Practice Report: Potential QB battle, Pickens running routes

Georgia quarterback JT Daniels (18) during the Bulldogs’ practice session in Athens, Ga., on Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2021. (Photo by Mackenzie Miles)

ATHENS, GA. — Media got to view Georgia’s practice on Monday, Nov. 1 for what I think is the third time this year. It was my first time attending a UGA football practice since the 2019 season while I was still interning with BulldawgIllustrated. So, here are my practice notes from today:

• We got to see the offense for most of the viewing period.

• Senior Stetson Bennett looked like he was working with the first team and was rotating with the three other quarterbacks. He dropped a dime of a pass to freshman tight end Brock Bowers in front of me and Jake Rowe of Dawgs247. It was very similar to the touchdown pass Bennett threw to Kearis Jackson this past weekend against Florida.

  The Comeback @thecomeback

  Georgia cashes in on the next play, with a Stetson Bennett 36-yard touchdown pass to Kearis Jackson. This is an incredible grab by Jackson in the end zone. 🏈

• Speaking of QBs, junior JT Daniels was practicing with the second team and looked healthy to me. It seems like for him to regain the starting job, it’s all about repetition and continuity, which is what head coach Kirby Smart eluded to on Saturday in his post-game press conference. From a physical standpoint, Daniels looks great, but I am no doctor, nor a coach. The former 5-star completed a pass across the seam to sophomore tight end Darnell Washington right in front of me during drills.

• As far as the wide receivers go, George Pickens was still in a non-contact jersey. However, he was running routes and looked like he’s improving from a physical perspective. A surprise to me and others was that Dom Blaylock was in a red contact jersey. He was away from the rest of the receivers during the start of 7-on-7 drills and then joined them to run routes. Regardless, who knows with his injury, but he wasn’t wearing a knee brace today.

• On the other hand, Jermaine Burton, Arian Smith and Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint all were running routes today. It didn’t seem like any of the three were limited in practice. All caught a pass and looked healthy from my point of view.

• The offensive line was off to the side practicing and I didn’t spend too much time looking at them. Even so, position coach Matt Luke was letting his voice rip on some reps. I will say that redshirt freshman Austin Blaske is an interesting specimen to watch because of his size, but so is Amarius Mims. Sedrick Van Pran is one of the guys Luke was coaching up.

• There was also no Kendall Milton.