Georgia coach Kirby Smart: Why Zamir White didn’t carry against Notre Dame

ATHENS — Georgia fan-favorite Zamir White is averaging 7.4 yards per carry but he didn’t get a carry against Notre Dame.

Coach Kirby Smart explained that it had more to do with the power and efficiency D’Andre Swift was running with along with Brian Herrien’s hard-charging ways in the 23-17 win over the Irish.

“If number 7 (Swift) is running the ball the way he was running the ball, it’s hard to give the ball to anybody (else),” Smart said following practice on Tuesday. “The guy was making people miss, running possessed. Brian was running hard.”

Swift had 18 carries for 98 yards and a TD, with a long run of 15 yards and another carry during which he leaped over a defender on a 10-yard gain.

Herrien, a senior, had 8 carries for 43 yards and the longest run of the night for either team, a 16 harder.

James Cook was the only other back to get a carry, and that came when he ran the ball on a sweep that lost 4 yards in the fourth quarter.

Smart said the Bulldogs had originally planned to get White some work.

“We wanted to get Zamir involved and we need to do that, and he’s growing and getting better,” Smart said.

“He had two of the best blitz pick-ups I’ve seen out there today (Tuesday) where he stoned them. So he’s getting better and he’s getting more confident and I want to be able to show confidence in him and put him out there and let him go play.”

Smart pointed out there were other deserving players who also were limited.

The Georgia head coach could have been talking about breakout freshman receivers George Pickens and Dominick Blaylock, who were targeted two and three times, or the one touch Cook got or the solitary target for Eli Wolf.

Further, the Bulldogs only ran 59 plays in the hard-fought slugfest.

“It wasn’t just Zamir. It was a lot of guys,” Smart said. “There were a lot of guys that I would’ve loved to get in the game, but the opportunity never presented itself. And we still played a lot of people.”

Here’s a look at how the Georgia backs compare his season:

• Swift 49 carries, 388 yards (7.9 ypc)

6 catches, 75 yards (12.5 avg.)

• Herrien 29 carries, 163 yards (5.6 ypc)

4 catches, 20 yards (5.0 avg.)

• White 19 carries, 141 yards (7.4 ypc)

1 catch, 5 yards (5.0 avg.)

• McIntosh 13 carries, 128 yards (9.8 ypc)

0 catches

• Cook 9 carries, 99 yards (11 ypc)

6 catches, 57 yards (9.5 avg.)