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Georgia

Position battles roll on as Georgia kicks off first game week

On3 imageby: Jake Rowe08/25/25JakeMRowe
Juan Gaston Georgia
Georgia offensive lineman Juan Gaston Jr. (73) during Georgia’s practice session in Athens, Ga., on Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (Tony Walsh/UGAAA)

ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia opened preseason camp with a number of wide-open position battles. The Bulldogs have held dozens of practices, workouts, walkthroughs, and scrimmages combined since they got things rolling in late July, helping the coaching staff make decisions on who it can depend on.

Kirby Smart has often insisted that every position is up for grabs. There’s certainly some truth to that, but conventional wisdom suggests that at least a few, maybe more, are pretty settled. Now entering his 10th year at Georgia, Smart is striking a similar ton to his previous nine. The Bulldogs have some plans in place but minds can be changed each and every day on the practice field.

“We’ve got a lot of good battles going on,” Smart said on Monday. “We have a saying around our place: If you’re going to play winning football, we want to play you. So we’re looking to have as many guys as possible above that winning threshold line, and that’s the goal to play all those guys.”

This Georgia team is one of Smart’s youngest. The Georgia head coach told reporters at SEC Media Days that 54 percent of the Bulldog roster is comprised of first and second-year players. With that said, there’s also a strong mix of experience.

Take the offensive line for example. Georgia lost three of its five starters to the NFL Draft at the end of the 2024 season and another was signed as a free agent. Although Georgia lost four of the five guys it started the season with last year, it also brings back four offensive linemen who have at least two starts under their belt. As a whole, UGA’s current offensive line has nearly 3,000 snaps of experience.

When camp began, one of the biggest competitions on the entire roster was right guard. Daniel Calhoun and Michael Uini were considered the primary competitors but true freshman Juan Gaston has made a move, putting himself in position to get the nod in his first ever college game.

Georgia is also working to sort things out at outside linebacker and safety from a starting standpoint. There are several other competitions taking place for rotational roles. While the staff has undoubtedly identified a number of guys who can help the team win, Smart says that process never stops. There are three more days of practice this week to prove it for game one.

“I was telling guys just the other day, there’s three more games before the game: one today, one tomorrow, and one the next day, and those opportunities are really valuable in terms of where guys rep, where guys will play,” Smart said. “We’ve got position battles that — they don’t go on until the game. They go on through the whole year because I value Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, sometimes Thursday of practice weeks probably more than some game reps.”

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