ATHENS — It wasn’t the first practice of the year, but it was the first chance to see the 2025 Georgia football team take the field on Thursday.
The Bulldogs held their second practice of the spring, allowing the media to watch 14 minutes of various drills.
There are plenty of new faces, with Georgia having 24 early enrollees and six transfers.
"We’ve got a lot of new players,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said on Tuesday. “It feels like more new players than ever before, which I think I say that every year. The numbers don’t say that it’s more new guys, but it certainly feels like that.”
Just looking at the team this year, it seems much younger. Nowhere is that more apparent than at outside linebacker. Quintavius Johnson and Kris Jones — who moved from inside linebacker — were the first two players going through drills. Both are second-year players, with Johnson only contributing on special teams last season.
Behind those two were freshmen Isaiah Gibson, Chase Linton and Darren Ikinnagbon. Georgia is a long way from the days of having Nolan Smith and Robert Beal man the position now coached by Chidera Uzo-Diribe.
The youth on this team makes these spring practices all the more paramount. Georgia will have 15 this spring, wrapping things up on April 12 with G-Day.
Here are some additional observations from Georgia’s second practice of the spring:
- At quarterback, Gunner Stockton was the first through drills, followed by Ryan Puglisi. Ryan Montgomery was not working with the other quarterbacks during drills, as he is currently recovering from a knee injury he sustained in high school. He was throwing to the receivers while they went through drills. The quarterbacks didn’t get a chance to push the ball downfield in front of the media, so it’s hard to glean anything of note as far as how Stockton and Puglisi compare to each other.
- Bo Walker is a well put-together athlete. The freshman running back isn’t the tallest player in the room at a listed 5-foot-9 but he seems to have the type of body that can take and dole out punishment. Will be very interesting to see how big of a role he can carve out this spring, as Branson Robinson and Roderick Robinson are recovering from injuries. Nate Frazier looked every part of being a No. 1 running back while going through drills. Also of note, Micah Bell is working with the running backs after transferring in from Vanderbilt.
- A lot of new faces at the wide receiver position, with six newcomers. Noah Thomas’ height stands out in the crowd, while Zachariah Branch looked very slippery. Nitro Tuggle looked noticeably bigger in his second year with the program, taking advantage of another full offseason. Freshman wide receiver Tayln Taylor looked smooth going through drills and has good size to him. Landon Roldan, another freshman receiver, was wearing the No. 84 jersey, leading into the Ladd McConkey comparisons.
- From a physical standpoint, there might not be a more impressive collection of athletes than the tight end room. When Lawson Luckie looks on the smaller side, you know you’ve got a good collection of athletes. Freshman Elyiss Williams is certainly tall but any comparisons to Darnell Washington would be misguided. He’s nowhere near as thick as Washington was during his playing days at Georgia.
- Georgia split up its offensive line between tackles and then guards and centers. Smart did get on Micah Morris a little bit in regards to his conditioning. Morris is expected to be a very important piece of Georgia’s offensive line, so Smart is prodding the senior offensive lineman. Also, Jah Jackson is just a massive human being.
- Joseph Jonah-Ajonye was out on the practice field as he works his way back from a foot injury. He will be limited this spring. Jordan Hall looked good moving through drills. The Bulldogs would love to see an uptick in production from the former 5-star prospect.
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
- Of all the freshmen going through drills, Gibson is the most physically impressive to this point. Georgia was without Gabe Harris, who is recovering from labrum surgery, but Gibson more than filled out the No. 29 jersey. It’s easy to say because he arrived at Georgia as a 5-star prospect but he absolutely looks the part. We’ll see how quickly he can get on the field, given there isn’t much experience ahead of him this spring.
- Daylen Everette was going through drills with the cornerbacks. He is recovering from a sports hernia injury. Daniel Harris was going alongside Everette with the first team, while Ellis Robinson and Demello Jones worked with the second team. The competition between Harris, Robinson and Jones should be as good as any on the roster for a starting spot.
- At safety and star, two players stood out physically. The first is USC transfer Zion Branch, who is the more physically impressive of the Branch brothers. In terms of body type, Branch has some similarities to that of J.R. Reed. Joenel Aguero has also noticeably bulked up this offseason. Defensive backs coach Travaris Robinson was spending some extra time with Aguero during drills. A safety/star group of KJ Bolden, Branch and Aguero would look very imposing.
- Georgia had more than a few visitors on the sideline. Five-star quarterback prospect Jared Curtis was watching practice. Curtis is deciding between Georgia and Oregon and is coming off a visit to Eugene, Ore. Former Georgia offensive lineman Warren McClendon was also on hand to take in practice on Thursday.
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