One play still sticks with Athens. Georgia was driving, and Alabama was on the other sideline, and the crowd at Sanford Stadium was simply alive. Nate Frazier took the handoff in the red zone, thinking end zone, thinking this is my moment. Instead, Frazier fumbled the ball inside the Bulldogs’ red zone. By the end of the night, the Tide walked out with a 24-21 win, while Frazier walked out knowing something bigger than a game had just changed.

At the time, this loss felt crushing. Frazier had been on a roll going into that matchup, fresh off three games where he had piled up 189 rushing yards. Moreover, with Gunner Stockton and Zachariah Branch leading the offense, the confidence was high. Alabama, though, had other plans, and that fumble showed Frazier a version of himself that he hadn’t fully confronted yet. 

“I was feeling like I’m on top of the world. Nothing could stop me. And it humbled you,” Frazier said on I Am Athlete’s February 4 podcast. “And then when that happened, it humbled me, bro. I started doing things differently. I’m talking about being locked into a different level cuz it was a point… It just turned a switch on for me.

I’m walking around the building with a ball in my hand. Doing training with a ball in my hand, trying to make sure of every little possible thing I can do to prevent this damn ball from coming out of my hand,” Nate Frazier added. This humbling didn’t come out of nowhere; it has been brewing for a while.

Frazier’s journey has never been smooth, even if it did look that way from the outside. He was not an early enrollee. He came to Athens just months before his freshman season and was thrown into the fire when injuries and suspension forced Georgia to lean on him against Clemson. He managed 83 yards and a touchdown, averaging 7.5 yards per carry. But then, after these things changed drastically. Frazier didn’t see double-digit carries again until four games after opening week. In a month, the Georgia running back went from cloud nine back to ground zero.

Leading up to the Bama game, the freshman RB was showing poor ball security, fumbling the ball 4 times during UGA’s “Bloody Tuesday” practice. Although Frazier wasn’t an early enrollee and only enrolled in June, he had just 2 months to prepare. Yet, the fumble issues were far from the ‘Kirby Smart standard.’

“There’s not a week that we go out there that we don’t talk about, emphasize turnovers, ball security, and those things,” Kirby Smart said about Frazier. “I don’t think there’s a team in the country that’s not repping and practicing ball security. So it’s something that he’s gotta overcome.” Despite Kirby Smart’s insistence, the issues remained.

Frazier fumbled the ball two times against Ole Miss and once against Texas, as he accumulated 671 rushing yards. Everyone thought the 2025 season would finally see Frazier improve on his ball security issues. However, in the 2025 season’s second game, the sophomore RB fumbled against Austin Peay, and the Alabama fumble finally became a turning point for Frazier. But Frazier put everything behind him and came roaring back.

Kirby Smart’s trust in Nate Frazier led to dominant performances for the rest of the 2025 season

After the Alabama loss, Kirby Smart persisted with Frazier and kept him as his top RB. Smart prioritized him even when Chauncey Bowens had zero fumbles on 41 carries in 2025, leading up to the Bama game. Never mind Bowens’ 5.9 yards rushing average exceeded Nate Frazier’s 5.1-yard average. That faith, which Smart put in his ace RB, finally paid off massive dividends both in elevating Frazier’s game and keeping him in Athens.

“[Nate Frazier] is working hard. He always works hard. You don’t really necessarily change how somebody works, right? They work hard. They work hard. And we appreciate that,” Smart said. “He’s got to play with confidence, and it comes with habits. We’re going to keep working on those with him. he works really hard and has a positive attitude, and that’s what you look for in a teammate.”

Nate Frazier finished his 2025 season with 947 rushing yards and 0 fumbles after the Alabama game. The California native had an explosive 186-yard rushing performance against Mississippi State. Thereafter, against Georgia Tech, Frazier was again prolific, putting in a 108-yard rushing performance. Even in the loss against Ole Miss in the postseason, the sophomore RB rushed for 86 yards and was one of the best players for UGA.

Later, in the 2025 season, rumors linked Frazier to chasing a high-profile NIL deal and even predicted him entering the portal. However, at the end, Kirby Smart’s trust came in handy, and the 5’10” and 210 lbs RB finally returned for one more season in 2026. Frazier has become a prolific player now, and many even expect him to win the 2026 Doak Walker award.