Georgia spring practice: 5 developments on roster movement, QB competition, more

ATHENS, Ga. – Spring practice used to be, in a general sense, overrated. Five weeks for the public to get its football fix, the players to stay in shape and the coaches to get an initial look at their team, albeit with so many key players yet to arrive.

These days, however, early enrollees are the norm rather than the exception. The transfer portal has already provided pre-spring movement and will open again in a few weeks, thus making spring a time for players to get a feel for their place on the team.

This all makes spring a little more critical. There are fewer spring sensations — the G-Day heroes to season zeroes — and more tangible depth chart movement. It’s not firm, but spring now provides a better look at what the team will actually look like.

In Georgia’s case, with three out of five weeks and one out of three scrimmages in the books, here are the five biggest developments:

The running back Robinsons

Kendall Milton is out with a hamstring injury. Daijun Edwards has also been limited with a less serious hamstring injury. Andrew Paul is still returning from the ACL injury he sustained last preseason. What does that leave? Two scholarship tailbacks who are taking advantage of the void.

Freshman Roderick Robinson, one of the 18 early enrollees, is making a good first impression. Robinson is a big back (6-foot-1, 230 pounds) who can also move, and got about 10 carries in Saturday’s scrimmage, per Kirby Smart.

Sophomore Branson Robinson played last year, mostly in garbage time, but has taken on the lead role because of the injuries. Robinson also got about 10 carries in the first scrimmage.

“I thought he looked quick and powerful. He broke some tackles like you would expect,” Smart said. “He could’ve easily played more last year but we had guys that were capable and in front of him, the biggest learning curve is pass protection. The biggest jump they have to make from Year 1 to Year 2 is: Can we count on you in pass protection, and can you protect the ball if we’re giving you the ball as a back? He’s shown that he has the intelligence and toughness to do that.”

For those curious who else will carry the ball at G-Day, walk-ons Sevaughn Clark and Cash Jones are back, and walk-ons Joseph Daniels and Miles Thornton moved from defensive back and receiver to help with depth.

Georgia missed out last week on five-star tight end Deuce Robinson, who picked USC, but in the meantime, it may have a find in Lawson Luckie. The early enrollee from Norcross, Ga., and son of one of the Luckie triplets, was actually rated the second-best tight end and No. 68 overall prospect in the 2023 class by 247Sports. Other outlets had him lower, so he’s only the ninth-ranked tight end and No. 143 overall in the 247Sports Composite.

Luckie’s performance in spring is validating the 247 evaluation. He’s in the stocky (6-3, 225 pounds) but quick mold of Brock Bowers, which isn’t to draw that comparison, because Bowers was also relatively lower ranked. (Outside the top 100.) Still, Luckie’s showing is giving Mike Bobo another weapon to work with as he figures out how many tight ends he’s going to use with Darnell Washington off to the NFL.

Sophomore Oscar Delp’s blocking has improved, Smart said on Saturday, which is notable if Bobo wants to keep using multiple-tight end personnel. Then again, you can’t replace Washington’s size.

“We don’t have that same mass and movement,” Smart said. “It doesn’t just affect the run game, it affects the play-action game. Where Darnell Washington was elite was he could block you, he could go out on the perimeter and block you, he could get vertical on a play action, but when we match protect, he was like having an extra lineman.

“Oscar Delp’s doing that. Oscar’s really been a pleasant surprise blocking this spring. He’s come so far.”

That said, Smart added, Delp isn’t blocking the likes of Nolan Smith and Robert Beal, he’s blocking more inexperienced edge rushers (freshmen Gabe Harris and Sam M’Pemba, second-year CJ Madden). He did get a chance to block against defensive end Mykel Williams before Williams elected to have minor foot surgery, and Delp did well there. But it’s still not quite what Georgia had in Washington.

For the first time, there was on-record confirmation that Javon Bullard has been working at safety, with Smart comparing the junior to Christopher Smith, the strong safety the past few years who could also come up and play the star position.

That doesn’t mean Bullard will definitely end up there. But he’s one of Georgia’s best defensive players — defensive MVP of both the Peach Bowl and the national championship — and moving him to safety would get him on the field more. He had 601 snaps last year, sixth-most on the defense, while Smith had 780 snaps.

It may still depend on whether the coaches like the potential replacements at star (Tykee Smith is fully healthy) more than the potential strong safety replacements (Dan Jackson is still working his way back from foot surgery). Or it could just get back to maximizing the presence of Bullard.

“When we recruited Javon out of high school, he was a deep part of the field player. He broke on balls, made lots of tackles,” Smart said. “The things we saw on tape, we see now.”

Left tackle replacements

Georgia lost both starting tackles (Broderick Jones and Warren McClendon), but one replacement was a basic certainty: Junior Amarius Mims got plenty of snaps last season at right tackle. The question was the left tackle spot, which is shaping to be a classic experience vs. upside decision.

Austin Blaske is a fourth-year player who has repped all over, including center, where he could still be the heir apparent to Sedrick Van Pran-Granger. But Blaske has also gotten first-team snaps at left tackle this spring.

Earnest Greene, meanwhile, was getting left tackle reps last season before getting hurt and battling injuries most of the time. Now healthy, it’s just a matter of catching up.

Mims could also still be part of the equation, perhaps as a rotation, with Blaske also working in at center.

Quarterback: Status quo

The development here is there are no developments. Carson Beck and Brock Vandagriff are still getting close to an even split on first-team reps, with Beck’s experience giving him a small edge, while Gunner Stockton is still getting mostly second-team reps.

Everybody’s doing fine, they feel good about all three quarterbacks, etc. At least that’s the company line, which is what it’s been all along because keeping all three engaged — and on campus — is important.

That said, if one quarterback were separating it would be hard to keep that a secret for long. And if Smart and Bobo had really settled on Beck they would want him to get as many first-team reps as possible, especially with the new receivers and tight ends. So there may be some truth to the company line.

But the performance of all three will be available for the world to see on April 15. The world will see, the world will judge, and things will go from there.

(Top photo of Branson Robinson: Mark J. Rebilas / USA Today)