The Georgia football team will hold its first practice of the 2025 season later this week, inching us one step closer to the start of the 2025 season.
The practices during the month of August will be the most physical and grueling of the season. Head coach Kirby Smart often wants practice to be more difficult than the games for Georgia. These practices before Georgia’s season opener against Marshall will be the toughest of the season.
Whichever players can stand up to the grueling August heat should position themselves to have strong seasons. Health will be critical in this month, especially for young players seeking to make a name for themselves.
The players below aren’t the ones who will necessarily have the best set of fall practices, but rather those who figure to draw plenty of attention and intrigue over the coming month. How these 10 players develop will go a long way in shaping Georgia’s 2025 season.
Ryan Puglisi: Puglisi is fighting an uphill battle to beat out Gunner Stockton to be the team’s starting quarterback. Stockton possesses an experience and leadership edge over the redshirt freshman quarterback.
But Smart has not yet named a starting quarterback for the upcoming season and indicated at SEC Media Days that he wouldn’t be doing that. Puglisi will have plenty of opportunities to impress the coaching staff, while continuing to put himself in a position to help Georgia this year.
As we saw last year, when Carson Beck was injured and Stockton had to leave after a vicious hit against Texas, you’re one play away from being a significant contributor.
Josh McCray: Smart indicated that Georgia would be doing things differently when it comes to the running game this season, though the Georgia coach declined to go into specifics.
Adding McCray, a transfer from Illinois, should allow Georgia to have a more physical edge to its rushing offense. At 240 pounds, McCray is Georgia’s biggest running back and could be an excellent complement to sophomore Nate Frazier.
It’s not always easy for a summer arrival to make an immediate impact, but running back has been one of those positions where you can jump right in and make a splash.
Zachariah Branch: The USC transfer was Georgia’s splashiest transfer addition this offseason. He is the face of a new-look wide receiver room that needs to make a big jump from what we saw last season.
Branch also figures to have an impact on special teams. He was voted First Team All-SEC as both a return specialist and all-purpose player. For an offense that faces plenty of questions, excellent special teams play would make a massive difference this season.
Jaden Reddell: The third tight end normally isn’t much of a factor for most schools. But Georgia is not most schools, especially when it comes to the tight end position.
Oscar Delp and Lawson Luckie will be major players on this offense. But the Georgia coaching staff likes Reddell a lot, and he should soak up some of the snaps previously occupied by Benjamin Yurosek.
Reddell did have ankle surgery following spring practice, so his health and conditioning will be critical to watch.
Daniel Calhoun: Georgia’s offensive line, for all the turnover from last season, seems fairly set at all but one position. Monroe Freeling and Earnest Greene will occupy left and right tackle. Drew Bobo takes over at center and Micah Morris will be the team’s left guard.
As for right guard, that position is wide-open. Entering spring, Calhoun seemed like the favorite for the spot. But a foot injury robbed Calhoun of valuable practice reps and allowed fellow redshirt freshman Michael Uini to start at right guard on G-Day.
Calhoun will need to be at his best to win the right guard spot. Georgia will want to develop depth, but a lack of continuity was a big reason the offensive line underwhelmed last season.
Elijah Griffin: Smart often wants to keep expectations for freshmen in check. To this point, Smart has not been successful in that regard with Griffin.
The defensive tackle from Pooler, Georgia, was the No. 1-ranked defensive prospect in the 2025 recruiting cycle and plays a position that needs to replace three draft picks from last season.
Expecting Griffin to be a star right away might be a bit much. But if he can carve out a role as a rotational player on Georgia’s defensive line, it will be a very welcome development for Smart and the Georgia defense.
Elo Modozie: Rarely has a post-spring transfer generated as much attention as the Army transfer.
But the outside linebacker has a lot of upside and fills a major position of need. The early reviews from workouts indicate that Modozie is an excellent fit within the Georgia culture.
Modozie will need his early success to translate when the pads come on, so he can provide a punch to a Georgia pass rush that must replace 78% of its sack production from a season ago.
Chris Cole: Much like Reddell on the offensive side of the ball, Cole is the third linebacker in Glenn Schumann’s room.
But Cole will have a significant role for Georgia this season. We saw a season ago him impress as a freshman while working as a dime linebacker. He’ll see an uptick in early down work at the position but how Georgia elects to use Cole on third down will be a fascinating subplot for the Georgia defense.
Ellis Robinson: Another second-year defender who was a five-star prospect, Robinson’s development will be closely followed this fall.
He could not crack into the starting lineup as a true freshman. The spring game showed that Daniel Harris will not be easy to overtake as a starter.
Georgia could always get creative to find ways to get Robinson onto the field, especially in obvious passing situations. An increase in physicality will determine how much more Robinson will play in 2025.
Brett Thorson: For the most part, Georgia is a healthy team entering fall practice. Thorson is the exception in that regard.
Thorson had knee surgery after injuring his ACL and MCL in his plant leg in the SEC Championship game last season. With Thorson out, Georgia turned to Drew Miller in the loss against Notre Dame.
It remains to be seen if Thorson will be fully healthy to open the season. Despite the injury, Thorson was still viewed as the top punter in the league.
We may not get a definitive answer on Thorson until Georgia’s SEC opener against Tennessee on Sept. 13.
