INDANAPOLIS - It's hard to turn heads as a freshman offensive lineman. But that's exactly what Earnest Greene did last spring.

The California native came to Georgia as the No. 2 offensive guard prospect in the 2023 class. Many expected him to be the most college-ready of Georgia's 2023 offensive line signees.

Apparently, he proved to be just that in last year's spring practices.

"He had a great spring, especially for an early enrollee. He shocked me," former Georgia right tackle Warren McClendon said Saturday at the NFL Scouting Combine.

Greene showed his college readiness from day one.

"In his pass pro, you come in and you have to learn how to kick-slide and stuff like that," McClendon said. "He had it down pat Day One when he first came in. Just seeing stuff like that, just little things like that, you’re like, okay, he’s going to be good.”

Another former Bulldog lineman, Broderick Jones, is also at the NFL Combine. He redshirted as a freshman in 2020, but saw more action in 2021 and started every game at left tackle in 2022.

Jones is projected to be an early pick in the draft. But even he had to be impressed with what he saw from Greene last spring.

"If I'm being honest, I feel like he came in on a higher level than I did," Jones said. "Just because he had experience, his dad, trainers. Coming out of high school I wasn't really training a lot with people. I feel like he really had an upper hand on me coming in."

Greene didn't get any on-field experience in 2022. Injuries kept him from getting any live reps during his freshman campaign.

But both McClendon and Jones mentioned Greene as a top candidate to take over at one of the vacant starting tackle spots. If last spring is any indication, Greene appears to be in prime position to slide in and keep the Bulldogs from missing a beat up front.