Interesting first day ...
We got to watch Period 3 and were supposed to watch Period 4. They actually allowed us to take pictures for five minutes, but ultimately were not allotted our entire time as we were ushered back upstairs early, one minute into Period 4.
Once back up, we were told we could go down for seven more minutes. But alas, once we got back down there were only two minutes left. Welp.
No clue why...guess some wires got crossed. All total, we were out there for six minutes.
Anyway....
Roster info
I know a lot of you were wanting to know the freshmen numbers. Turns out we would, too.
Sports info folks handed out the spring rosters as we went down to the field, but alas, no freshmen numbers were listed.
I can tell you that Jeremaine Johnson is wearing No. 11 and Nolan Smith is No. 4.
Stetson Bennett is No. 13, with Lewis Cine wearing No. 36 and D.J. Daniel 14. Otherwise I guess I'll be trying to get the numbers through other means. I will, so stay tuned.
There are some number changes of notes:
Cornerback Divaad Wilson is now wearing No. 8, Adam Anderson is wearing No. 19 (his old high school number), while Otis Reese is wearing No. 6 and Matt Landers No. 5. Linebacker Azeez Ojulari is now wearing No. 13 with James Cook wearing No. 4.
Also:
Richard LeCounte and JR Reed repped as the No. 1 safeties, with Wilson going through drills at cornerback opposite Eric Stokes.
The first-team defense shaped up like this: DT Tyler Clark, Nose Michael Barnett, DE Malik Herring. Second team: DT Devonte Wyatt, nose Jordan Davis, DE Justin Young.
...Earlier, Kirby Smart confirmed our earlier report that Julian Rochester would miss the spring after undergoing knee surgery. However, we did spot Rochester on the stationary bike inside the Indoor Athletic Facility.
Much more to come
Notes from Radi:
Kearis Jackson looked sharp. After one of the routes he received catcalls of praise from Riley Ridley and Terry Godwin who were watching the wideouts. I mean, if he impressed them, who are we to argue?
Godwin and Ridley also had kind words for Jaylen Johnson, a wide receiver out of Peachtree Ridge.
Matt Landers looked like his full 6-foot-5 self, wearing a new No. 5 jersey. Tyler Simmons still looks like he can fly… so fast off the line.
The two-receiver rotation I saw went like this:
Jeremiah Holloman – Tyler Simmons
Trey Blount – Demetris Robertson
Matt Landers – Tommy Bush
Patrick Burke – Cameron Moore
Kearis Jackson – Charlie Woerner
Jaylen Johnson – Peyton Mercer (tight end out of ECI)
Azeez Ojulari caught my eye as I was walking past. And I had to ask who No. 4 was in the outside linebackers group as he just looked like a badass. Turns out that was Nolan Smith. I should have guessed.
James Coley was working the wide receivers and quarterbacks, having the wideouts run their routes at half speed to make sure everyone was going in the right spots.
Coley then moved on to a play action pass drill. When Jake Fromm ran it with D’Andre Swift, Coley remarked with delight, “That’s so dirty.”
Stetson Bennett was up next, and he faked the handoff to Brian Herrien. So no surprised in the rotations. QB John Seter went next, faking the handoff to Garrett Jones, a tailback out of Albany, Georgia.
Early enrollee QB Dwan Mathis received some extra instruction on the play action pass drill as Coley wanted him to sell it more (or so I am guessing; it was tough to hear).
Defensive lineman Kolby Wyatt was working with the tight ends. This makes a lot more sense as he is 6-4, 215 pounds.
In period five, Todd Hartley was working the tackles and tight ends. The interior o-line group was working with Pittman. The rotation there was as follows (but it was tough to see as I was walking away).
Ben Cleveland – Trey Hill – Solomon Kindley
Cade Mayes – Warren Ericson– Justin Shaffer
Blake Anderson – Clay Webb – Daniel Gothard
More from Spring Practice No. 1—Patrick Garbin
—On the initial day of spring practice—the media’s first viewing of the Bulldogs in nearly three months—communication got crossed up and we were just able to view about 6-7 minutes of practice. In the mix-up, I only had time to observe the offensive side of the field.
