Quarterback D’Wan Mathis was back on the field for Friday’s first day of practice after undergoing brain surgery last May.

“D'Wan is not fully cleared, but D'Wan is able to do passing drills, individual drills. Things where we know he can be safe and not take a hit and not risk injury,” head coach Kirby Smart said. “So, I still don't know when he's going to be fully cleared, but I'm excited to see him go out and work today. He gets to do seven-on-seven, individual drills. He gets to do a lot of things.”

Mathis underwent emergency brain surgery last May at Piedmont Athens Regional Hospital to remove a cyst that was causing severe sinus pain, the result of moving from his home state of Michigan to Georgia.

The 6-foot-6 freshman was a signing day surprise for the Bulldogs after decommitting from Ohio State. He subsequently arrived as an early enrollee before fans got their first look during last April G-Day game, when Mathis completed 15 of 28 passes for 113 yards.

Mathis also caught a 39-yard touchdown pass from Matt Landers and rushed nine times for 29 yards.

…Former Samford quarterback Jes Sutherland is listed as a graduate transfer on the preseason roster.

A graduate of Woodward Academy, Sutherland only attempted one pass last year for seven yards against Shorter.

Running back D’Andre Swift said he’s in the best shape of his life after battling a myriad of injuries since his arrival at UGA.

“I feel the best that I’ve ever felt,” Swift said. “This is one of the best years I’ve ever had in the weight room, training-wise, getting in condition, getting in shape. I feel like I’m ready for the season.”

It’s definitely a different feel than it was a season ago.

“I wouldn’t say fresh off an injury or surgery, but last year I was trying to save myself, not push it too much, to where I wouldn’t hurt myself again,” said Swift, who said he has dropped three pounds and now weighs 212. “But now, I don’t have any limits or anything.”

A foot injury curtailed the end of last year for linebacker Monty Rice.

But after what he described as an “unbelievable” summer, the junior feels his best is yet to come.

“I’m healthy, which is the big thing, but I’m a lot better as far as the playbook goes,” Rice said. “I know the ins and outs of it, better than I did last year.”

Rice finished as the team’s third-leading tackler in 2018 with 59 stops, despite seeing limited action over Georgia’s final four games.

Head coach Kirby Smart has liked what he’s seen.

“It's the exact same. Monty is a businessman when it comes to that. He's not cutting up, messing around at practice. He's very serious about what he does,” Smart said. “He's got a purpose about him. That's what we knew about him in high school. His high school coaches were a really good high school program, and they said this guy takes it seriously. He buys in, he leads, and everything he does there, he's done for us and we love the way he practices.”

“I think it's been really special just to kind of see how the program has changed over the last few years. I was actually going back through some film earlier today and looked back at my first camp here, and at the time I was punting as well, so just goes to show you kind of how much things have changed. Camp that year was 23 days, and we had 22 practices so it was grueling. Now we're down to I think, eight or 10 practices, something like that, in 11 days, so it's definitely been cool to see how it's changed.” – Rodrigo Blankenship, who’s going through his fifth fall camp with the Bulldogs.

Freshmen linebackers Trezman Marshall and Rian Davis are back practicing after sitting out the spring with injuries ... Cade Mays was seen taking some reps at center. ... Defensive linemen Julian Rochester (knee), David Marshall (Lisfranc injury), Michail Carter(shoulder) are all back 100 percent.