Record crowd attends Georgia G-Day

ATHENS — An estimated 93,000 fans piled into Sanford stadium to witness several much-anticipated debuts at the University of Georgia football team’s annual spring game.

Head coach Kirby Smart and five-star recruit Jacob Eason entered into the stadium to a roar of applause in front of a record-setting crowd.

The previous spring game record was set last season in which 46,815 people attended the game, but this year’s estimated 93,000 blew that out of the water.

“For the fan base to come out and support our program the way they did it touches me on my heart,” Smart said. “There’s a lot of doubters out there that said it couldn’t be done and said that they won’t come but they came and they came in droves and I appreciate that more than they know.”

Eason, who is believed to be in the mix for the Bulldogs’ 2016 starting quarterback job, did not get the start for the black team. That job was handed over to junior quarterback Brice Ramsey but after just two offensive series, it was Eason’s turn to take over.

Eason entered into the game at the 10:43 mark of the second quarter and received a load roar from the crowd as a result. On Eason’s first series at a Bulldog, the true freshman went 5-for-5 for 55 yards including a 35-yard strike to wide receiver Riley Ridley.

Eason finished the day 19-for-29 for 244 yards and a touchdown while Ramsey finished 7-for-12 for 82 yards on the Red team and 9-for-13 for 142 yards on the Black team.

Greyson Lambert, who started most of the season for the Bulldogs in 2015 finished his afternoon after going 6-for-14 for 79 yards on the Black team and 5-for-8 for 61 yards and an interception on the Red team.

“What I see going into the fall camp are three quarterbacks that have three different traits and all three of them have some growing to do,” Smart said. “I want them to improve and we will see what happens.”

The first points of the game came on a 46-yard field goal off the foot of Rodrigo Blankenship with 3:34 remaining in the first quarter and freshman running back Tae Crowder made it 10-0 after pounding it into the end zone from two yards out at the 10:43 mark of the second quarter.

After the second missed field goal of the game for the Black team, Blankenship nailed a 19-yard field goal for the Red team with 3:27 remaining in the first half to give it a 13-0 lead.

However, the Black squad finally got on the board after Eason connected with former Buford Wolves tight end Isaac Nauta on a 7-yard pass over the middle to cut the lead to 13-7 at halftime.

The Red team added two more touchdowns in the third quarter, one on a 4-yard touchdown pass from Nick Robinson to Christian Payne and the other on a 98-yard pick 6 from cornerback Aaron Davis. Davis picked off Lambert at the 2-yard line and went untouched down the sidelines to put his team up 27-7.

Eason put together one more solid drive together that included a 37-yard strike to Reggie Davis on 3rd-and-9 which set up a 7-yard touchdown run from Shaquery Wilson.

Crowder finished off the scoring for the Red team after pounding it into the end zone from six yards out with 6:04 remaining in the fourth quarter. The Red team picked up the 34-14 win.