Georgia holds first spring practice under Kirby Smart

ATHENS, Ga. (TNS) — In the last half century, only five University of Georgia football coaches have taken teams into the start of spring practice.

Kirby Smart became the fifth coach Tuesday afternoon, guiding the Bulldogs through a two-hour workout in helmets and shorts. Smart, who is following the 15-year run of Mark Richt, was a Georgia safety from 1995 to 1998.

“This has to be a dream come true for him,” senior free safety Quincy Mauger said. “It’s a dream for a lot of people to play at a school like this and coach at a school like this.”

The Bulldogs will be practicing this spring and this fall at the university’s Club Sports Complex due to the construction of the new indoor facility. The Club Sports Complex is a three-mile ride from the former fields behind the Butts-Mehre Athletic Complex.

Smart was Georgia’s running backs coach in 2005, when the Bulldogs won their last Southeastern Conference title, but has spent the past nine seasons under Nick Saban at Alabama. The Crimson Tide have won four national championships in the last seven years, with Smart having been the defensive coordinator during that time.

The start of spring practice was special for Smart, but so have other days as well.

“I feel the same today as I did getting to the offseason workouts,” Smart said. “We had just as much enthusiasm on signing day, too, but I am excited to get out there on the grass and get going.”

Tuesday also marked Jim Chaney’s first practice as Georgia’s offensive coordinator and Mel Tucker’s first as defensive coordinator.

The Bulldogs enter a second straight spring with a quarterback race, with this year’s competition containing fifth-year senior Greyson Lambert, redshirt junior Brice Ramsey and heralded early enrollee Jacob Eason. Lambert was at Virginia this time last year but transferred during the summer and wound up starting 12 of Georgia’s 13 games, winning 10 of his starts.

Lambert worked with the first team Tuesday, with Ramsey taking second-team snaps and Eason working with the third team.

“Each guy will get to throw with all the receivers with the way that practice is structured, but we have to have a guy going with each group,” Smart said. “We are going to evaluate those guys each day. We are going to encourage them to worry about getting better each day and not worrying about the result of each day. Coach Chaney and I have had in-depth conversations about how we’ll practice.

“I think the biggest thing you can do at that position is structure the practice so you get to see each guy the right amount of time. Y’all are concerned a lot more about who’s going with what group when that’s not as important to us. It’s what each guy is doing within his group that’s a lot more important.”

Smart has no timetable in naming the starter, with Alabama having gone the past two seasons without a clear-cut starter in the season opener.

Georgia’s offensive players repeatedly were asked about the quarterback situation last season. They heard a lot about it again Tuesday.

“I feel like the more you talk, it doesn’t really do anything,” junior tight end Jeb Blazevich said. “At the end of the day, it’s about who performs the best at the time they want him. You saw it last year, because we were bouncing around with all these different guys.

“It’s not up for me to decide who it is. I just have to trust who it is. I feel like we have extreme confidence in all three of those guys.”

Odds and ends

Georgia’s first-team offensive line in Tuesday’s practice consisted of Kendall Baker at left tackle, Isaiah Wynn at left guard, Brandon Kubalnow at center, Dyshon Sims at right guard and Greg Pyke at right tackle. Senior outside linebacker Chuks Amaechi (labrum) and senior tailback Brendan Douglas (wrist) will be limited this spring. Ramsey will continue to practice at punter in addition to his quarterback chores.