ATHENS – When the extremely intense recruiting battle for Lovasea Carroll’s services was being waged last year in Florida, there was no mention of him possibly helping out Georgia – or any other team, for that matter – in the defensive backfield. It was his future in the offensive backfield over which all the fuss was being made.
But as the 4-star signee embarks on his first week of spring practice as one of the Bulldogs’ 16 early enrollees, it’s on defense where Carroll is spending 100 percent of his time. Georgia has identified the 6-foot-1, 195-pound speedster as one of their possible answers to a suddenly seriously depleted secondary.
“It’s experimental,” coach Kirby Smart said after Georgia’s second practice of the spring session Thursday. “We recruited him as a running back. We’re really deep at the running-back position. He’s probably going to be a factor on special teams because he’s really fast.”
In their defense, the Bulldogs wouldn’t have been expecting things to be as dire as a they turned out to be in the secondary while they were doing to the bulk of their recruiting work on Carroll. As UGA run-game coordinator Dell McGee served as lead recruiter, he couldn’t have known that running backs James Cook and Zamir White both would return for their senior seasons. Likewise, the Bulldogs couldn’t know that cornerbacks Tyson Campbell, DJ Daniel and Eric Stokes would all choose to enter the NFL draft this year and that Tyrique Stevenson would bolt for Miami just as his opportunity to become a regular starter at Georgia unfolded.
But that’s what happened. And in the two months since those developments came to pass, the Bulldogs have been looking at their roster trying to figure out who might fit the bill for playing one of the most difficult and demanding positions in SEC football.
Carroll, or “LC” as Georgia’s coaches call him, stood out like a lighthouse beacon. Not only was he coming into UGA as one of the fastest members of the 2021 signing class, but he had the prototypical DB physique.
But the very number on his back indicates this isn’t a passing fancy for Carroll or the Bulldogs. He and 5-star freshman quarterback Brock Vandagriff both were issued the No. 12. College rules don’t allow players on the same side of the ball to wear the same number.
Smart said he was reminded of Carroll on Wednesday when he watched Campbell and Stokes both turn in sub-4.4-second, 40-yard times at UGA’s Pro Day and Daniel run a sub-4.5 while excelling in position drills for NFL scouts. He thinks Carroll may have a similar future.
“I’ve had running backs I’ve recruited at other places I was who said, ‘Man, I wish I’d played corner because of how much those guys were getting paid and how many of them were getting paid in the NFL,” Smart said. “The shelf-life of a corner is much longer than a (running) back, and there are a lot more corners in the NFL than there are (running) backs. So, you look at the case of those three guys that worked out yesterday, LC comes in with a lot of the same length and speed parameters. He has a lot of the same qualities that those guys have. What he doesn’t have is experience.”
There’s the rub.
Carroll was the consummate star running back through high school. He was rated No. 6 in the country by 247Sports when he signed with the Bulldogs in December. Between Georgia’s Warrenton High School, where he played his freshman and sophomore years, and IMG Academy, where he played his last two in a heavy-rotation situation, Carroll averaged 10.3 rushing yards per attempt and scored 40 touchdowns.
He came to Georgia expecting to carry the ball, like he always has. Not chasing it through the air while trying to cover wideouts like George Pickens and Jermaine Burton.
It has been an indoctrination by fire, Smart admitted.
“He’s embraced the position,” Smart said. “He’s made some good plays; he’s had some bad plays. He’s not played this position, so to put him out there on some experienced wideouts and some guys who have played a lot of football is probably not fair to him. But that’s how you grow and that’s how you get better, by failing.”
Where Carroll ultimately lands won’t be determined for a while. He’s on defense at least through spring practice. He may be one of the corners who comes through or it might be somebody else. But having a chance to get on the field right away to help Georgia on defense is a better alternative is better than sitting sixth on a depth chart of running backs where more than one is rarely on the field at a time and three or four might play in a game.
“I would not say that it’s permanent,” Smart reiterated. “I would say it’s a spring experiment, and we’ll go from there.”
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