Tight end Jeb Blazevich has been around Georgia football for a long time – 39 games with 33 starts to be exact.

And yet, the senior tight end is still searching for his role in Jim Chaney’s offense.

In his freshman season in 2014, Blazevich caught 18 passes for 269 yards and two touchdowns. Since then, his numbers have slowly decreased.

By the end of the 2016 season, the Charlotte, N.C., native only recorded six receptions for 69 yards.

“[I’m] just trying to learn my niche in the offense and what I can do to help,” Blazevich said. “Just trying to learn it all so that I can help other people.”

Blazevich went on to say this spring has been about getting back to the basics of his technique. Even as a senior, he believes that by breaking the game down to the fundamentals, he is able to focus on the big moments of the fall.

And while Blazevich works on “hat-hand” placements, identifying coverage on routes and finding his niche on the field this spring, off the field the tight end has already found his role in the community. Not surprisingly, it’s the same as what he wants to do on the field.

In 2016, through his work with organizations like the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, the Georgia Transplant Foundation and the Extra Special People organization, Blazevich was one of 12 athletes named to the AFCA Allstate Good Works Team. He was also a finalist for the Wuerffel Trophy, an award given to a college football player for their work in their community.

In his junior season, Blazevich was also a part of the SEC Football Community Service Team. Even though the statistics weren’t where the tight end necessarily wanted them to be, being content in where he is as a figure in the community makes it less important.

“I think there are way more important things than a game,” Blazevich said. “If I can use what I am doing on a grass field a couple days a year to help someone else or to use this to cheer up a kid, however He can use me, I’m just trying to be available to let God speak through me to other people.”

However, Blazevich didn’t turn into a prominent community figure overnight, and he even said that it isn’t always easy.

“[Sometimes] I’m like ‘Why did I sign up for this? I’m tired, I don’t want to go’,” Blazevich said. “Then I go and I’m like ‘Oh my gosh, that was the best thing ever’.”

Blazevich said that it is often the events that he has a difficult time bringing himself to go to that he finds the most rewarding in the end.

“Its usually the things that I’m reluctant to go into that afterwards I’m like ‘Why was I so stupid?’” Blazevich said. “I learn so much about myself and how could I not?”

The senior tight end may still be in search of a prominent role in the Georgia offense, but his role in his community is set, and that seems to be most rewarding to Blazevich in the end.

“I guess the biggest thing for me is a sense of duty,” Blazevich said. “Hopefully, I am doing a good job.”

— Tori McElhaney