Georgia’s Chuks Amaechi makes the most of his chance

ATHENS -- Georgia outside linebacker Chuks Amaechi had no idea how many snaps he would get against Vanderbilt on Saturday, which was the junior college transfer’s second game in a Georgia uniform.

But when sophomore Lorenzo Carter was ejected in the first quarter for targeting, Amaechi had to be ready.

Except he didn’t even realize it happened, at first.

“I’m just sitting there thinking, ‘OK, what’s the next play? Gotta make sure I know what the personnel is,’ ” Amaechi said. “They’re like, ‘Lorenzo’s gone; we need somebody for jet.’ I was like, ‘Aw, all right, I’m next. I guess I’ve got to go in.’ ”

The early entrance to the game, while unexpected, was something that was months in the making for Amaechi, who joined Georgia’s program after leaving Arizona Western College.

“I always knew I was ready, especially like when we do walkthroughs,” Amaechi said. “They make sure, they take, they go through every scenario to make sure that everyone knows when to go in and when to go out, if someone’s hurt, who’s the next up, if someone gets kicked out, who’s the next up.”

Amaechi’s first snap Saturday was just his 12th in Division I play.

Although those 11 snaps were relatively few against Louisiana-Monroe in the weather-shortened season opener, they gave Amaechi valuable game experience. In just those snaps, he said he was surprised at how easily he was able to slow down the game.

“It prepared me because I got those 11,” Amaechi said. “I got my first snap early in the game when it was a third-and-long, and then it showed me the atmosphere in the first quarter as opposed to the second and third and fourth.”

That level of comfort showed as Amaechi recorded an assisted sack on Vanderbilt quarterback Johnny McCrary. That moment proved to his teammates that Amaechi was ready to take advantage of his opportunities.

“Chuks, man, he came in, his versatility fit in so good with ours, and he’s a good guy, so that also fit in well, and the guy works hard,” sophomore Davin Bellamy said. “And I’m pretty sure that he was ready for his moment, and it showed because when Chuks came in there was no downfall, so we definitely know what Chuks can bring to the table.”

Of course, even with all of the glowing reviews of Amaechi’s performance since he arrived at Georgia, he knows he has a lot to continue to improve on, especially since making the switch back to outside linebacker after the team initially slotted him at inside to start spring practices.

Priority number one is getting off the snap better to help him get around offensive tackles.

“I think I’m getting everything down pat,” Amaechi said. “It’s just making sure I get off the ball and not fall-step, roll off my front foot, so I’m just that much quicker to the tackle or get around him to post him up for the run,”

And even after his first significant playing time, outside linebackers coach Kevin Sherrer made sure Amaechi knew that the job wasn’t done yet.

“He said there’s a lot to work on,” Amaechi said. “I’ve got to just unleash the speed and just work on getting off the rock and not try to take on tackles head-up because they’re bigger than us outside linebackers.”

This story was originally published September 14, 2015 at 8:50 PM with the headline "Georgia’s Chuks Amaechi makes the most of his chance ."