Georgia Bulldogs

Editor's note: Over the next couple of weeks, we'll clean out our notebook from Georgia's spring practice to tell the stories we didn't get to before the Bulldogs' G-Day game. Previously we featured fullback Quayvon Hicks, tight end Jay Rome and defensive end Ray Drew. Today we recap a conversation with safety Connor Norman from a few days before the G-Day game.

ATHENS, Ga. -- Connor Norman doesn’t necessarily want to become a coach, but he assumed that role almost by default this spring.

As the only Georgia safety who has actually started a game on defense, he naturally felt somewhat like a teacher as he helped younger teammates such as early enrollees Tray Matthews and Quincy Mauger experience their first taste of college football.

“There’s a lot of young guys and I feel like I have a pretty decent understanding of the defense, so I feel like if that’s part of what I do, then I’m out there helping,” said Norman, a fifth-year senior. “I guess I do see myself as a teacher.”

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ATHENS, Ga. -- Mark Richt made use of the first day of the spring evaluation period by calling the nation’s top inside linebacker. Raekwon McMillan (Hinesville, Ga./Liberty County) said that the Georgia coach spent a while talking to his mother.

“She said she enjoyed talking to Coach Richt,” McMillan said.

According to the NCAA bylaws, Richt will have to wait until Sept. 1 to call McMillan again, but his staff is allowed two trips to Liberty County to evaluate McMillan before the period ends May 31. Now that spring camp is done, the staff is focused on recruiting, and coaches are constantly on the road and on the phone.

Richt was asked recently to give his thoughts on some of the pressing issues on the recruiting trail. For example, what are his thoughts on an early signing period for football? Considering he just landed commitments from the nation’s No. 2 running back, Sony Michel, and the nation’s No. 3 tight end, Jeb Blazevich, a chance to have them sign early would seem inviting. But there is a catch.

“I think an early signing period could solve some issues as far as guys committing, decommitting or if there’s a guy who just knows that he wants to be at your school, he can knock it out … and save us as a staff not having to go back every single week,” Richt said.

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