ATHENS — New coach Kirby Smart liked what he saw from his quarterbacks in Georgia’s first full scrimmage.

That doesn’t mean, however, five-star recruit Jacob Eason is moving up the depth chart.

Eason, who enrolled at Georgia in January, worked some Saturday with the second-team offense, but mostly stayed with the third-team offense as it went against the third-team defense.

Returning QBs Greyson Lambert and Brice Ramsey shared snaps with the first and second team.

As long as Eason doesn’t stay stuck at third string this summer, Smart knows Georgia fans will remain hopeful the 6-foot-5, 211-pounder earns the starting job this fall.

“Right now, obviously, the young man has a great arm talent,” Smart said. “But sometimes arm talent can get you in trouble if you make poor decisions.”

Eason, 18, is still learning the nuances of coordinator Jim Chaney’s offense. The coaches are being patient as he goes through the right progressions and checks and throws the ball where it’s supposed to go.

For Smart, the right balance is helping Eason command his role and while encouraging him along the way.

“I sit in some of those meetings and (Chaney) tells him, ‘Hey, this is not really where you’re supposed to do it, but you did a great job,’ “ Smart said. “So as he earns that, he’ll get a chance hopefully to move up and get a chance with the ones.”

Lambert, a senior, joined Ramsey, a junior, in what Smart described as a good beginning for the passing attack.

“We did have some big, explosive passes,” Smart said. “It’s not good on defense, but it’s good when you have a chance to do that on offense.”

Smart wasn’t glowing about any individual players. Holdovers such as Lambert, who went 10-2 as a starter last year and threw only two interceptions in 256 attempts, and Ramsey have a lot to learn, too.

Georgia hasn’t had consistency at quarterback since Aaron Murray’s final season in 2013. The Bulldogs ranked 104th in the nation in passing last year.

“I want Brice to manage the huddle a little better, be more efficient, get the call out, get to the line faster,” Smart said.
“I think Greyson’s doing a nice job of managing the huddle right now, the call and executing the play. He’s got to be a little more mobile in the pocket. He’s got to be able to create a little bit more and get out of there and make some throws. They both led the offensive units down and scored at times.”

Reporters were allowed to watch only the first 10 minutes of practice. And no players were available for interviews.

Smart said starting running back Sony Michel had “eight to 10” carries and Tae Crowder between 10 and 15. The depth chart is lacking with Nick Chubb limited by a knee injury and a wrist injury holding back Brendan Douglas.

Taking into consideration the full scrimmage, Smart thought his coaches need to improve teaching players how to run huddles and make correct substitutions.

“I thought that the effort was good, but I do not think we’re where we need to be organizationally,” he said. “It just shows that as coaches we’ve got to do a better job of getting off the field and letting the players play. Because a lot of the players couldn’t play on their own, couldn’t execute on their own, so we’ve got to make it a little easier for them.”

The Bulldogs have six more practices left before the G-Day scrimmage game April 16.