One of Georgia’s big, late gets for the 2019 Early Signing Period was California wide receiver Jermaine Burton. The 4-star prospect flipped his commitment from LSU after a late visit to UGA.

Due to COVID-19 (no spring games, limited or no media access at fall practices), less is known about big-time freshmen heading into the 2020 season. On Tuesday, Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart was asked to share his early impression of Burton.

“He’s explosive. He loves the game of football. He’s got really good hands. He’s a really consistent ball catcher. He can go up, he can explode up,” Smart told reporters. “I remember watching him in high school and he can jump boxes extremely high and he’s a talented guy. He’s learning our system so he’s not there yet but he’s a good player.”

Smart continued his answer noting how the 2020 season is different for true freshmen like Burton.

“So many years we’ve played here we’ve had these games where early in the year we could kind of build to a crescendo and bring the freshmen along. Unfortunately this year, with the schedule we’ve got, it’s not going to fall that way.

“You look at the first four games and it’s just a weird year for having depth at some positions with freshmen. They’ve got to be ready to play really fast and they’ve got less time to do it because they didn’t get a spring ball. They didn’t get some of the summer so we’re having to make decisions really quick when it comes to getting our depth set and our roster set for the games we have.”