Earlier this week we took a look at some freshmen that have enrolled early to SEC West programs. Now we’ll take a look at the young guys getting their first spring reps in the SEC East.
FLORIDA
Do the Gators have a quarterback competition or a lack of quality quarterbacks? Going into Friday night’s Orange and Blue Review spring game, Luke Del Rio hasn’t separated himself from graduate transfer Austin Appleby or early-enrollee freshmen Feleipe Franks and Kyle Trask.
While Franks, a four-star prospect, got most of the hype during recruiting season, it’s Trask who has impressed his teammates.
“He has the prettiest ball,” Gators cornerback Jalen Tabor told the Associated Press. “It’s different when you get under the live bullets in the SEC. … Can you still step up in the pocket and deliver a ball to help your team win? That’s the only question I have for him. But as far as just the eye test, the kid is big and he can throw.”
GEORGIA
Many expect five-star freshman Jacob Eason to eventually become the full-time starter in the 2016 season. But Eason is being worked in slowly during the spring, running with the second and third teams, while Greyson Lambert and Brice Ramsey split first-team reps.
However, Eason may have done enough during his first scrimmage inside Sanford Stadium to get a few first-team reps before the April 16 spring game.
Smart didn’t get overexcited in his evaluation of Eason but told reporters that the early enrollee “did some good things.”
KENTUCKY
Freshman linebacker Kash Daniel is finding it tough to make a good impression. Kentucky’s Mr. Football looks the part, but he’s going through the usual growing pains that include getting blown off the ball by a member of the punt coverage team and struggling with the time management demands of being a student-athlete.
“I took a nap and I set my alarm for 7:30” on Monday afternoon, Daniel told the Louisville Courier-Journal. “I woke up and I looked at my phone and go, ‘Oh, no!’ So I literally sprinted – just threw some clothes on and sprinted out the door. (Fellow linebacker) Jordan Jones was there and he was like, ‘Yo, yo, yo, where you going?’ I was like, ‘What are you doing here? We’re late for practice.’ ”
A highly amused Jones let Daniel know that practice was 7:30 the next morning – and it was 7:30 p.m. at the time.
But Daniel’s early work is being noticed by his coaches, especially defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot.
MISSOURI
Freshman linebacker Trey Baldwin is one of only two Missouri signees who enrolled early. So far the results have been good, and head coach Barry Odom is excited about his potential at the weak-side position.
“He’s willing to learn,” Odom told the Columbia Tribune. “He’s always asking for help and everything. I give him little keys and everything like tape it on your wrist, try to learn the playbook while you’re walking to class or something like that.”
SOUTH CAROLINA
The “spur” position on South Carolina’s defense is dead. Head coach Will Muschamp has introduced the “buck” position for an edge rusher to get to the passer. The most successful “buck” in recent memory is former Florida standout Dante Fowler Jr., who was a top-five draft pick in the 2015 NFL Draft.
Freshman Keir Thomas enrolled early from Miami Central High School and has already found a home playing buck where Muschamp has raved about his quick learning and improvements during spring.
Muschamp said Keir Thomas may be the most improved player on the team from practice No. 1 to now.
— TheBigSpur.com (@TheBigSpur247) April 4, 2016
TENNESSEE
Freshman defensive back Marquill Osborne is the Vols’ only freshman early enrollee and while he’s had a quiet spring he did seem to catch the ire of Jauan Jennings during a rep in the “Circle of Life” drill.
https://twitter.com/CoryGunkel/status/716346292646100992
VANDERBILT
Four-star freshman linebacker Joejuan Williams wasn’t always the 6-foot-3, 200-pound prospect that he is these days. And his former high school teammate, Andrew Rector, still remembers Williams as a little kid he used to beat up on in practice.
“I remember him as a little short kid, like 5-8, on the freshman team,” Rector, approaching his sophomore season at Vanderbilt, told The Tennessean. “Oh my gosh, I beat him up. But then he came in (after winter break) in his freshman year and he was tall.”
Corey Long is a freelance writer for SaturdayDownSouth.com. Follow Corey on Twitter @CoreyLong.
