UGA fullbacks (on scholarship) continue to fade

Kirby Smart was apologetic when asked by a fan last week in Macon to assess the ability of Georgia's fullbacks to help protect the quarterback.

"I'm not a big fullback guy, sorry," the first-year Bulldogs head coach said at an alumni event. "I'm one with the philosophy of I love the hard-nosed fullback but the fullback position is a position that has now become a transition position."

By that, he means players move to fullback from other spots and fullbacks are rarely signed on scholarship.

Georgia lists five scholarships on its roster. All are walk-ons.

The last fullback Georgia signed under former coach Mark Richt was Quayvon Hicks in 2012.

Before that, Zander Ogletree signed in 2010 but it didn't hurt that his brother, Alec, was a coveted recruit. You have to go back to 2006 to find another fullback that signed.

That would be Shaun Chapas, who is now working with the football program, and Fred Munzenmaier. They were ranked No. 8 and 16, respectively, by Rivals.com at fullback. Brennan Southerland was signed in 2004 as the nation's No. 3 fullback.

"Our best one right now is an O-line walk-on and who moved over to fullback," Smart said referring to Glenn Welch.

Christian Payne, who had four catches for 57 yards last season, began his college career as a walk-on linebacker after arriving from Prince Avenue Christian.

"I think of a fullback as a 5-foot-10, 6-foot guy that will run in there and bloody the linebacker's nose," Smart said. "I'd just as soon would have a 6-foot-3, 240 tight end that can catch the ball still go bloody a linebacker's nose and can catch the ball and have more size. The fullback position has almost slowly kind of gone away. Every now and then you'll find a special one. There were a couple of special ones in college football last year."

Rivals.com listed five fullbacks in its 2016 rankings of high school prospects.

The No. 1 was Devin White who signed with LSU and is now a linebacker for the Tigers. Hayden Johnson, who inked with Arkansas, was No. 4.

The SEC also had three of the top five in 2015 with Auburn's Chandler Cox No. 1. He started 10 games as a freshman.

"A lot of people will use tight ends as fullbacks and fullbacks as tight ends," Richt said in 2014. "They can be a little bit of hybrid-type guys."

Georgia senior Brendan Douglas was the No. 5 fullback in 2013, but he signed as a tailback at Georgia which is where he's played.

Three fullbacks were picked in the NFL draft last month--all in the sixth round.

"There are a couple of special ones at the NFL level," Smart said, "but it's harder to use."

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