Practice Report

UGA Sports Communictions

The 15^th-ranked Dawgs conducted a two-hour workout in full pads Wednesday at the Woodruff Practice Fields.

The following are excerpts from head coach Kirby Smart’s press briefing following Wednesday’s practice:

On practice:

“Today was a lot more physical day of the week. Monday and Tuesday was a lighter day to get their legs back from the camp grind, and we got back after it today. I thought they responded well. We had a good practice today, good tempo. We worked on some more special teams situations, and trying to work on more things like end of game, beginning of game, halftime, two minutes before the half, a lot of situations like that.”

Ahkil Crumpton
(Photo by Steven Colquitt)

On the wide receivers and how many will play in the first game:

“It’s real competitive. Those battles will come down to special teams more than it will come down to wide receiver. Ahkil Crumpton has shown in the last couple of days that he catches everything that’s thrown to him. He’s done really well. Mecole Hardman has stepped up and made some plays. Mark Webb has made some plays. Jayson Stanley has made a few plays. Nobody has really taken the bull by the horns and said ‘I’m the lead dog,’ so there’s a lot of competition at those positions. I’m most proud of those guys on special teams. They are like our core unit. It used to be your DBs (defensive backs) were your core unit but right now it’s our wide receivers. You always want to have a lead guy at receiver but at the same time, the more competitive it is, the better.”

On the depth on the offensive line:

“We’re much closer after that scrimmage, and there’s still some battles in there. We feel good about the first five we got but even the guards are rotating. We have always felt like if a guy can be just as efficient as another guy, then he’s fresh and can play him just as well. They’re still battling at the tackle position, who that fourth guard is going to be. We feel good about the three guards and the backup center spot is between Dyshon Sims and Sean Fogarty. We’ve got battles at two center, four guard, right tackle and backup left tackle.”

On the holder spot and quarterbacks serving as a holder:

“We don’t know yet. Cam Nizialek is working there because he works with the kickers a lot. Jacob Eason will work there, Jake Fromm has worked there and Brice Ramsey has worked there. Those quarterbacks are always nice to have there because they catch snaps all day, every day in the shotgun. The kickers are typically more comfortable with the punters because they’re with them all the time. We’ll keep looking at those guys and figure out which one we feel like is the best.”

On how senior tailback Nick Chubb has looked in practice:

“He looks much quicker. His cuts seem faster. He is running at a good pad level. He runs really hard. He seems to be healthy.”

The 2017 season opener will be Saturday Sept. 2 against Appalachian State. Kickoff is slated for 6:15 p.m., and the game will air on ESPN.