On Friday, just a couple of days over the Bulldogs brought home the 2020 Sugar Bowl trophy from New Orleans with a 26-14 victory over Baylor, running back D’Andre Swift announced his decision to forego the rest of collegiate eligibility, declaring he would enter the 2020 NFL Draft.
D’Andre’s dad, Darren Swift, also expressed his appreciation and gratitude to UGA via Twitter.
Swift joins junior left tackle Andrew Thomas and redshirt sophomore Isaiah Wilson as UGA underclassmen who have decided to leave early. Both Thomas and Wilson announced their decision back on December 17th. Swift leaves quite a legacy at the University of Georgia as one of the top-ten tailbacks in school history.
Swift’s journey at UGA started in 2017 when he signed with the Dawgs out of St. Joseph’s Preparatory School in Philadelphia, PA. As a true freshman, Swift donned the No. 7 jersey and played in all 15 games for Georgia, starting in one (versus Auburn), sharing the backfield with seniors Nick Chubb and Sony Michel along with sophomores Brian Herrien and Elijah Holyfield, and ran for 618 yards and three touchdowns on 81 attempts, including a 71-yard scamper versus Missouri. Chubb and Michel would pass the tailback torch to Swift after the 2017 season as they headed to the NFL.
As a sophomore, Swift would play in and start all 14 games for the Bulldogs and go on to eclipse the 1,000-yard mark as a rusher. He would carry the ball 163 times for 1,049 yards and 10 touchdowns. This past season, Swift again reached the 1,000-yard mark, rushing for 1,218 yards and 7 touchdowns on 196 carries. The 5-foot-9 and 215 lbs junior has played in 43 games, starting 23 of them for the Bulldogs over the last three seasons.
In those three years, Swift has toted the rock 440 times for 2,885 yards and 20 touchdowns, averaging 6.6 yards per carry. Equally adept as a pass-catcher out of the backfield, Swift has also hauled in 73 passes for 666 yards and 6 touchdowns. Overall, he has amassed a total of 3,551 yards and 25 TDs from scrimmage. Swift is No. 7 all-time in school history in career rushing yards and No. 6 all-time in school history in yards from scrimmage. Among Georgia tailbacks who have had at least 1,000 career yards, Swift’s 6.6 yards per carry average is tops in school history.
Now, No. 7 passes the “Running Back-U” torch on to sophomore James Cook, redshirt freshman Zamir White, freshman Kenny McIntosh, and 2020 signee and early enrollee Kendall Milton.