ATHENS – An attempt had to be made. It was Mark Richt’s first press gathering since preseason practice began, so he was asked his evaluation of the quarterbacks so far.

Richt knew the subtext of the question.

“You know I’m not gonna give anybody any kind of hint,” said Georgia’s coach.

So no commentary on how Brice Ramsey, Faton Bauta and Greyson Lambert have performed so far. Richt just updated the process: The trio has been rotating first-team snaps, and Sunday’s practice, the sixth, will mean everyone has gotten two days as the first-teamer.

“It’s really a different evaluation when they’re with certain groups,” Richt said. “If you’re with the ones, you probably have a little bit better protection. You have guys knowing exactly what to do. You might have a few more guys break open. If you’re with the threes, sometimes a guy might have a missed assignment, all of a sudden there’s somebody in your face, you’ve gotta react to that, and that’s football, and that’s part of the quarterback position, is how do you handle getting sacked, or how do you handle pressure. Do you throw it up for grabs? Do you make poor decisions?

“So we’re really evaluating them under different circumstances, which I think is good. Not trying to make any judgments on anybody yet. We’re just gathering information, and we still have a good bit of time before we have to figure anything out.”

A few other tidbits from Richt’s post-practice press conference on Saturday:

– Aulden Bynum, a redshirt sophomore, is working second-team at left tackle, behind starter John Theus. Both of Georgia’s tackles are seniors, so there’s intense competition behind them to be the heir apparents, and Bynum (listed at 6-foot 5 and 268 pounds) is off to a decent start.

“Little by little he’s been inching up, and he’s getting better at what he does,” Richt said. “We would love to see him gain a little more weight, and continue to improve his technique and all that kind of thing. But I think he’s moving in the right direction.”

– Richt was asked about assistant coach Mike Ekeler’s statement Friday night that his inside linebackers are already better than last year, despite losing Ramik Wilson and Amarlo Herrera, who were both NFL draft picks.

“Well, coach Ekeler’s a very positive, upbeat guy,” Richt said. “Everybody’s got a ways to go yet. But he definitely is a positive guy.”