Zachariah Branch, Dwight Phillips flash explosiveness for Georgia

When you closed your eyes and pictured Georgia making explosive plays in the 2025 season, you probably came to a few names.

On Saturday, Zachariah Branch and Dwight Phillips lived up to their reputations. Both were seen as speedy, explosive play-creating offensive weapons.

They flashed as Georgia rolled to a 45-7 win over Marshall in the season-opener at Sanford Stadium. Branch caught three passes for 95 yards and a 47-yard touchdown. That is a whopping 31.7 yards per catch.

Phillips put up 60 yards on five carries. He scored a 17-yard touchdown on Georgia’s first possession. That was a team-leading 12 yards per carry for Phillips.

Georgia has a lot of size and physicality and a quarterback in Gunner Stockton that will be able to create some juice on the ground on own. Stockton ran for 73 yards and two touchdowns on Saturday.

Branch and Phillips have opened a can of possibilities in that they could be the thing that makes Georgia’s offense a powerful one over the course of 2025.

“Explosive plays are something that’s really important for our offense,” Branch said post-game. “We always talk about having explosive plays and things like that, so whenever we get the opportunity. We know we have a lot of good playmakers on the team, so whenever we get the opportunity, just capitalize on every opportunity we get.”

Branch also credited Phillips. Many of Georgia’s players have seen Phillips come on this offseason after playing sparingly as a true freshman last season. The former blue-chip recruit has the speed and ability to turn medium runs into home runs.

It has the attention of his teammates.

“It was great to see Dwight actually go out here and put those wheels to use in the game, man, because I’ve seen it every day in practice,” Branch said. “He would bend a corner and get out of there on his own. It was pretty good just to get a chance to see him do it in-game.”

Georgia will be back in Athens as they host Austin-Peay at 3:30 p.m.