frazier’s performance through his first two seasons at Georgia suggests big things could be in store for him in his junior year. However, he isn’t the only running back in the SEC with big expectations for 2026.
Ole Miss also brings back Kewan Lacy, one of the key components of its College Football Playoff roster from 2025. Missouri also returns Ahmad Hardy, who seems destined to be a preseason All-American. Not to mention Florida, who convinced Jaden Baugh to stick around for new coach Jon Sumrall’s first season with the Gators.
The point is that the future could indeed be bright for Frazier at UGA, but the SEC expects to be crowded with great running backs in 2026. And Frazier will have his work cut out to stand out from that crowd this fall.
Check it out as well as the rest of our coverage below.
Trivia time
What year did Georgia football win its first national championship?
Answer is at the bottom of the newsletter.
Why Carson Beck has no ‘bad blood’ with Georgia
Carson Beck opened his podium interview at the NFL combine on Friday talking football, but the conversation quickly turned to the transfer drama left in his wake.
Beck, who left Georgia after the 2024 season and transferred to Miami, took advantage of the opportunity to clear the air.
“There’s no bad blood, I’m not sure where that came from, but I love the University of Georgia,” said Beck, who holds a degree from UGA and will work out at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium.
“I didn’t know I’d get injured at the end of the season, I didn’t know that I was going to end up coming back to college for another year, that was never the plan.”
The plan changed quickly after Beck suffered a torn ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) on the final play of the first half against Texas in the 2024 SEC championship game.
Beck originally declared himself eligible for the 2025 NFL draft before deciding to play another season of college football to ensure a full recovery and optimize his draft stock while landing a rich NIL deal.
“It’s like, Gunner (Stockton) is next up, that’s the thing, it’s his turn to be the quarterback at the University of Georgia,” Beck said. “So when I had decided to not go to the NFL and come back, I was going to go somewhere else. That’s how it all worked out.”
Dillon Bell and Colbie Young, two of Beck’s former teammates present at the NFL Combine on Friday, shared their thoughts on the former Georgia quarterback.
“I don’t care what they say about Carson, he’s that dude, and I’m going to always and forever stand by that — that’s one of my best friends,” Bell said. “He’s very smart, he’s a real floor general. He can lead a team. He’s an NFL-ready quarterback.
“I’ve been with him three years, so I see how he is on the field and off the field. He’s ready.”
UGA athletics daily schedule
Home:
- Men’s basketball vs. Alabama, 6:30 p.m.
Away:
- Baseball at Kennesaw State, 6 p.m.
Why 5-star UGA commit Donte Wright has 3 schools on mind
Donte Wright has been committed to Georgia for eight months.
It will take some serious hunkering down on the trail for the Dawgs to keep him committed for another eight.
The talented California cornerback is rated a 5-star by the 247Sports Composite. He’s a near 5-star for the Rivals Industry Ranking.
And he is very much in demand by the Oregon Ducks and the Miami Hurricanes.
That’s the buzz around the national recruiting analysts and “The Sevens” this past weekend. Wright, competing in the national 7-on-7 event, was back in the Peach State for the first time since his Georgia “Junior Day” visit at the end of January.
That was the weekend when Wright was working hard recruiting for Georgia. Doing his part to get priority 5-star RB target Kemon Spell to commit to the G.
“The whole week I’m on him,” Wright said. “I was like, ‘You might as well commit, man. You are going to be the next Nate Frazier,’ so yeah, I saw it coming for sure.”
Now, the roles are reversed. Spell is the terra firma UGA commit, trying his best to keep the program’s only defensive commitment in Athens.
Photo of the day
Quote of the day
Former Georgia defensive back Daylen Everette:
“When the lights are the brightest, that’s when I play the best, and I can play more than one position, even though I only played boundary (cornerback) at Georgia.”
Mel Kiper Jr. shares which Georgia player helped himself most
The Georgia football program was very well-represented this past week at the NFL combine. Multiple draft hopefuls shined in the various testing drills while meeting with prospective future employers.
Yet some had better showings than others. One who earned significant praise was wide receiver Zachariah Branch.
ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. tabbed the speedy wide receiver as one of the standouts of the event.
“Branch ran as fast as expected, turning in a 4.35-second 40. He was as explosive as expected, jumping 38 inches,” Kiper Jr. wrote. “But it was his work in the gauntlet drill that stood out most to me. With 29 ⅜-inch arms, he doesn’t have the widest catch radius, but he showed really sure hands, plucking the ball from his body. And once the ball is in his hands, he’s a dynamic playmaker -- 636 of his 811 receiving yards came after the catch last season. I’m admittedly higher on Branch than most, but I see a second-rounder.”
Trivia answer
1942
