ATHENS, Ga. - At 6-foot-5 and 327 pounds, Julian Rochester possessed the size and strength to become one of the nation's top 10 defensive tackle prospects in the 2016 signing class.
His maturity level was a plus as well.
Rochester is among the six early enrollees in Kirby Smart's inaugural, 20-member crop at Georgia. He graduated in December from McEachern High in the Atlanta suburb of Powder Springs, completing a process that he began in ninth grade.
"The toughest thing about enrolling early is setting yourself up from your freshman year until now," Rochester said. "You are always going to have to take an extra class. I never had a chill semester where I could just lollygag and do nothing.
"It was always a little different for me, but in the end I knew it would pay off. The fall semester of my senior year was tough, but it was nothing I couldn't handle."
Former Bulldogs quarterback Eric Zeier is widely recognized for leading the early-enrollment movement when he arrived at Georgia in January 1991. There have been a slew of Georgia quarterback signees to follow in that path, most notably Matthew Stafford in 2006 and both Aaron Murray and Zach Mettenberger in 2009.
Quarterbacks cite the head start on learning a new system as the chief advantage for enrolling early, but Rochester could be rewarded with a chance to play sooner than later on a defensive front that is losing Sterling Bailey, Josh Dawson, James DeLoach and Chris Mayes from the 2015 roster.
"I'm coming in wanting to do what the coaches tell me to do," he said. "It's all an open book right now. Nobody is set in stone anywhere, so this is actually the perfect time for me to come in and try to make a name for myself as soon as possible."
Rochester racked up 73 tackles and 9.5 tackles for loss as a McEachern senior and earned an invitation to last month's U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio. He was rated the No. 7 defensive tackle nationally by Scout.com, No. 8 by ESPN and No. 10 by 247Sports.com.
The Bulldogs also signed two other in-state defensive tackles last week, Michail Carter of Jackson and Tyler Clark of Americus, who weigh more than 300 pounds.
"We want to get bigger on both sides of the ball," Smart said. "I would say we've certainly addressed that on the defensive line."
Rochester credits McEachern coach Kyle Hockman for helping him set up the possibility to enroll early more than three years ago, adding that it wasn't until last year when he knew he wanted to follow through with it. The demanding semester this past fall coincided with Rochester's focus on winning a state championship, but that goal was squashed in the second round of the Class AAAAAAA playoffs.
Summer courses were never needed for Rochester, which is a deserved point of pride.
When asked recently about his favorite player growing up, Rochester developed a huge grin as he said, "Ndamukong Suh." The former Nebraska nose tackle has been among the dirtiest NFL players, earning eight fines and two suspensions during a five-year run with the Detroit Lions before signing last year with the Miami Dolphins.
"I fell in love with Suh when he started taking off," Rochester said. "He's just nasty and aggressive, and that's how I chose to play in high school. I was going to be meaner than you.
"There may be some nasty things going on in there, but that's part of playing in the trenches."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.