WATCH: Georgia linebacker Monty Rice raves about ‘Little (James) Cook’

ATHENS — Georgia football true freshman James Cook opened eyes at the Bulldogs’ open practice on Aug. 4, and apparently he has continued to excel through fall drills.

Georgia linebacker Monty Rice made it clear on Thursday that he has been impressed with all of the backs, and particularly Cook.

“I’ve never played against a running back like Cook before, he has his own little style, and it’s very unique,” Rice said. “He’s very tough to cover … you can’t be looking at the quarterback when you cover him, or you’ll watch them complete the pass.”

Rice has had an impressive offseason himself, making a team-high 14 tackles in the G-Day game to put himself in position to win a starting job.

Rice said nothing has been determined at linebacker yet, himself working at both “Mike” and “Will.”

From the sounds of it, Georgia offensive coordinator Jim Chaney will have a hard time sorting through the offensive weapons.

Elijah Holyfield tore through the first-team defense in the first scrimmage, and Rice said the defense is eager to atone in the upcoming second scrimmage on Saturday.

“I don’t want to see Brian Herrien, Holyfield or [D’Andre] Swift run for 60 yards on a play, not against us,” Rice said.

They’ve all impressed, Rice indicated.

“Little Cook never stops running, he’s fast, I mean, just fast,” Rice said. “Then you’ve got Holyfield Brian, Swift, Prather [Hudson], Zamir [White], there’s a bunch of them, and they are all pretty good.”

Cook, 5-foot-11 and 190 pounds, is the younger brother of NFL tailback and former Florida State star Dalvin Cook. He was one of the last freshmen in the 2018 class to arrive on campus.

Cook and the Georgia backs could find the going tougher on Saturday.

“We just have to get better on our techniques,” Rice said, “and if we get our techniques right, we can prevent those big runs.”

Georgia football LB Monty Rice