—Speaking of offense, recently departed Terry Godwin and Lamont Gaillard were in attendance. There were also a few recruits observing. One, in particular, walked by me with his parents (I’ll assume) in tow, when the father mumbled to the mother something on the order of if the son got a scholarship “to here (UGA),” it “would really be something” because of the degree he would eventually receive.
—New tight ends coach Todd Hartley seems to be very hands-on and vocal—so much so, you would never know he didn’t play football at the collegiate level. The drills he had his unit undergo were unlike any I’ve ever observed from Georgia’s tight ends. There seemed to be a concentration on the usage of the group’s hips.
—A veteran assistant coach, James Coley might have changed roles from quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator, but he appeared to have the same role at practice as before as he exclusively worked with the quarterbacks.
—Kearis Jackson seems to have bulked up a tad in the offseason. The redshirt freshman receiver made at least two very nice catches that I noticed, including one pass from quarterback John Seter which was thrown way off the mark. Head coach Kirby Smart mentioned in his presser earlier today that he had been impressed with Jackson’s work ethic.
—I kept an eye on the quarterbacks—No. 11 Jake Fromm, No. 16 Seter, No. 13 Stetson Bennett, and No. 2 Dwan Mathis—during most of the time we observed. I was especially curious to see Mathis, a true freshman and early enrollee from Oak Park, Mich. Although a four-star prospect and the No. 3 dual-threat quarterback in the nation, there’s the notion that perhaps Mathis is more so a better "athlete" (and would make an excellent receiver in college) than quarterback. At least from what little I saw, he seemed like a darn good passer, as well. Mathis is taller than I expected (listed at 6-foot-4), and demonstrated tremendous zip on his throws, whipping the ball with little effort.
—Besides what Dash already mentioned, three other early-enrollee jersey numbers: linebackers No. 17 Nakobe Dean and No. 11 Jermaine Johnson, and defensive back No. 7 Tyrique Stevenson.
—Three recruits we spotted: 2022 quarterback Gunner Stockton (Tiger, Ga.), 2021 receiver Damien Stockton (Hollywood, Fla.), and 2020 tight end-defensive end James Johnson (Vero Beach, Fla.).
We got to watch Period 3 and were supposed to watch Period 4. They actually allowed us to take pictures for five minutes, but ultimately were not allotted our entire time as we were ushered back upstairs early, one minute into Period 4.
Once back up, we were told we could go down for seven more minutes. But alas, once we got back down there were only two minutes left. Welp.
No clue why...guess some wires got crossed. All total, we were out there for six minutes.
Anyway....
Roster info
I know a lot of you were wanting to know the freshmen numbers. Turns out we would, too.
Sports info folks handed out the spring rosters as we went down to the field, but alas, no freshmen numbers were listed.
I can tell you that Jeremaine Johnson is wearing No. 11 and Nolan Smith is No. 4.
Stetson Bennett is No. 13, with Lewis Cine wearing No. 36 and D.J. Daniel 14. Otherwise I guess I'll be trying to get the numbers through other means. I will, so stay tuned.
There are some number changes of notes:
Cornerback Divaad Wilson is now wearing No. 8, Adam Anderson is wearing No. 19 (his old high school number), while Otis Reese is wearing No. 6 and Matt Landers No. 5. Linebacker Azeez Ojulari is now wearing No. 13 with James Cook wearing No. 4.
Also:
Richard LeCounte and JR Reed repped as the No. 1 safeties, with Wilson going through drills at cornerback opposite Eric Stokes.
The first-team defense shaped up like this: DT Tyler Clark, Nose Michael Barnett, DE Malik Herring. Second team: DT Devonte Wyatt, nose Jordan Davis, DE Justin Young.
...Earlier, Kirby Smart confirmed our earlier report that Julian Rochester would miss the spring after undergoing knee surgery. However, we did spot Rochester on the stationary bike inside the Indoor Athletic Facility.
Much more to come
Notes from Radi:
Kearis Jackson looked sharp. After one of the routes he received catcalls of praise from Riley Ridley and Terry Godwin who were watching the wideouts. I mean, if he impressed them, who are we to argue?
Godwin and Ridley also had kind words for Jaylen Johnson, a wide receiver out of Peachtree Ridge.
