Whether he’s photoshopped or not, Elijah Holyfield is going to be a scary sight for the SEC in 2018.

In a way, he has become the forgotten man in the Georgia backfield. It’s D’Andre Swift who has the Heisman Trophy buzz after his breakout freshman season. It’s 5-star freshman Zamir White who’s considered the next great Georgia back.

Meanwhile, Holyfield is coming off a sophomore season in which he averaged 5.9 yards per carry. Without Nick Chubb and Sony Michel in Athens, the expectation is that Holyfield is going to get a share of those 392 available touches that are no longer in the Georgia backfield.

Saturday will mark the first spring game of the post-Chubb/Michel era. With White still rehabbing a torn ACL, he won’t play. And with Swift nursing a nagging groin injury in spring camp, there’s a decent chance that we won’t see him suit up, either.

In other words, it’s Holyfield’s turn to flex those muscles.

Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

We’re going to see a whole lot of Holyfield on Saturday. By day’s end, it wouldn’t be surprising to hear the ESPN crew make a half dozen references to his father, former heavyweight champ Evander Holyfield.

But Saturday won’t be about Elijah’s famous dad or really any of the other highly-touted Georgia backs.

The focus is going to be on the quarterback situation. Justin Fields entered the spring with arguably more hype than any incoming freshman in the country. His every move will be dissected because that’s what we do in this business. And when Fields isn’t being picked apart like the last drumstick at Thanksgiving, it’ll be Jake Fromm who garners all of the attention.

Talk about a perfect scenario for Holyfield to steal the show. After all, this is the Georgia backfield we’re talking about. This is what the Dawgs do.

Surely Holyfield got a good taste of that last year when, as the fourth-string running back, he still found a way to rack up 50 carries. The frustrating thing for him, though, was that his workload was dictated by game flow in 2017. He didn’t have a touch against top-25 teams like Notre Dame, Mississippi State, Oklahoma or Alabama. Even Brian Herrien, who will likely start opposite of Holyfield at the other tailback spot, got a touch in every non-Playoff game.

Saturday is Holyfield’s chance to show that regardless of game flow, he needs to get double-digit carries on a weekly basis. Even though all of those Chubb/Michel touches are up for grabs, nothing is a given with a backfield as deep as Georgia’s.

“It only makes you better, I like it more than anything now, I look forward going out to practice,” Holyfield said via redandblack.com. “(But) as I get the ball more, I think everybody will get a chance to see all the things I can do.”

Not everyone saw what Holyfield could do last year because the majority of his carries came in garbage time. So what can Holyfield do, one might ask?

Most of his damage comes between the tackles, but he’s still shifty enough to make people miss. And when he gets to the second level with a head of steam, he creates contact instead of using finesse. With an offensive line that blocks like Georgia does — or at least like it did last year — that’s a nice combination for a patient back like Holyfield.

I’d expect to see those skills on display Saturday. Holyfield and Herrien will both make the casual observer think, “wait, you mean to tell me that Georgia lost Chubb and Michel to the NFL, plus they’re without their Heisman contender and 5-star freshman, and THIS is what they still have to turn to? That’s not fair.”

Holyfield has the chance to show on Saturday that he fits the stereotype. A good stereotype, as in the Georgia running back stereotype.

It’s one thing to fit the build when the defense is already gassed and the game is well in hand. It’s another to do that when you’re the go-to option in the backfield. That will have a more lasting impact on future scouting reports than any doctored photo of Holyfield’s already-mammoth muscles.

Saturday is all about flexing for Holyfield. Even though he was buried on the depth chart throughout 2017, he couldn’t have drawn up a better opportunity to kick off 2018. Holyfield can deliver a first-round haymaker that’ll be felt well into fall camp.

Sorry, but I had to make at least one reference to his dad.