Georgia's first scrimmage this spring, held Saturday afternoon inside Sanford Stadium, also was the inaugural collegiate scrimmage for quarterback D'Wan Mathis, who enrolled early out of Oak Park High School in Belleville, Michigan.
The 6-foot-6, 205-pound Mathis is the youngest of Georgia's scholarship quarterbacks, trailing junior Jake Fromm and redshirt sophomore Stetson Bennett. Fromm is a two-year starter for the Bulldogs, while Bennett is a former Georgia walk-on who has returned to Athens after playing last season at Jones County (Mississippi) Junior College.
"D'Wan is straight out of high school, so I have no expectations that he is going to come in here and conquer the verbiage and the words we have by scrimmage one," Georgia coach Kirby Smart said in a news conference. "Stetson has the advantage of being in this offense before. Every quarterback we have has to get better, and every player we have has to get better.
"I was very pleased with where D'Wan was today. We tried to simplify it for him so he could go out there and play and we could evaluate him at where he is now and not give him the same menu that Jake has. That's just not fair."
Georgia's scrimmage lasted two hours and was closed to the media. No statistics were provided.
Mathis was a four-star prospect on the 247Sports.com composite rankings and the No. 11 pro-style quarterback nationally. He threw for 1,509 yards and 20 touchdowns as an Oak Park senior and apparently had impressive moments Saturday.
"I thought D'Wan did some good things with his feet," Smart said. "He was able to break contain and move around. He got better today."
Smart said Bennett worked some with the first team and the second team and Mathis worked some with the second and third teams. He added that Georgia's two backups received about the same amount of snaps.
Fromm continues to have a stranglehold on the position.
"Jake understands things, and there are times you have to be careful that he doesn't get bored," Smart said. "Defensively, he knows every call we've got. He hears the call and he's already got his call and knows what the next step is.
"That's just him implementing his leadership into our offense."
Odds and ends
Junior outside linebacker and Independence (Kansas) Community College transfer Jermaine Johnson missed Saturday's scrimmage with a sprained ankle. Also sitting out were fellow outside linebackers Robert Beal and Brenton Cox, who were arrested last Tuesday for marijuana possession. Smart said veteran receivers Jeremiah Holloman and Tyler Simmons are playing well but that others have to step up "to make us dangerous on offense." The first-team offensive line Saturday had Andrew Thomas at left tackle, Solomon Kindley at left guard, Trey Hill at center, Cade Mays at right guard and Isaiah Wilson at right tackle.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.