ATHENS — Ask his teammates or position coach to describe cornerback Jordan Love, and the word that comes up most often is eager. And why shouldn’t he be? A chance to see the field has dangled just out of reach for the past year, and now that he’s finally healthy, Love can’t help but have a little extra spring in his step.

The redshirt freshman was expected to crack the rotation at corner last year, but a preseason toe injury lingered into the fall and eventually required surgery, and the promising defensive back from Virginia found himself watching from the sidelines rather than getting his feet wet on game day.

“It was really disappointing because I thought I was going to go out there and compete for a job and get a little bit of playing time and make an impact on the team,” Love said. “When I had to get surgery, I was kind of down on myself, but the doctors fixed me up real good and I should be ready to go.”

A clean bill of health has been a huge weight off Love’s shoulders. The toe injury originally occurred during his junior year of high school, but at the time doctors hoped he could avoid any surgery. Still, he was warned that if he re-aggravated the injury, a strip to the surgeon would be inevitable.

Sure enough, just a few weeks into his college career, the injury flared up. Love tried to play through it, but to no avail.

As it turned out, however, the surgery was a blessing. He had a chance to put on weight, filling out his 6-foot frame a bit better, and his toe isn’t just feeling better, but he’s feeling more confident about running on it.

“I was definitely eager to get back there,” Love said. “The trainers told me if it ever hurt to back it down, but I’ve been really feeling good, so I’ve been real excited to be out there.”

In fact, while the injury may have initially set him back, fellow cornerback Brandon Boykin said Love may actually be running better now than he was last fall.

“He’s responded well to it,” Boykin said. “He’s gotten stronger in the offseason. His leg is fully healed. You can see him out there making cuts and getting back to 100 percent or maybe even better than before. He definitely got stronger and he took a lot of mental reps, and now he’s ready to get on the field.”

Love’s enthusiasm has been evident on the practice field, where he has worked hard to impress the coaching staff during a wide-open competition for the vacant boundary corner and nickel back jobs.

“Everybody’s going hard because unlike last fall, we basically knew who was going to be the starters and who the backups were,” Love said. “Now we don’t know who’s going to get what spot, so everyone’s out there fighting hard and it’s a real healthy competition.”

While it may be an even competition for playing time under first-year defensive backs coach Scott Lakatos, Love might have a small leg up.

Lakatos learned about Love’s skills when he was an assistant at Connecticut a few years ago, and Love was being recruited by the Huskies. Love said he didn’t spend much time with Lakatos back then, but he got to know a number of the coach’s players at UConn, who were quick to inform Love of his luck when Georgia brought Lakatos in to replace Willie Martinez in January.

The admiration is mutual, Lakatos said, but that’s completely due to Love’s work ethic in practice and in meetings so far this spring.

“He’s been great,” Lakatos said. “He was excited to start practicing again. He’s still coming off the injury, so he’s slowly gotten himself back into it. I think just the year off of being away from football for the first time in his life, it took a little bit to shake some of the cobwebs out. But he’s good, and he’s eager to learn.”

That’s a good thing, Boykin said. Because while Love missed out on his chance to play last season, his success might be a necessity in the Bulldogs’ secondary this time around.

“He’s crucial,” Boykin said. “We don’t have a lot of depth. A lot of people are playing two positions, like I’m playing corner and nickel. He’s got to come in there and add depth and know what to do and he’s definitely going to get his shot to play this year.”