ATHENS -- The gates swung wide and there were 20 minutes on the clock to watch Georgia’s second spring football practice on Thursday afternoon.
With at least half of the UGA beat away covering March Madness in Buffalo, that was a generous allotment of spring practice viewing.
The first memorable images from the session were the blue caps. DawgNation and other media members spotted four Bulldogs that had already earned the blue Guardian cap seal of approval.
That signifies the fire, passion and energy that the program looks for. In short, those are the Dawgs that are setting forth every day according to the Georgia standard.
There were four caps. The first three went to veterans. That was LB Terrell Foster, WR London Humphreys and LB Raylen Wilson. Humphreys and Wilson were obvious, given the plays they’ve made and their roles as team spokesmen last season.
Foster is a little less obvious. The Georgia native came to UGA as a preferred walk-on LB but has hung around. Even when he’s been good enough to start for a few SEC teams over the last two seasons.
The fourth might have been a surprise to anyone who didn’t see how much “FPE” he had in high school. Redshirt freshman TE Ethan Barbour was the fourth blue cap on the Woodfuff practice fields today.
That said, he did start the first game of his college career as a true freshman last season against Marshall before suffering a serious lower leg injury that cost him almost all of the 2025 season.
When those lids were spotted, it wasn’t long before Smart started entertaining on the mic. It is a rite of spring, after all.
He urged what appeared to be a late-arriving Amaris Williams, the new transfer OLB, about a few things consistent with the Georgia standard.
He told the recruits on hand to follow their groups when the team split up and went off with their position coaches. He added that if they didn’t know their position group, they were probably at the wrong team’s practice.
Smart had words for redshirt freshman receiver Talyn Taylor on multiple occasions. Urging him on. He made one comment that stressed just how important yards after the catch were going to be this season for the former 5-star.
There was no need to leave his feet for a ball unless he absolutely had to. Those words from Smart certainly set the tone for Taylor this spring. The former 5-star has all the ability in the world to be an impact player on offense this year. There’s All-SEC and All-American talent in his game.
Taylor was taking all of that to heart. DawgNation saw both Taylor and sophomore receiver CJ Wiley out in front in every drill, leading their specific position group within the wide receiver room.
It was about that time when redshirt sophomore Sacovie White-Helton buzzed across the viewfinder of a camera lens trained to follow everything at practice. White-Helton looked sharp coming in and out of his breaks. He was operating at a speed that seemed to be at least a click ahead of some of the other very talented wide receivers.
Smart was a constant theme throughout the 20-minute practice soundtrack. He pointed out, in his own unique way, that he wanted his two receivers from North Oconee High School to stress ball security a little more.
While scanning the wide receiver room, it was easy to see why Georgia was so high on Georgia Tech transfer Isiah Canion. The 6-foot-4, 205-pounder looks how a WR1 in the SEC is supposed to look.
Williams looked impressive working with the EDGE guys during the viewing period. That unit has a new sherpa this season in new assistant coach Larry Knight. Knight was teaching a lot during the four media-viewing periods.
DawgNation spotted him spending some quality instruction time with former 5-star EDGE Isaiah Gibson during the viewing period.
The same thing goes for new offensive line coach Phil Rauscher. Rauscher spent one practice period working with his tackles. For those who wonder how deep that position is in Athens, there are still plenty of big bodies there.
It was impossible not to notice 6-foot-10 junior Jahzare Jackson. While watching him for a rep or two, it was hard not to look extra close to check and see if what Monroe Freeling said earlier this week at Pro Day about the lights coming all the way on for him was indeed in the cards for this spring.
There were a few unique positional moves. Talented freshman safety Jordan Smith was working with the cornerbacks this afternoon. He was an All-American safety, but it appears UGA wants to see what he can do at that position.
There’s a lot of impressive new transfer and freshman safeties on the 2026 roster. That’s why it made sense to see Smith trying things out at safety this spring. The 6-foot-2, 185-pounder was a top 10 safety in the 2026 class and a top 100 overall prospect.
But he was the sort that housed kickoffs for scores for his high school team in big games. It made sense.
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This new jersey number roundup is going to take a minute
Perhaps the biggest initial takeaway from the spring viewing period was the massive uptick in jersey changes. There will be a lot of UGA family members investing in new gear to support the player in the family now.
Here’s the list of all the Dawgs in new numbers that we saw on the practice field and on the roster supplied to the media at the start of the viewing period.
