ATHENS — This is Dan Jackson’s sixth college football season. So, Thursday represented his sixth preseason camp with the Georgia Bulldogs.
For at least 50 Georgia players, Thursday’s practice was their first exposure to a Kirby Smart preseason. Fittingly, perhaps, there was a heat advisory posted in Athens-Clarke County.
The veteran Jackson was asked if he had offered any advice to all those rookies.
“Be on time,” the defensive back from Gainesville said, grinning at the question. “Get some sleep and have a routine.”
In a word, it’s a grind.
Not as grueling as it once was, however. Most of these players, freshmen included, hardly have left campus since mid-January. There might have been brief respites for spring break or between semesters. Otherwise, their every weekday up until this week has included some sort of football activity.
Now that will include weekends, too. Players will be rooming together at the Georgia Center, and they’ll share every meal from now until late August.
Until the Bulldogs enter into the season’s familiar routine of classes during the week and games on the weekend — Georgia opens versus Clemson at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Aug. 31 — it’s all football, all the time.
Camp might be Smart’s favorite time of year.
“We’re looking forward to creating some mental and physical adversity,” said Smart, who is entering his ninth season as the Bulldogs’ head coach. “It’s through the heat and the practices that we can start to form our team. What’s our team’s response going to be to the mental and physical adversity they face? I don’t know.”
The veteran players know what to expect and how to prepare for it. Thanks to several upperclassmen such as Jackson, Carson Beck, Tate Ratledge and Arian Smith deciding to utilize their last seasons of eligibility, Georgia will enter the season as a veteran-laden team.
But that’s balanced with a bunch of newcomers, nearly 40 coming via the incoming freshman recruiting class or the NCAA transfer portal. For some of them, the next week will offer a rude awakening.
For the veterans, it’s something to embrace, knowing the games are just around the corner.
“I look forward to it,” said Ratledge, a fifth-year senior and All-SEC guard. “It’s football. It’s the fun part of what we do. We’re not out there just running. We’re not out there swinging weight around. It’s football. We get to go play football, and that’s what we’re here for and what we get to do.”
Said wideout Smith, another fifth-year senior: “I’m excited regardless of what year it is. I love this sport. I’d do it 100 times if I could. I’m excited.”
There is a lot to be excited about when it comes to the 2024 Bulldogs. Having won 42 of their past 44 games, every indication is double-digit victories should be in the offing again this season. Georgia is expected to be the Associated Press preseason No. 1 team for the second consecutive year when that poll is released this month.
In addition to key veterans returning, elite-level prospects of the past couple of recruiting cycles stand ready to take over unclaimed spots.
Smart and his staff welcomed a full-allotment of 120 players into camp Wednesday night. In addition to the coaches, Smart had team leaders such as Ratledge and Malaki Starks address the team as well.
And while it has been a long hard summer off the field, the first week of camp will begin without much in the way of controversy.
Smart dispensed with housekeeping issues during his opening remarks of the annual pre-camp press conference. He announced that, after finally having a chance to meet “face-to-face” with troubled wide receiver Rara Thomas, he informed the senior he no longer was with the team. Earlier this week, Thomas bonded out of jail after spending six days incarcerated on child-cruelty and family-violence charges.
Disciplinary matters regarding offseason traffic offenses for running back Trevor Etienne, linebacker Smael Mondon and others are shelved for the moment as the players participate in camp.
Almost all of the news that Smart shared was positive. Most notably, he revealed that sophomore running back Branson Robinson, out since August 2023 with a ruptured tendon in a knee, has been completely cleared to return to the field. His availability “without limitations” at the beginning of this season would be a bonus based on early predictions.
“The load management’s critical because you can’t take someone who hasn’t done everything and just throw them into everything. So, we have to be smart about that,” Smart said of the 5-10, 220-pound third-year player. “But it’s certainly promising. Last year, he was having a really good camp. He looked really good, and I remember thinking, golly, this guy was getting ready to, you know, have a great season, great camp.’”
As the Bulldogs trotted onto Woodruff Practice Fields early Thursday afternoon, an excessive heat warning was issued by the National Weather Service. At the time, the temperature was 94 degrees. But 53% humidity and a virtually non-existent wind of 4 mph made it feel like 107 degrees, according to weatherunderground.com.
That’s just the way Smart likes it.
“We try to simulate it in summer conditioning, but it’s not the same as having all these pads and helmets on, equipment on,” Smart said. “I can’t simulate the heat they’re going to have with that equipment on. I don’t know how this team is going to respond when things get hard and stuff gets tough and guys start complaining to each other and not running and not getting to the ball and practice is tiring. But that’s what camp is.”
And now, it’s on.
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