Being closer to family helped lead Isaac Nauta to Georgia

ATHENS -- Isaac Nauta learned what it was like to spend a considerable amount of time away from his family for the first time. That decision to pack his bags and move southward also helped him discover how important it was for him to spend the next three-to-five years near his hometown.

Nauta, who attended Buford for three years, spent his final high school football season at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. As a result, Nauta was able to get a feel for what life without his immediate support system was like at the boarding school, which routinely puts out and develops blue-chip football players.

Nauta, who initially committed to Florida State early in the recruiting process, came to the realization that he didn't want to be too far away from his family in college. At the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, Nauta committed to Georgia and began classes two days later.

"A lot of people don't realize it is tough being away from what's normal," Nauta said. "I was missing things like my car, stuff like that. Obviously, that all fades away and is a part of the maturing process. But just being away from my family and not having them be able to come to games -- it's definitely a good thing to be close to home and have them involved in me playing football."

Even so, Nauta, the nation's No. 1 tight end prospect in the class of 2016, said he didn't truly know where he was going to go until the week before his decision. Throughout the recruiting process, Nauta connected with quarterback Jacob Eason, who certainly helped Georgia land the five-star tight end. The two, along with Ben Cleveland and Mirko Jurkovic, are rooming together on campus.

Nauta will have a chance to play early, even with Jeb Blazevich and Jackson Harris ahead of him on the depth chart for the time being. Nauta, a 6-foot-4, 237-pound tight end, showed a tremendous ability to spring plays as a blocker and to come up with some big catches as a receiving option during his high school career.

The fact that he decided to enroll early to get a head start on his college career elevates his chances of seeing the playing field early on.

"We obviously want every freshman to contribute," Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said. "We obviously know that every freshman probably won't be able to contribute. A lot of that will be dictated by fall camp, the way things play out for us. Injuries have a lot to do with that. Physical development in the SEC is a great challenge. But if you're going to play as a freshman, it usually comes easier at skill positions than it does at the O-line or d-line because the physical development is so different."

Having lived 600 miles away from home at IMG Academy, Nauta said it helped him learn how to deal with being on his own for the first time. He learned how to become resourceful on his own, saying, "When things go bad, you have to fix it by yourself."

But he certainly longed for his family, which he couldn't see whenever he had the free time to do so.

At Georgia, he's roughly 45 miles away from his parents, making it an easy drive to home and back.

"Being away from home really taught me a lot of life lessons in how to grow up and deal with things on your own," Nauta said. "A lot of guys don't realize how hard that is, and they realize it as soon as they enroll. It definitely helped. That's the main reason that made me want to come back to Georgia."

This story was originally published February 11, 2016 at 3:18 PM with the headline "Being closer to family helped lead Isaac Nauta to Georgia ."