ATHENS — Ellis Robinson arrived at Georgia with a ton of hype. He was universally seen as the top cornerback in the 2024 recruiting cycle and was Georgia’s highest-rated signee.

Yet running back Roderick Robinson did not seem to care one bit about Ellis Robinson’s credentials, as the sophomore running back trucked the freshman cornerback in a perimeter tackling drill.

Roderick Robinson has a good 60 pounds on Ellis Robinson and the former certainly showed it during the drill. Ellis Robinson will need to continue to add strength and be a willing tackler if he is to make an early impact for the Bulldogs as some think.

Robinson and fellow 5-star freshman KJ Bolden also had a tough time bringing down freshman running back Chauncey Bowens in a different rep as well.

But there were some defenders who were able to make impressive hits during the drill. Freshman linebacker Justin Williams had an impressive tackle in space, as did sophomore Troy Bowles.

This was Georgia’s fourth spring practice, as the Bulldogs were once again in full pads after doing so on Saturday. The media had roughly 13 minutes of practice viewing on Tuesday afternoon.

Below are some notes and observations from the practice. Georgia will conclude spring practice on April 13 with G-Day. It is set for 1 p.m. ET on SEC Network+.

Georgia football practice observations

  • Couple of number changes for the team: Outside linebacker Damon Wilson is wearing No. 10, inside linebacker Justin Williams is wearing No. 19 and Daniel Calhoun is now wearing No. 70. Wilson was taking some first-team reps in a pursuit package, with Mykel Williams on the opposite end. The Bulldogs, it should be noted were not in a base personnel package on the play.
  • Georgia cornerback Chris Peal was in a non-contact practice jersey. Smart did not specify what injury Peal had. Peal missed time last year with a turf toe injury.
  • Smart wasn’t just using his microphone to get after players, as new defensive backs coaches Donte Williams and Travaris Robinson both caught Smart’s ire after the Georgia head coach was left unsatisfied with the defensive backs efforts during a pursuit drill.
  • Later in the same drill, Smart could be heard instructing the ball carriers that, “If you get the ball, run like Forrest Gump.”
  • The rotation at cornerback for drills was Daniel Harris up first, followed by Daylen Everette, Julian Humphrey, Peal and Ellis Robinson. At safety, Dan Jackson and David Daniel-Sisavanh were leading drills.
  • The first team offensive line was Earnest Greene, Micah Morris, Jared Wilson, Tate Ratledge and Xavier Truss from left to right.
  • Spent a little more time with the quarterbacks on Tuesday’s practice. Ryan Puglisi had a pretty standard practice for what you would expect from a freshman. He threw to the wrong receiver on one rep, over-threw Sacovie White on another but also threw a perfect deep pass to Cole Speer. His arm talent is evident, as the ball moves at a speed similar to Carson Beck when coming out of his hands.
  • As for Beck, he once again looked crisp in drills. He threw a nice corner route to Colbie Young. “It’s his offense, he’s leading it and you can tell that he is,” tight end Oscar Delp said of Beck.
  • On a different rep, Young did have to make a double catch on a pass after initially bobbling it. During a drill working on receiver releases, wide receivers coach James Coley was giving Young some extra tips about how to best run his routes and transfer his weight.
  • Young is dealing with a bit of an ankle injury per Smart, which would explain why he was lumbering through drills. “He’s had an ankle, happened right before we started, or right before we went on break,” Smart said. “He’s been able to practice some and do some things. He’s actually gotten better with each practice, probably did the least with any of his practices his first practice. He did a little more the third practice, and then hoping today he’s able to do some more. He’s very bright, transitions smoothly.”
  • Dillon Bell and Arian Smith were up first for the wide receivers when catching passes on Tuesday. Rara Thomas certainly seemed to be doing more for Georgia in this practice compared to what he was doing at Georgia’s practice last Thursday.
  • Smart had mentioned that freshman Jaden Reddell is dealing with a bit of a hamstring injury at the moment but he was out at practice.