ATHENS, Ga. - The eighth-ranked Auburn Tigers are hoping redshirt sophomore tailback Kamryn Pettway can play Saturday when they visit Georgia in the Deep South's oldest football rivalry.
The Bulldogs are hoping he'll take the field, too.
"He's a good back, like a lot of backs we play," Georgia junior nose tackle John Atkins said Monday. "We're just ready to play anybody. We want them at their best."
Pettway has been college football's best running back since the start of October, averaging 192.5 yards in wins over Mississippi State, Arkansas, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt. The 6-foot, 240-pounder from Prattville, Ala., broke free for a 61-yard run late this past Saturday but pulled a leg muscle.
Tigers coach Gus Malzahn hasn't announced whether Pettway, who leads the Southeastern Conference with 1,106 yards, would be back this week. He could have an update this afternoon at his weekly news conference.
Bulldogs counterpart Kirby Smart is including Pettway in this week's plans.
"Any time you play a good football team, you want to play against their best players," Smart said, "and we have to prepare as if he's going to be there. Whether he's there or not, they know how to run the ball, trust me. They did it at the beginning of the year sometimes without him.
"Whether he plays or not, they have ways to run the ball downhill. They're creative, and they know what they're doing. This isn't their first time with a running back injured, so we have to prepare either way, and the number one thing we have to do is worry about us and tackle."
Smart said he personally recruited Pettway when he was Alabama's defensive coordinator and that the Crimson Tide offered a scholarship to the three-star prospect 247Sports.com rated as the nation's No. 27 running back in the 2014 class. Pettway redshirted in 2014 and rotated with Chandler Cox at fullback last season but did not have a single carry.
Pettway's path to tailback opened when Peyton Barber and Roc Thomas left the program after last season with eligibility remaining and when Jovon Robinson was dismissed before the start of preseason camp, but not even Malzahn could have foreseen such a meteoric rise.
"We did know after spring that he had a chance to be a good running back in this league and that it was just a matter of him getting out there and doing it," Malzahn said last week. "He has responded. He's getting more and more confidence and more and more comfortable each week, and he's getting used to our offensive line.
"Our offensive line has done an excellent job, too, but we're very pleased with Kamryn Pettway right now."
Malzahn and offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee rarely shy away from going with the hot hand, rushing Tre Mason 46 times for 304 yards in the victory over Missouri in the 2013 SEC title game. Pettway rushed 121 times in four games last month, so if he is good enough to play Saturday, the Bulldogs could see him a lot.
"Kamryn Pettway is extremely talented," Vanderbilt coach Derek Mason said. "He's got great foot speed, and he's got extremely good vision for a man his size. He reminds me of Christian Okoye to a certain degree, just in terms of his physicality and his ability to find room where there is very little. For a big man, he has patience in the hole."
Said Malzahn: "He has definitely worn on some teams, and there is no doubt about that. He does get stronger as the game goes on. He loves the physical part of the game."
Despite the abundance of carries, Pettway's 6.39 yards per carry is the highest such total for an Auburn 1,000-yard rusher since Brent Fullwood averaged 8.33 on his way to a sixth-place Heisman Trophy finish in 1986.
Should Pettway not be able to play, the Tigers likely would rely on sophomore Kerryon Johnson, a 6-foot, 211-pounder who has rushed for 616 yards and is used a lot on direct snaps in short-yardage and goal-line situations. Johnson has 100-yard games this season against Arkansas State (124) and Louisiana-Monroe (146).
Auburn is averaging 299.8 rushing yards a game, and Georgia is allowing 118.2.
"Our run defense, honestly, has come a long way since the summer," Bulldogs sophomore outside linebacker D'Andre Walker said. "With the energy we bring to practice every day and how everybody has been buying in, it had no choice but to get better."
Odds and ends
Georgia's home game next week against Louisiana-Lafayette will have a noon kickoff and will be televised by the SEC Network Alternate.... The Bulldogs are 10-point underdogs at home this week, the highest such number inside Sanford Stadium since being 14-point underdogs before the 29-17 loss to Tennessee in 1996, when Volunteers quarterback Peyton Manning was a junior.... Smart said sophomore receiver Jayson Stanley (foot infection) would not play this Saturday and sophomore defensive end Daquan Hawkins-Muckle (ankle) is questionable but that everyone who was injured against Kentucky should be available.