There were 47 new jersey numbers to track.
| 0 | WR Sacovie White-Helton |
|---|---|
| 1 | WR Tayln Taylor |
| 2 | WR Thomas Blackshear |
| 3 | EDGE Quintavius Johnson |
| 4 | WR CJ Wiley |
| 5 | RB Chauncey Bowens |
| 6 | WR Isiah Canion (new transfer) |
| 7 | S Khalil Barnes (new transfer) |
| 8 | CB Demello Jones |
| 8 | WR Landon Roldan |
| 11 | WR Jeremy Bell |
| 12 | S Ja’Marley Riddle (new transfer) |
| 13 | WR Tyler J. Williams |
| 14 | S Rasean Dinkins |
| 15 | EDGE Khamari Brooks (true freshman) |
| 17 | EDGE Amaris Williams (new transfer) |
| 18 | QB Bryson Beaver (true freshman) |
| 18 | CB Caden Harris (true freshman) |
| 20 | S Zech Fort (true freshman) |
| 22 | RB Dante Dowdell (true freshman) |
| 23 | DB Tyriq Green (true freshman) |
| 24 | CB Braylon Conley (new transfer) |
| 26 | S Gentry Williams (new transfer) |
| 27 | RB Jae Lamar (true freshman) |
| 27 | S Blake Stewart (true freshman) |
| 28 | DB Jordan Smith (true freshman) |
| 33 | DE PJ Dean (true freshman) |
| 35 | LB Elijah Littlejohn (true freshman) |
| 38 | DL AJ Lonon (true freshman) |
| 41 | DL Carter Luckie (true freshman) |
| 42 | LB Nick Abrams (true freshman) |
| 45 | LB Terrence Penick (true freshman) |
| 52 | DL Valdin Sone (true freshman) |
| 53 | OL Zach Lewis (true freshman) |
| 55 | OL Zykie Helton (true freshman) |
| 58 | OL Dontrell Glover |
| 66 | OL Tyreek Jemison (true freshman) |
| 69 | OL Graham Houston (true freshman) |
| 72 | OT Ekene Ogbboko (true freshman) |
| 79 | OL TyQuez Richardson (new transfer) |
| 80 | TE Kaiden Prothro (true freshman) |
| 81 | WR Craig Dandridge (true freshman) |
| 84 | WR Dallas Dickerson (true freshman) |
| 85 | WR Ryan Mosley (true freshman) |
| 87 | TE Lincoln Keyes (true freshman) |
| 88 | TE Brayden Fogle (true freshman) |
| 92 | DL Preston Carey (true freshman) |
| 97 | P Wade Register (true freshman) |
| 99 | PK Harran Zureikat (true freshman) |
What else did we see at UGA spring practice?
Here are a few other quick-hit takes from the 20-minute viewing period:
- Perhaps the most interesting nugget that DawgNation observed was how true freshmen safeties Tyriq Green and Blake Stewart were already with the older safeties in that room. Those two were with KJ Bolden, Zion Branch, Rasean Dinkins and Todd Robinson.
- That was interesting. Especially given the fact that Clemson transfer Khalil Barnes was working with the younger safeties during the first four periods.
- True freshman OL Zykie Helton also stood out. He looked ready to work and was not looking around trying to figure out his way as a true freshman. There are lofty expectations for Helton to work his way into the two-deep this spring. Freshman OT Ekene Ogboko was another impressive young football player who’s impossible not to see the way he was moving around. DawgNation saw a couple of good reps from him, including one in which he drove his matchup to the ground.
- Redshirt senior Gunner Stockton looked sharp. With a capital S. That’s to be expected, but he is clearly in the PhD phase of his Georgia football career.
- As far as the quarterbacks go, there were no real eye-openers. Ryan Puglisi flashed arm talent. It was good to see redshirt freshman QB Ryan Montgomery moving around without a knee brace this spring.
- Big. Powerful. Fast. Those were the buzzwords watching new Georgia running backs Dante Dowdell and Jae Lamar take back-to-back reps late in the media viewing period. Dowdell is on his fourth college team. Lamar is a true freshman. He has a very good burst to already be above the 205-pound mark. The No. 27 he wore was interesting, given that it is Georgia all-timer Nick Chubb’s number. That’s only the No. 2 leading rusher in program history. Lamar also drew some praise from Kirby Smart for taking somebody “out of the club” at practice. That’s usually an indicator that he more than did his job on a blocking assignment.
- It appears that former UGA wide receiver Kearis Jackson is now working with the team. Jackson was a member of that famed 2018 recruiting class who went on to win two national championships in Athens. His big catch against Ohio State in the 2022 Peach Bowl was something DawgNation will never forget. It appears that he’s making the transition to coaching after a few seasons on practice squads in the NFL. He saw action in two games for the Tennessee Titans in 2023.
- We couldn’t close down this report without tipping off Dawgnation again about freshman DL Valdin Sone. He. Just. Moves. Differently. We watched him hit the blocking sled with defensive line coach Tray Scott and get a “not bad” for his work. Scott had a coaching point or two for him after the rep, but the real entree was watching him move. He’s built like an interior defensive lineman, but runs like a side-to-side middle linebacker.
-- DawgNation staffers Cody Chaffins and Kaylee Mansell contributed to this report
