Georgia faces rival Florida Saturday, and its “personal” for Bulldogs running back Trevor Etienne, according to teammate and Sunshine State native Arian Smith. Etienne spent the first two seasons of his college career in Gainesville before transferring to Georgia in the offseason. He’s the Bulldogs’ leading rusher entering Week 10 with 422 rushing yards and seven touchdowns in six games played.
“(Etienne) says Florida don’t have what we have over here,” Smith said Monday. “He takes a lot of gratitude in being over here. I am sure its personal for him because it is personal for me. I’m also from Florida.”
Etienne was one of Billy Napier‘s first offensive commitments after taking the Florida job in November 2021. The three-star back out of Jennings (La.) pledged to the Gators less than two months after Napier’s hire, picking the program over LSU and Clemson.
“It’s become the norm of college football,” Napier said of facing Etienne this week. “We’ve played against former players and a handful of times this year. It feels like there is a story each week about scenarios like that. It wasn’t the first and won’t be the last, unfortunately. … You move on to the next one. We’ve done what we need to do at running back. I couldn’t be more proud of the guys we have there.”
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart downplayed the Florida matchup as a revenge game for Etienne during his weekly presser.
“You don’t want to get caught up in emotions and be emotional. I don’t think that helps any. That’s the best part of college football now. We’ve had kids go down there, so we don’t get caught up in it much. At the end of the day, what’s going to make you play well? It ain’t worrying about that. He’s talented. He’s intelligent. He’s a level-headed kid. He’s a good leader. He’s a great kid. Those qualities help anybody play, but he’s older than a freshman. He came into a system that’s not that far off from the one he was in in terms of offense. He transitioned well.”
Georgia enters the game as a 16.5-point favorite, per FanDuel Sportsbook. The Bulldogs won three straight in the series and are looking to make it four in a row for the first time since winning six straight from 1978-83.
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“Florida is playing their best football, Smart said. “They have a really, really good roster. A lot of players we’ve recruited and recruited against them. Really a lot of great size across the front on the offensive and defensive lines. Billy knows that’s what is key in the SEC. Their three losses have come to three teams that are ranked in the top 10 — at least, I think they are. I don’t even know. But they’re really good teams.”
