Enrolling early worth the hassle for Georgia’s Rochester

Defensive tackle Julian Rochester is among six early enrollees for the Georgia Bulldogs, who signed 20 prospects last Wednesday. Defensive tackle Julian Rochester is among six early enrollees for the Georgia Bulldogs, who signed 20 prospects last Wednesday.

By David Paschall February 10, 2016 3 min read

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.”

David Paschall

David Paschall has covered sports at the Chattanooga Times Free Press since 1999 and wrote for the Chattanooga Free Press in the nine years before that. David has mostly covered college athletics, with a focus on the University of Georgia from 2000 to 2019 and the University of Tennessee since 2020. He grew up in Chattanooga and is a graduate of the Baylor School and Auburn University. David has received multiple writing awards and has served as a Heisman Trophy voter since 2003. He has also worked in radio in Chattanooga and has been on the SEC Network's "Classic Rewind" series since 2014. David and his wife, Kelly, have three children — Conner, Emily and Spencer.

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