UGA Football Coach Talks About New Bulldogs During Fall Practice

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ATHENS - Georgia Bulldog head football coach Kirby Smart loves to remind everyone how inexperienced and new his team is.

Smart said at SEC Media Days that over 50% of his roster is in their first or second year with the program. They’re replacing snaps at every position group and will rely on several transfers and true freshmen this upcoming season.

Here’s what Kirby Smart had to say this week about some of his new players and how they’re adapting during fall practice...

Freshman OL Juan Gaston Jr:

“Juan's got to get in better shape (6’7 360). He's a talented player, but he plays a lot of snaps. As his volume goes up, he struggles to sustain, which is usually the case with freshmen. They just can't handle the volume, the practice load that they get. He's growing at that. He's lost 25, 30 pounds since being here. But, he continues to work hard and work with the ones and the twos and pickups, pass throw pickups and the different things he has to do.”

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Transfer OLB Elo Modozie:

“Elo's still finding his way in the defense in terms of knowledge and understanding leverages. He's playing a little bit different role than he played at his place. So, he's adjusted to that. I love his work ethic. I love the way he competes. He's twitchy and he's going against two good tacklers every day.”

Freshman QB Ryan Montgomery:

“Yeah, mentally, he gets it, and he's very into the mental side of it. He throws a very catchable ball, a very accurate passer. A little overwhelmed at times and probably thinking too much in terms of, we give the quarterback a lot, and we give a freshman quarterback a lot, because it's a lot greater than what they're used to, but he's handled that volume well, and he does a good job processing information and taking coaching to the field, which is a good sign for a quarterback.”

On freshman DL JJ Hanne: 

“He's growing up, he's learning technique, he plays hard. Football's important to him; you always see him out there doing extra work after practice. He's one of the kids that wasn't born and raised in the United States. So, he doesn't take this opportunity for granted, and that's a key ingredient to success.”

On transfer safety Adrian Maddox:

“He's more comfortable in defense, the checks. The things we put on a safety are probably greater than any position outside of linebacker and quarterback. So, he's more comfortable in practice than when he had 10 or 11 practices because now, he's around 25, 26 practices, he's much more comfortable than he was in the spring. He has some really good redeeming qualities. He's passionate and he's instinctive. He runs to the ball hard, he plays hard, he has a knack for getting balls out, but he has to play within the defense and understand leverages in what we call not playing rat trap. He's got to consistently do that to play winning football, but I'm very excited about what the future holds for him.”

Freshman WR Thomas Blackshear:

“Thomas [Blackshear] has been with a groin injury that's been nagging, so he's not able to take his rep load. He's fighting to stay healthy, and camp's not a good time to be fighting that fight. There are no days off, and it's like, okay, I'm back out there every day. So he's flashed and done some things on special teams.”

Freshman safety Rasean Dinkins:

“[Rasean] Dinkins is a good football player. He's young, and he's still learning, but he's instinctive, and he understands football.”