ATHENS, Ga. -- Whether it was Terry Godwin at receiver, Trenton Thompson on the defensive front or Roquan Smith at linebacker, there was no shortage of touted Georgia freshmen going through their first workout Tuesday afternoon.
Freshmen who will not be singled out publicly in the early stages of preseason camp.
Bulldogs coach Mark Richt refrained Tuesday when asked about specific newcomers. Georgia had the nation's No. 6 signing class this past winter according to Rivals.com and 247Sports.com.
"We hear the names of all these freshmen," Richt said, "but here is the thing that I don't want to do - I don't want to put some kind of undue pressure on a guy and say, 'We expect you to start this year. We expect you to do this or that.'
"It gets back to expecting them to learn what to do, both assignmentwise and fundamentally, and to play with great energy every day. Just try to become the best player you can be at whatever position you play, and then we'll determine who's going to play as we go."
Thompson, a 6-foot-4, 307-pound defensive tackle from Albany, was rated the No. 1 player nationally by 247Sports. He was not receiving special treatment from position coach Tracy Rocker during the portion of practice that was open to the media.
"He's a guy who can play every down, and he plays the run well and can rush the quarterback," second-year defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt said, "but every year somewhere across the country someone is ranked as the No. 1 player. That doesn't matter when we go to practice, and that doesn't matter when we play the first game.
"I don't think that when they flip the coin that they're going to ask him where he was ranked last year."
Peace and quiet
No news was good news for Georgia this past offseason, as the Bulldogs had no known player arrests.
"I'm thankful our guys did a good job in that regard," Richt said. "When you talk about a lot of things that need to go right in the offseason, that's one of them besides staying healthy. If you have a bunch of guys who didn't do what they're supposed to do socially and off the field, it creates distractions.
"It also creates a lack of depth sometimes if you're playing without some guys because of those two reasons. At this point, we haven't had a lot of either one."
The most recent arrest of a Bulldogs player occurred last October, when defensive back Shaq Jones was charged with shoplifting at a Wal-Mart and promptly was dismissed from the team.
Playing wherever
Leonard Floyd has been a standout outside linebacker the past two seasons but is listed this preseason as a potential starter on the inside as well. Pruitt said playing "star" in the nickel package is also a possibility for the 6-4, 231-pounder, who worked a couple of periods Tuesday with the defensive backs.
"We're very fortunate to have a guy that's got the ability to do multiple things like that," Pruitt said. "The good thing about Leonard is that he can help make everybody else right. Until we can figure out the other pieces of the puzzle, he's going to do all three."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.