Matt Landers looked like his full 6-foot-5 self, wearing a new No. 5 jersey. Tyler Simmons still looks like he can fly… so fast off the line.
The two-receiver rotation I saw went like this:
Jeremiah Holloman – Tyler Simmons
Trey Blount – Demetris Robertson
Matt Landers – Tommy Bush
Patrick Burke – Cameron Moore
Kearis Jackson – Charlie Woerner
Jaylen Johnson – Peyton Mercer (tight end out of ECI)
Azeez Ojulari caught my eye as I was walking past. And I had to ask who No. 4 was in the outside linebackers group as he just looked like a badass. Turns out that was Nolan Smith. I should have guessed.
James Coley was working the wide receivers and quarterbacks, having the wideouts run their routes at half speed to make sure everyone was going in the right spots.
Coley then moved on to a play action pass drill. When Jake Fromm ran it with D’Andre Swift, Coley remarked with delight, “That’s so dirty.”
Stetson Bennett was up next, and he faked the handoff to Brian Herrien. So no surprised in the rotations. QB John Seter went next, faking the handoff to Garrett Jones, a tailback out of Albany, Georgia.
Early enrollee QB Dwan Mathis received some extra instruction on the play action pass drill as Coley wanted him to sell it more (or so I am guessing; it was tough to hear).
Defensive lineman Kolby Wyatt was working with the tight ends. This makes a lot more sense as he is 6-4, 215 pounds.
In period five, Todd Hartley was working the tackles and tight ends. The interior o-line group was working with Pittman. The rotation there was as follows (but it was tough to see as I was walking away).
Ben Cleveland – Trey Hill – Solomon Kindley
Cade Mayes – Warren Ericson– Justin Shaffer
Blake Anderson – Clay Webb – Daniel Gothard
More from Spring Practice No. 1—Patrick Garbin
—On the initial day of spring practice—the media’s first viewing of the Bulldogs in nearly three months—communication got crossed up and we were just able to view about 6-7 minutes of practice. In the mix-up, I only had time to observe the offensive side of the field.
—Speaking of offense, recently departed Terry Godwin and Lamont Gaillard were in attendance. There were also a few recruits observing. One, in particular, walked by me with his parents (I’ll assume) in tow, when the father mumbled to the mother something on the order of if the son got a scholarship “to here (UGA),” it “would really be something” because of the degree he would eventually receive.
—New tight ends coach Todd Hartley seems to be very hands-on and vocal—so much so, you would never know he didn’t play football at the collegiate level. The drills he had his unit undergo were unlike any I’ve ever observed from Georgia’s tight ends. There seemed to be a concentration on the usage of the group’s hips.
—A veteran assistant coach, James Coley might have changed roles from quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator, but he appeared to have the same role at practice as before as he exclusively worked with the quarterbacks.
—Kearis Jackson seems to have bulked up a tad in the offseason. The redshirt freshman receiver made at least two very nice catches that I noticed, including one pass from quarterback John Seter which was thrown way off the mark. Head coach Kirby Smart mentioned in his presser earlier today that he had been impressed with Jackson’s work ethic.
—I kept an eye on the quarterbacks—No. 11 Jake Fromm, No. 16 Seter, No. 13 Stetson Bennett, and No. 2 Dwan Mathis—during most of the time we observed. I was especially curious to see Mathis, a true freshman and early enrollee from Oak Park, Mich. Although a four-star prospect and the No. 3 dual-threat quarterback in the nation, there’s the notion that perhaps Mathis is more so a better "athlete" (and would make an excellent receiver in college) than quarterback. At least from what little I saw, he seemed like a darn good passer, as well. Mathis is taller than I expected (listed at 6-foot-4), and demonstrated tremendous zip on his throws, whipping the ball with little effort.
—Besides what Dash already mentioned, three other early-enrollee jersey numbers: linebackers No. 17 Nakobe Dean and No. 11 Jermaine Johnson, and defensive back No. 7 Tyrique Stevenson.
—Three recruits we spotted: 2022 quarterback Gunner Stockton (Tiger, Ga.), 2021 receiver Damien Stockton (Hollywood, Fla.), and 2020 tight end-defensive end James Johnson (Vero Beach, Fla.).
