ATHENS, Ga. - Georgia first-year football coach Kirby Smart is appreciative of Bulldogs fans, especially after 93,000 of them turned out to see the G-Day game in April.
Smart will not, however, let fans decide the starting quarterback among fifth-year senior Greyson Lambert, redshirt junior Brice Ramsey and true freshman Jacob Eason, a five-star signee offering the most intrigue. The Bulldogs held their first preseason workout Monday afternoon and will hold a two-hour practice Saturday afternoon that will be open to the public at Sanford Stadium.
"Will the fans impact my decision? Absolutely not," Smart said Monday. "I've got to make the best decision for this team, and ultimately the fan favorite is going to be the one who wins the games. If Eason loses a game, they won't like him, either, and they won't like me, either.
"They can have people up there putting a tick mark by every rep that every guy gets with the ones and twos like you guys do, and that will be fine, but that's not what I'm looking for."
The Bulldogs are scheduled to hold 28 or 29 practices before the Sept. 3 opener against North Carolina in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic in Atlanta. Smart is stressing to players the importance of focusing on camp and not what's down the road, and he was not lacking for eager competitors ready to get going.
"I wish we could go full pads today," junior safety Dominick Sanders said. "I don't really care what people think we have to prove. That's their opinion. Our main thing is coming out today and handling our business. The results will come out in the end."
Deciding a starting quarterback is sharing the spotlight this month with the health of tailbacks Nick Chubb and Sony Michel. Chubb went through Monday's noncontact drills wearing a brace on the left knee he injured last October at Tennessee, while Michel was on the sideline wearing a brace on his forearm that he broke early last month in an ATV accident.
Chubb was joined in the backfield Monday by senior Brendan Douglas, redshirt freshman Tae Crowder and true freshman Elijah Holyfield.
"I think there is a big misnomer out there that if Sony and Nick are not healthy for the first game that there is nobody there, and that's not true," Smart said. "We went through a large part of the spring without Nick. Brendan Douglas has played a lot of snaps here, and Tae Crowder has come a long way.
"We've always had a next-man-up mantra."
The Bulldogs started preseason practices with Isaiah Wynn at left tackle and Greg Pyke at right tackle. Brandon Kublanow was the center, where he made 11 starts last season, and the guards were Dyshon Sims and Lamont Gaillard.
Tyler Catalina, the graduate transfer from Rhode Island, and Kendall Baker will get looks backing up Wynn.
"We will rotate every practice so that Isaiah is also getting work inside, so we're hoping about 60 percent of the snaps will be with Isaiah as a tackle and 40 percent with him as a guard," Smart said. "Everybody gets reps, but Isaiah will be the swing guy. Pyke will stay at right tackle."
Pronunciation change
Senior free safety Quincy Mauger has compiled 166 tackles in 39 games the past three seasons with his name pronounced "MAH-gur."
This season, the 6-foot, 200-pounder from Marietta has changed the pronunciation to "mo-ZHAY."
"It's something we have to get used to - that name he came up with," Sanders said. "He's been telling certain people at a time just joking around, but he's really serious about it."
Odds and ends
Smart said sophomore inside linebacker Natrez Patrick has lost 20 pounds since January. Junior inside linebacker Reggie Carter on the possibility of kickoffs being taken out of the game: "It wouldn't be football without it." Ramsey will have the right to earn the starting job at quarterback and at punter, according to Smart.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.