ATHENS — Saturday was not the first time Dwight Phillips Jr. scored a touchdown in a Georgia uniform.
The second-year running back first found the end zone at the end of last season’s win over Florida. He scored the game’s final points on a four-yard run to cap off what had been a rather forgettable rivalry win.
The play meant a great deal to Phillips at the time, even if didn’t register for every Georgia football observer.
His 2025 debut on Saturday caught the eye of everyone.
Phillips racked up 60 yards on just five carries. He scored the opening touchdown of the game, ripping off a 17-yard run to get the day started.
“I saw my teammates make some incredible blocks, which got me 1-on-1 with the safety, and I just made a play,” Phillips said.
Phillips, known around the program as Peanut thanks to Will Muschamp, brought some much-needed juice to the rushing attack. Gunner Stockton’s rushing efforts were the big takeaway from the win, but Phillips looked like someone who could bolster Georgia’s rushing offense this season.
Georgia ran for more yards against Marshall, 239, than it did in any game last season. The 60-yard performance was a new career-best for Phillips and the best of any Georgia running back.
As much as his game may have improved this offseason, Phillips made even greater strides physically. After arriving in Athens in the summer of 2024, Phillips was able to spend an entire offseason adding strength to his frame.
He’s now up to 185 pounds, which is still on the smaller side of Georgia’s running backs. But the added weight didn’t seem to slow down Phillips.
“His progression has been weight room, develop, grow, protect, protect the ball, get bigger, get stronger,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “He needed the weight room really bad when he got here. He’d never really been in a hard core weightlifting offseason program.”
What Phillips lacks in brute strength, he makes up for in speed. Phillips’ dad is Olympic Gold Medalist Dwight Phillips, who won the long jump at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.
The older Phillips understands what it is like to win and train at the highest level. Those tips have trickled down to the Georgia running back.
“We have a phenomenal relationship, I talk to him every day,” Phillips said. “When I went to run track in 10th grade, he had helped me, he showed me the mechanics I would have to use, so it would be good.”
Phillips is not overly boastful about his speed or abilities. When asked if he is the fastest member of the Georgia team, he politely declines to answer. He mentions sophomore safety KJ Bolden as someone who could possibly keep up with him in a 100-meter dash.
Phillips has no illusions of balancing track and football during his time at Georgia. He knows he can help the Georgia rushing attack, something Georgia spent much of the offseason emphasizing.
It was just one game against an overmatched Marshall foe. Phillips still has a long way to go if he is to end up being the next great Georgia running back.
But this offseason demonstrated to Smart that Phillips he’s willing to do what it takes to go the extra mile.
“He knows he has areas he has to improve on,” Smart said. “But the great thing about Dwight, Peanut, is that he’s not afraid of the hard work. He embraces what his weaknesses are, and he’s trying to get better at those.”
