Georgia Football: Evaluating Jacob Park's Spring Performance

Normally, the Georgia Bulldogs have a handful of recruits that enroll early to get a leg up on the competition.

This year it’s different because there is only one early enrollee—quarterback Jacob Park.

With Park already on campus, that meant that he is currently taking part in spring practice. And he’s been doing everything the coaches have asked him when it comes to doing the individual drills as well as the 11-on-11 drills.

But Park got his chance to shine when the Bulldogs took part in the first official scrimmage on Saturday at Sanford Stadium. It was not a very good outing for the true freshman as he completed one of his seven passes for 11 yards. But according to Marc Weiszer of the Athens Banner-Herald, head coach Mark Richt said that there were a lot of dropped balls by the receivers and tight ends.

So based on how Park did in the scrimmage, it seems like he’s not having a great spring. But the reality of the situation is it was only one scrimmage and he is still learning the system.

When Park enrolled early, he had to learn the ways of Georgia football and it started with work off the field with the conditioning, specifically matt drills. Park told Gentry Estes of 247 Sports (subscription needed) that he never had that many coaches yelling at him at the same time very early in the morning.

Park told Estes that when he was talking to fellow teammate Brice Ramsey, who enrolled early last season, he said that he would regret it. But Park has no regrets and has gotten adjusted to college life.

Park played high school football in South Carolina and was arguably the best player in the state. 247 Sports listed him as the second best player in South Carolina and the fifth best pro-style quarterback in the country. However, he was never recruited by Clemson and South Carolina.

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#UGA early enrollee QB Jacob Park pic.twitter.com/5KPqNMnSC1

— Radi Nabulsi (@RadiNabulsi) March 20, 2014"

So he made his way to Georgia because he loved the stability with the coaching staff, especially with head coach Mark Richt and Mike Bobo who are both former college quarterbacks themselves.

When he first arrived at Georgia, he did not throw right away because there was tightness in his shoulder. But he was ready to go at the start of spring practice and Estes reported that he is one of the 10 Bulldogs players that have impressed him during the spring season. Estes said Park throws a nice, tight spiral, he’s accurate and he has great footwork.

When it comes to putting a final grade on Park, it has to be an incomplete. He has looked good during the practices, but had a hard time completing passes in the first scrimmage. However, there is still another two weeks of practices left which include the G-Day game. So there’s plenty of time for Park to improve.

And even if Park gets redshirted this season, it’s not a bad thing because that will give him time to learn the offense and work on his craft. Odds are Park won’t see a lot of playing time this season, but if he continues to improve throughout the spring and fall practices, he could be in the running for the No. 1 quarterback spot in 2015.

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