Early enrollees still in adjustment stage at Georgia

ATHENS -- Georgia sophomore tight end Jackson Harris remembers what it was like to be an early enrollee about a year ago.

"Last spring, I was just trying to figure out what was going on, coming in early," Harris said. "Last year, I might understand what my task is, but now I understand the big picture, how the offense as a whole is working."

Confusion and a large learning curve is just part of the territory of being an early enrollee, even for the more talented players. Georgia once again has a solid group of early enrollees, with a few such as quarterback Jacob Eason, tight end Isaac Nauta, receiver Riley Ridley and defensive lineman Julian Rochester contending for playing time already.

But with the exception of Rochester -- who may have already backed his way into first-team reps with injuries to DaQuan Hawkins and Michael Barnett -- those players will have to earn their playing time. Head coach Kirby Smart sent that message during Saturday's scrimmage, when all three of those players played on the third team with rotations with the second team.

"That was the first time for them where it was big-boy ball for them," Smart said. "I thought those guys did a nice job. Isaac had a couple of catches, did a nice job. Jacob did a nice job. Ben Cleveland did a nice job, Julian did. Even Chad (Clay) got to play a lot of snaps. That's an awakening for them when they get out there and see how fast it really is."

Given the depth at receiver, Ridley might have the best chance of the offensive guys to notch some first-team reps by the time G-Day rolls around, and he's already gotten a small amount of work with the first team during media-viewing periods of practice.

"He's a competitive kid, he's tough," Smart said. "He's got to work on his vertical speed. He's not a super-fast guy, but he's a kid from South Florida who's not afraid to compete. ... I'm pleased with where he's at."

After Ridley, Nauta might be the best poised to get some snaps. Currently, he's getting reps with the second team during two-tight end sets, but his versatility and pass-catching ability make him a candidate to get first-team reps, especially in those two-tight sets.

"I'm pretty confident in the fact that if I do what I've always done, which is play football, I'll be just fine," Nauta said before spring practice began. "Obviously you don't want to come anywhere and lay an egg. With a lot of hard work and preparation and trust with what I've done over the last few years, I have no doubt I'll be able to accomplish everything I've wanted to do."

And then there's Eason. Eason is clearly the third quarterback in a three-man race right now, but that's no cause for alarm, given the steep learning curve associated with quarterbacks, and starting as a true freshman on week one is a rarity in Power Five conferences.

However, Smart has made no secret of Eason's upside. On Saturday, he talked about how even when Eason makes the wrong throw, it frequently ends up as a net positive because his "arm talent" often opens up plays that most quarterbacks couldn't make.

Still, Eason has to improve on those decision-making aspects, as well as some of his mechanics, such as his arm angle and dropback footwork, before he'll get his chance to take the job away from incumbent Greyson Lambert.

"He'll get a chance, hopefully, to move up and get a chance with the ones," Smart said. "Right now, when he goes with the twos, he had a session (Wednesday) where he went twos on twos during third down and they executed, made some plays, made some throws in there."

This story was originally published April 6, 2016 at 10:07 PM with the headline "Early enrollees still in adjustment stage at Georgia ."