Calhoun's Trent Frix awarded scholarship at Georgia

Georgia redshirt junior long snapper Trent Frix (69) has been awarded a scholarship by first-year Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart.
Georgia redshirt junior long snapper Trent Frix (69) has been awarded a scholarship by first-year Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart.

Georgia redshirt junior snapper Trent Frix, who played at Calhoun High School, is among three Bulldogs who have been awarded scholarships by first-year coach Kirby Smart.

Also now on scholarship are senior split end Kenneth Towns and senior outside linebacker Tommy Long.

"Those three guys have done a tremendous job for our program," Smart said in a news conference following Tuesday afternoon's two-hour practice in full pads. "There are a lot of deserving walk-ons out there, so I am always hesitant. It is a hard decision on who you give those scholarships to, because there are a lot of deserving guys out there who are really giving great effort and playing with toughness and doing the things that we ask them to do.

"It's hard to just single out three guys, because there are certainly others that are out there helping us out."

The 6-foot, 215-pound Frix played in six games in 2013 after spending a year at the Air Force Academy prep school, redshirted in 2014 and played in 10 games last season. He is the younger brother of Ty Frix, who was Georgia's snapper from 2009 to 2012.

Towns has appeared in 31 career games for the Bulldogs, earning a start last season against Missouri, and has 11 catches for 93 yards and two touchdowns. His scores came against Kentucky in 2013 and Florida in 2014, and his career-long reception of 23 yards occurred in last year's loss at Tennessee.

Long's one career appearance came in last year's 48-6 rout of Southern University.

No swimming scheduled

In most of the 15 seasons under previous coach Mark Richt, the Bulldogs were treated to one trip to the Ramsey Center pool instead of practice.

Smart was asked Tuesday if he planned to continue that tradition and quickly said, "Oh, no, no, no." Tuesday's practice was the 15th of the month.

"Our guys understand that we have work to do," Smart said. "We have a certain amount of time to get it in during that amount of time. Not to mention, I have no idea when I will lose a practice due to rain, so the minute I do that (take the team swimming), I could lose two, and I've got to keep that in my back pocket."

Georgia is preparing for its second preseason scrimmage, which is set for Saturday.

Challenging Cleveland

Ben Cleveland was a five-star tackle prospect in Georgia's 2016 signing class, according to 247Sports.com, and the 6-6, 345-pounder from Toccoa enrolled early.

Perhaps he's hit the proverbial wall that freshmen can encounter.

"I expect more out of Ben," Smart said. "I expect consistency, effort and toughness, and we don't always get that out of him."

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.

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