Phillips Can Provide Speedy Spark
September 04, 2025 | Football, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
In street clothes, Dwight Phillips, Jr. looks more like a regular student than most of his Georgia football teammates. Listed at 5-foot-10 and 185 pounds, the sophomore running back doesn't look like the offensive weapon that he's shown he can be for the Bulldogs.
Looks can be deceiving, of course, as Phillips showed last Saturday on his first carry of the season. In the No. 4-ranked Bulldogs' 45-7 win over Marshall at Sanford Stadium, Phillips went around the left side, got a great block on the edge from tight end Lawson Luckie, and then flashed his track speed as he ran the ball in for a 17-yard touchdown to put Georgia up 7-0 after its first drive.
"It felt pretty good," Phillips said of his second career TD. "My teammates executed some great blocks to help me out."
Phillips' second carry went for seven yards, and his third was an 18-yard gain on the first play of the second half. That was followed by another seven-yarder, and Phillips' final carry of the day went for 11 yards. That's five carries for 60 yards — a 12-yard average.
"It always feels good to get that first game and get out there for the first time," Phillips said.
Last fall, Phillips played in six games, rushing six times for 33 yards, including a four-yard touchdown run against Florida for his first score as a Bulldog. He also caught two passes for 24 yards. When asked to name the best play of his football career, from his first days with a helmet on to now, Phillips said the score against the Gators was No. 1.
"My teammates being that excited for me, I loved it," he said.
Earlier this week, Georgia coach Kirby Smart talked about Phillips' physical development since arriving in Athens a little more than a year ago. There was a lot of work that needed to be done, he said.
"He had never really been in a hardcore weightlifting offseason program," Smart said, adding that this spring and summer were "his first true developmental offseason" to get bigger, stronger and faster. "He still is a work in progress. He knows he has areas he has to improve on, but that's the great thing about Dwight. He knows that he's not afraid of the hard work. He embraces what his weaknesses are, and he's trying to get better at those."
One area where Phillips thinks he's made a lot of progress since he got to Georgia is in his vision. "Just learning the simple stuff, like how to make the right reads," he said.
Phillips' many athletic gifts — the speed and quickness, the smooth way he turns a corner and heads upfield — come naturally. His father, Dwight Phillips, Sr., was the 2004 Olympic champion in the long jump and was a four-time world champion. While he ran track at Pebblebrook (Ga.) High School — and in 2022, he won the GHSA Class 7A state championship in the 100 meters with a time of 10.43 — Phillips said he never really considered following in his father's footsteps.
"From the moment I even started playing sports, I knew that football was what I wanted to do," he said. "It's just a brotherhood, being out with my friends playing football, and I love the competition that football brings out."
Georgia has a competitive running back group that's led by sophomore Nate Frazier, who ran for a team-high 671 yards and eight touchdowns on 133 carries last season. Frazier ran for 47 yards on 11 carries against Marshall. The Bulldogs also have Chauncey Bowens, who had six carries for 33 yards against the Thundering Herd. Like Frazier and Phillips, Bowens was a freshman in 2024 and rushed 16 times for 58 yards in four appearances.Â
"It's phenomenal," Phillips said of the group at running back. "We push each other to be great each and every day."
The Bulldogs host Austin Peay on Saturday at 3:30 p.m., before beginning SEC play on Sept. 13 at No. 22 Tennessee.
Staff Writer
In street clothes, Dwight Phillips, Jr. looks more like a regular student than most of his Georgia football teammates. Listed at 5-foot-10 and 185 pounds, the sophomore running back doesn't look like the offensive weapon that he's shown he can be for the Bulldogs.
Looks can be deceiving, of course, as Phillips showed last Saturday on his first carry of the season. In the No. 4-ranked Bulldogs' 45-7 win over Marshall at Sanford Stadium, Phillips went around the left side, got a great block on the edge from tight end Lawson Luckie, and then flashed his track speed as he ran the ball in for a 17-yard touchdown to put Georgia up 7-0 after its first drive.
"It felt pretty good," Phillips said of his second career TD. "My teammates executed some great blocks to help me out."
Phillips' second carry went for seven yards, and his third was an 18-yard gain on the first play of the second half. That was followed by another seven-yarder, and Phillips' final carry of the day went for 11 yards. That's five carries for 60 yards — a 12-yard average.
"It always feels good to get that first game and get out there for the first time," Phillips said.
Last fall, Phillips played in six games, rushing six times for 33 yards, including a four-yard touchdown run against Florida for his first score as a Bulldog. He also caught two passes for 24 yards. When asked to name the best play of his football career, from his first days with a helmet on to now, Phillips said the score against the Gators was No. 1.
"My teammates being that excited for me, I loved it," he said.
Earlier this week, Georgia coach Kirby Smart talked about Phillips' physical development since arriving in Athens a little more than a year ago. There was a lot of work that needed to be done, he said.
"He had never really been in a hardcore weightlifting offseason program," Smart said, adding that this spring and summer were "his first true developmental offseason" to get bigger, stronger and faster. "He still is a work in progress. He knows he has areas he has to improve on, but that's the great thing about Dwight. He knows that he's not afraid of the hard work. He embraces what his weaknesses are, and he's trying to get better at those."
One area where Phillips thinks he's made a lot of progress since he got to Georgia is in his vision. "Just learning the simple stuff, like how to make the right reads," he said.
Phillips' many athletic gifts — the speed and quickness, the smooth way he turns a corner and heads upfield — come naturally. His father, Dwight Phillips, Sr., was the 2004 Olympic champion in the long jump and was a four-time world champion. While he ran track at Pebblebrook (Ga.) High School — and in 2022, he won the GHSA Class 7A state championship in the 100 meters with a time of 10.43 — Phillips said he never really considered following in his father's footsteps.
"From the moment I even started playing sports, I knew that football was what I wanted to do," he said. "It's just a brotherhood, being out with my friends playing football, and I love the competition that football brings out."
Georgia has a competitive running back group that's led by sophomore Nate Frazier, who ran for a team-high 671 yards and eight touchdowns on 133 carries last season. Frazier ran for 47 yards on 11 carries against Marshall. The Bulldogs also have Chauncey Bowens, who had six carries for 33 yards against the Thundering Herd. Like Frazier and Phillips, Bowens was a freshman in 2024 and rushed 16 times for 58 yards in four appearances.Â
"It's phenomenal," Phillips said of the group at running back. "We push each other to be great each and every day."
The Bulldogs host Austin Peay on Saturday at 3:30 p.m., before beginning SEC play on Sept. 13 at No. 22 Tennessee.
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files.
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