With the season at its halfway point, head coach Kirby Smart said Wednesday he’s been pleased with the continued growth of left tackle Earnest Greene III.

Although Smart said during the weekly SEC teleconference that the redshirt freshman has plenty of work yet to do, positive steps are being made.

“He’s done a nice job. He continues to get better and be accountable for his mistakes; he’s had those, but he has the ability,” Smart said. “I think people forget that this is really his first year of playing football at Georgia. He’s not really a freshman, but he is a first-year (player) playing at the SEC level, and that’s really hard for someone to do in terms of walking out there and playing against some of the guys that he has to play against.”

Smart said Greene, who missed all of last year with a back injury, understands the work he still needs to do.

“He has a lot of room for improvement still,” Smart said. “But he realizes that, and every game he gains more confidence and gets better.”

Having a dad who played in the position in the NFL hasn’t hurt Greene’s development, either.

Greene’s father, Earnest Jr., grew up in Savannah and was a 6-8 lineman at Savannah State. He played for the Chargers from 1993-95, and retired from pro football in 2001. He was part of a Chargers team that made it to the Super Bowl in 1994.

“It certainly doesn’t hurt. When you’ve got a father who played in the League or has been around football, I think your exposure at a young age sometimes puts you ahead of other guys,” Smart said. “But every situation is different in terms of that.”

Smart said the team continues to take it slow with wide receiver Ladd McConkey, who is still returning from the back injury that sidelined him for the season’s first four games.

“Ladd’s done a great job. He’s in a similar position now to last week. He’s able to do a few things at practice; we’ve been really smart trying not to aggravate it, but at the same time find a role,” Smart said. “It’s a very delicate balance that I don’t think there’s a right or clear-cut answer. But we’re working our way through the process and trying to figure out the best way to have him available and 100 percent for games.”

In the two games he’s played, McConkey has five catches for 49 yards.

…In other injury-related news, Smart said outside linebacker Marvin Jones Jr. has not had any setbacks from the ankle injury he suffered prior to the game against Kentucky.

“He's able to play, didn’t have any setbacks. It was more limited last week in terms of the number of reps (five). He felt it some in pregame and didn’t play at 100 percent. But he’s been practicing this week.”

Smart was asked what kind of improvement he’s seen in his team since the start of the season.

“I’ve seen improvement. It’s not a tangible, visual growth that I can say; it’s more of an experience, the volume of reps, mainly in the bottom 50 percent, meaning the youngest 50 percent of players,” Smart said. “They have a better understanding of what games are like, game planning is like, changing roles and adjusting to things that you don’t do in the offseason that you do in-season.”

Smart’s also sensing his older players making progress in that area, too.

“We’ve got another 25-30 percent of our roster that is older, has played and is experienced, that continue to get better,” Smart said. “They understand the importance of good practice habits, because there’s probably not as much room for growth in those guys as there is in the youth.”

After practice Wednesday, running backs Kendall Milton and Daijun Edwards spoke to the media.

Here are the highlights of what they said:

…Milton on how it feels to have both him and Edwards back healthy: “I feel great about it, me and Daijun back. We both came in as freshmen together, and we were those young guys on the third team working together, and just to be out this point now where we’re both healthy and at a point where we can both be on the field together is exciting, cause we’re out there every day together,” Milton said. “We let each other know, 'Oh you should’ve hit that gap, or you should’ve done this or that,' so we just try to push each other to be great, so to be able to go out there and have success with somebody that makes me better every day. I’m excited.”

…Milton on his relationship with Edwards and what it’s like to watch him on the field: “Daijun deserves everything that has come to him, nothing was really given to him, but he just continues to work,” Milton said. “Even when we both came in, he just worked so hard. As you guys know, he’s a pretty quiet guy, so he’s not going to be super vocal. He’s just a workhorse, and he just continues to come in and put that effort in every day.

"To be able to see him have success doing the things he works for makes me happy, and it makes me want to just keep working with him.”

…Milton on what he thinks the running back room is capable of over the next six games: “I feel like the sky is the limit, with all the different backs we have. With everybody it’s a lot of different types of backs, I feel like it’ll be able to open up the offense and allow us to put different schemes in with different plays,” Milton said. “I’m just excited for the running back room, because we push each other every single day to make each other better.”

…Edwards on how getting game experience early in his career helped him develop: “It was really big,” Edwards said. “In-game action is kind of different from practice, so in-game action has made a big difference.”

…Edwards on the potential of him and Kendall together as a duo: “I feel like we have real good potential, we just need to keep working,” he said.

…Edwards on what has impressed him most about Dillon Bell playing running back…

“He’s explosive and shifty,” he said. “He can make moves, can catch the ball, and can run routes very well.”