Kirby Smart Talks Big Opportunity For UGA Football Freshmen
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ATHENS - After battling through the toughest schedule in college football over the last two and a half months, Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs host a struggling UMass team on Saturday for a classic “tune up” game before taking on Georgia Tech next weekend.
In a game like this, Smart and his staff make it a priority to get some of the younger players into the game once it’s in control early on.
In a season where the Dawgs have not been blowing teams out, it hasn’t been easy for Smart to play some of his young Bulldog pups. Still, a large number of Georgia’s 2024 class have seen the field in some capacity this season.
But with UMass coming to town, look for Smart to do his best to get as many younger players on the field as possible.
We’ve seen plenty of Nate Frazier and KJ Bolden this season, and linebacker Chris Cole has also made his mark on the defense. Now, wide receiver Nitro Tuggle appears to be making a quick move up the depth chart. Tuggle caught two passes for 25 yards against Tennessee over the weekend and should see more passes come his way this weekend.
Smart spoke with the media this week about Tuggle’s recent playing time and several other true freshmen.
“He's worked hard”, Smart said. “He had a good practice today (Tuesday). I think he gained some confidence from that because he went against a really good defense, and he did some nice things, but he goes against a good defense every day in practice, and there's times that he's been frustrated. He would tell you openly that he wants to play. He wants to help. All freshmen want to play, and this has been a weird year for us because we have not had a lot of breaks in action to get those guys playing experience.”
“I could go through Jaden Reddell and Colton [Heinrich], Ellis (Robinson], Demello [Jones], Ondre [Evans]”, Smart added. “There's just so many guys, the O-linemen, the other backs who are starting to get a taste. I probably met with that group, I don't know, three or four times this year as a group who just said, stay the course. You're going to get an opportunity because so many of them come in with high expectations, and they want to play, and Nitro's [Tuggle] one of those guys.”
“Ellis and Demello are so close”, Smart continued. “They've practiced so hard and so well and done so good, and you're used to having these games where you can. I think [Glenn] Schumann said we averaged 100 snaps for our twos and threes over the last couple of years. We're not even close to that right now. We just haven't been able to, and they're getting better, and I'm excited about all of them, and I'm excited about Nitro.”
The Georgia Bulldogs have no problem playing true freshmen, and that’s been a message that Kirby Smart wants loud and clear. The future is clearly bright, and we should get another big look at the future during Georgia’s game against the Minutemen on Saturday.
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