On Saturday, Georgia offensive coordinator Jim Chaney was about three minutes into what will probably be his only visit with the media before the end of the regular season when he was asked for his take on the Bulldogs’ quarterback situation.
Sophomore Jake Fromm (who at Saturday afternoon’s open practice at Sanford Stadium displayed no ill-effects from his summer hand injury) returns from a brilliant rookie season where he helped pace Georgia to the SEC championship, a thrilling victory in the Rose Bowl and the national championship game, but he’s expected to be challenged this summer by five-star recruit Justin Fields.
On Friday, coach Kirby Smart declined to directly address that state of affairs, and Chaney didn’t stray far from the script.
“We all know how polarizing the quarterback position can be,” said Chaney, who in the offseason moved from quarterbacks coach to tight ends coach. “Everybody wants to know about that spot.”
When asked if Fields’ running ability could result in creating plays to specifically address his ground prowess, Chaney said he planned to be careful with the former Harrison Hoya during summer camp because of the team’s lack of depth at the position, but assented that some running plays are possible.
“Designing a playbook directly because he can run is distorting from who we want to be as a football team, but it does give us some different things we can open up,” he said. “It does open some pages. As far as strategy goes, it’s another skill set we have available to use anytime we want to.”
Chaney also covered a host of other issues, including:
> His noticeable weight loss from a year ago – "I was just way too big, and I had to do some work to get some weight off," said Chaney, who also said he had neck fusion surgery in July. "Hopefully that will help me coach and do better and serve the university better."
> The wealth of talented – but highly untested – running backs in camp, including D'Andre Swift, Elijah Holyfield, Brian Herrien, Zamir White and James Cook – "Everybody tells me how good you're going to be, but I still look for those two kids (Nick Chubb and Sony Michel) that we had last year walking down the hallway, and they ain't showed up yet – they're gone. The kids we have we like, and we think they're going to be good football players, but to go out on the field and perform? They've yet to do that."
> The size of redshirt freshman offensive lineman Isaiah Wilson, who stands 6-foot-7 and is listed at 345 pounds – "He's a large body. He can do things wrong, and they've got to run around a mountain to get to the quarterback."
Life after Roquan
Defensive coordinator Mel Tucker also visited with the media Saturday morning and spoke on a host of topics, including the status of defensive back Deangelo Gibbs (who is expected to see time at the star spot and at safety), the increasing maturity of defensive back Richard LeCounte and the experience that Notre Dame transfer Jay Hayes will bring to the defensive line.
Tucker also talked briefly about life after the departure of linebacker Roquan Smith, the No. 8 pick in this year’s NFL draft.
“We talked to our guys yesterday about it, what’s going to be the identity of this year’s defense,” he said. “… Obviously (Roquan) is a great player, but it’s next man up. So we’ll rally and we’ll develop the guys that we have and we’ll see what the identity of this defense is this year.”
Natrez Patrick, Juwan Taylor, Monty Rice and Tae Crowder are among the candidates who will compete for the unenviable position of succeeding Smith, who last season recorded 137 tackles and 6.5 sacks.
Redshirt rulings
On Friday, Smart addressed a question regarding the NCAA’s new redshirt rules, which allow players to appear in up to four games and still qualify for a redshirt. In past years, playing in one game could cost a player a season of eligibility.
Like other coaches, Smart assented that there is a decided advantage to the new rule if a team comes to the end of the season and needs on-field help at certain positions, but he added that there’s another aspect to the rule that he thinks some folks may not have completely thought through.
“A lot of people don't study the end game,” said Smart, who also said he won’t hesitate to burn a potential redshirt if a particular player can help the team. “The end game is all these kids’ senior year. So if a kid plays the last four games, and let's say he plays all four of those games and then we say we’re going to redshirt him, and then the next -- he still has four years of eligibility, right? I think after his third year of that eligibility, he will have been here four years.
“The guy is going to have graduated hopefully, have an opportunity to go to the NFL, or maybe if he’s not good enough to play or he’s been surpassed, he may be looking to transfer or leave. I don't see many of these guys playing four games and then playing four years because if you look right now, how many players are here five years? It doesn't happen that often.”
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