Smart speaks on 2016 scout-teamers, who could make leap in 2017

Kirby Smart doesn’t want to put any undue pressure on a young player.

And he made that clear when asked which players working with the scout team are giving his first unit fits during practice.

But after saying this, Smart offered a few names, including offer one defensive player who’s done a good job behind the scenes this season.

“Chauncey Manac, he’s busting his tail, he’s extremely athletic, he’s working hard,” Smart said.

Manac, a true freshman who played high school ball at Clinch County, had a good preseason, which was highlighted by a one-on-one drill in which he beat veteran offensive lineman Isaiah Wynn.

But the depth chart at outside linebacker gave little opportunity for Manac to see the field, considering Lorenzo Carter, Davin Bellamy, Chuks Amaechi and D’Andre Walker were all in front of him.

“He’s going to be a good player because he’s a little different than what we have,” Smart said. “He’s quick-twitch, he does some good things.”

On the offensive side of the ball, every skill position player has seen the field in some capacity. That left offensive linemen Ben Cleveland, Solomon Kindley and Chris Barnes as players who Smart thinks will be able to compete for playing time next season.

While Cleveland and Barnes are definitely getting a redshirt, Kindley’s status remains to be seen since he played a snap against Missouri. But there could still be a way for Kindley to get a redshirt, since it was just one snap and within the first four games of the season.

“We’re getting to see those guys,” Smart said. “But it’s hard to say because they’re going against some pretty good players on our scout team, some big d-linemen.”

Smart’s job is to recruit the best players to his football program, and if he does that and the recruiting site rankings back it up, then they’ll have high expectations set upon them.

That was the main reason Smart was reluctant initially to talk about his scout-teamers in that capacity.

“Look, I know you all want to write a story about one of these guys that’s not playing and just anoint them to be the next coming, because everybody does that in recruiting, just like all the guys we’re recruiting are going to be the savior,” Smart said. “I just don’t think that’s the best thing for the kid. Because then he gets more pressure on him. Every guy that walks in our program has immense pressure on him to be what the recruiting sites said they were, what the media sites said they were.”

This story was originally published November 17, 2016 at 1:24 PM with the headline "Smart speaks on 2016 scout-teamers, who could make leap in 2017."