PHOTOS: Georgia takes the field at Sanford Stadium for first scrimmage

ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia took to the field at Sanford Stadium on Saturday for the team’s first scrimmage of the fall. While media wasn’t allowed in the gates, DawgsHQ has been able to put together some notes of what we heard happened between the hedges. Thanks to UGA Sports Communications and photographer Tony Walsh, we’ve also got some photos to share from the scrimmage.

“I was excited today to get to see our guys go out, compete, cut loose and play with our coaches on the field,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart told reporters after the scrimmage. “It is always the first time of the year you get that little bit of butterflies. Coaches are down there telling me what to do. We made a decision to go out and get after it Friday afternoon as well. We went in pads Friday outside and challenged them. Then turned around and had a practice a little earlier today than what we have bene doing. We typically start our scrimmage on Saturday around lunch and practice around two or three in the afternoon. It was good to find out who really wants to be a part of this, who really wants to go out and compete and get better.”

“That part, we got to identify some guys who are ready to play versus some guys who want no part of it because they can’t sustain and keep their level of focus up during a scrimmage,” he continued. “I was glad that we got the conditions we got. We have an extremely long way to go as a football team. So many people make an assumption off of last year’s team and their accomplishments. I asked this team, after the scrimmage and after we ran, ‘What have you done to deserve anything you have gotten?’ They have done nothing. We have got to get the right guys in the right spot, find the guys that can really compete. We may play four or five of our first four of five or five of five of our games in this tough heat. I kind of hope we go because I want to see where we are as a team. You find out a lot more about a team if you have to do kicking, offense and defense with 22 people on the field of your team the whole scrimmage. I got to see a little bit of that. Guy that are serious and guys that just physically could not scrimmage and are not ready to contribute yet.”

Georgia QB Carson Beck

QB Brock Vandagriff

Georgia QB Gunner Stockton

“I know you guys are going to ask about the quarterback position. I can’t tell you anything until I watch the tape. I can tell you that I would like to see all three of them play better. The people around them have to play better,” Smart said on Georgia’s quarterbacks. “When you evaluate a quarterback and say, ‘well, he threw an interception,’ or, ‘he hit a guy in the hands,’ or ‘it bounced in his hands and it got intercepted,’ we judge that. There were seven drops in the scrimmage because of wet hands and heat, and you evaluate that. I don’t think any of those quarterbacks would tell you they played their best game. We need each one of them to get better to get where we want to go. A lot of that has to do with a cut down of some of the offense and deciding what we want to use. That wasn’t today’s goal. Today’s goal was to find out who has got some toughness and can push through.”

Georgia Defensive Backs (Javon Bullard, Daylen Everette, Tykee Smith, David Daniel-Sisavanh, Joenel Aguero)

“Joenel has been working at STAR most of the time. I haven’t tried to cross train him with him being a freshman right now,” Smart said when asked about the safety position. “Obviously, Bullard, David Daniel, Malaki, and Dan a little bit – Dan is still injured. He had a little bit of a hamstring pull early in camp, like on the first day, and he’s been battling trying to get back from that. He scrimmaged today, but he couldn’t go as much as he’d like to. Tykee’s got a little bit of a place there. I think that JaCorey and Justyn Rhett are the guys who are really battling to get in that rotation and play winning football. I thought that both of them made some plays today. JaCorey made a really nice play, and Justyn Rhett made really nice plays, but they both have a long way to go too.”

TE Brock Bowers

OL Earnest Greene

“Blaske has been battling some sickness. He was sick and there was one or two days in there that he didn’t get to practice, but when he’s been there, he’s done really well and been really competitive. I think the heat’s been really tough on him. He’s a fighter, man. He’s one of the toughest kids I’ve been around,” Smart said when asked about the offensive tackle battle between Greene and Austin Blaske. “Earnest has gotten more reps than him at the ones, but I feel really good about Blaske. [Xavier] Truss has been kicked out there and played tackle. Dylan Fairchild has played at tackle. Micah [Morris] has played at tackle. Obviously, Amarius is able to flip and played both. Monroe Freeling is a young kid that’s gotten better every day. Chad [Lindberg] stays out there and plays. We have kind of a working committee, because the last thing that you want is to not have a tackle ready to play in a game. For us, we’re always trying to develop that tackle position, knowing that we’ve got a lot of guards that can come in there and play.”

RB Kendall Milton

Georgia Wide Receivers (Ladd McConkey, Dillon Bell, Tyler Williams, Jackson Meeks, CJ Smith)

LB Marvin Jones Jr.

Georgia Defensive Linemen (Nazir Stackhouse, Jonathan Jefferson)

“We’ve got some really tough, hard workers in there. I don’t know that we have any dominant, disruptive, super hard block guy. I think that we have to create that through our athleticism on the perimeter and our athleticism at backer, but we have some guys who believe in the core values of our defensive program, which are to strike blockers, knock the hell out of them, knock them back,” Smart said on Georgia’s defensive linemen. “I think Jordan Hall is coming along. He had a tough day today. He’s got to grow up and be able to help us and play and be disruptive. We have very good experience there and we have very good toughness there when you count Naz, Z-Lo, Warren, and Jonathan Jefferson. Those guys have really pushed hard and give us more quality SEC players in there to help us.”

Georgia Linebackers (Troy Bowles, Glenn Schumann, Raylen Wilson)

“Raylen had a hyper extended knee. As of right now, we’re going to reserve judgement until we know for sure, but the ligaments are intact, we think he’ll be fine,” Smart said when asked about Wilson and the injury he suffered on Saturday. “It was a scary play, but he seems to be fine. He walked off the field on his own and Ron [Corson] feels good about it, but you never know, you have to do the whole due diligence. Coming out of it, I think we’ve got a couple guys dealing with a couple ankles, I don’t think we had a significant injury other than Raylen, and I don’t know how long it’ll be, but we don’t think it’ll be ligament damage.”