Kirby Smart knows that Roquan Smith won’t be walking back through the door to play middle linebacker for the Bulldogs.

So, what will the identity be for Georgia at the position this fall? Can the Bulldogs replace the production left by the first-round pick of the Chicago Bears?

“You know, I don’t know how to answer (that) because I think the identity is created by people who are in the room. He’s obviously not in the room. But I try not to look at plays that way, because you can’t live in the past,” Smart said after Day 5 of fall camp Tuesday. “Most of the plays out there that nobody made, that he would’ve made were because there’s nobody who’s Roquan. They’d be different, you know what I mean?”

Fortunately, the Bulldogs aren’t short on capable bodies, as far as the inside linebackers are concerned.

Natrez Patrick, Monty Rice, Tae Crowder, and Juwan Taylor appear to be garnering most of the early reps, but there’s young talent working its way into the mix as well, including Nate McBride, Jaden Hunter, Quay Walker, and Channing Tindall.

“We’re not going to have a guy who’s a first-round pick at inside backer. That’s just not going to happen for us this year. But we’ve got a lot of other guys around them who are experienced, who are good outside backers, who are good safeties playing, playing smart. We’ve got good front guys,” Smart said. “So, we’re not dwelling on what Roquan would’ve done on that play. We can’t live in that world. Obviously, we’ve got to grow, and try to find the right guys, especially fast guys, because that’s the one thing Roquan was. He was fast, he could erase mistakes. We’re probably not as fast at that position, but by committee, we’re still a good inside linebacker room. It’s just that we don’t have that one outlier who was so fast.”

Yes, running back James Cook did impress during Saturday’s open practice at Sanford Stadium.

“He had a pretty good day that day. I would say that day was a little special. When we got back, we watched the tape of that practice. He had a lot of balls. It just happened that way. It wasn’t like it was by design—‘Hey, this is going to be James Cook feature day.’ He had some plays that he hit, and he looked really good,” Smart said. “He had really good GPS numbers. I felt like he did. I can’t say that’s been every practice. It hasn’t stuck out like that. If you just had that practice to go off of, which y’all do, I could see that, because he had a really good practice.”

Not only did Smith run hard, but he showed that he can be a dangerous player catching the ball as well.

“He’s an exciting player. He loves football. He’s tough. He’s not afraid to compete with anybody, at 185 pounds. I really like watching the guy play,” Smart said. “But to say that he’s more ready than any of those other backs? That’s a long stretch because he has a long way to go.”

Saturday, defensive coordinator Mel Tucker said the arrow is pointing up for sophomore safety Richard LeCounte.

Or not.

“Which time? His arrow’s up, then his arrow’s down, then his arrow’s up, then it’s down. He makes some of the greatest plays I’ve ever seen, and then he makes some of the most bone-headed plays,” Smart said. “So, there’s not a level of consistency there.”

Oh, and just to be clear.

“Y’all are all going to take that and write all these bad stories about Richard and say I said something bad about Richard, I love Richard. Richard is one of my favorite players to coach. Y’all will say, ‘Man, Coach Smart is just attacking Richard.’ That’s not the case,” Smart said. “Richard loves to practice. He loves football as much as anybody out there, but he has to do things consistently in order to be successful. And right now, he’s not doing things consistently. Has he made some phenomenal plays? Yes. Is he talented? Yes. But we have to play within a system, have to play with discipline. You have to do your job. If your job is to play the half, you have to play the half, and that’s what we’re working on with Richard.”

Yes, the numbers are up and there’s some talented players from whom to choose, but the Bulldogs are still cross-training just as many of their offensive linemen as they ever have.

During the media’s brief time at practice, freshman Jamaree Salyer has been seen working at center, with Justin Shaffer getting looks at right tackle.

Apparently, a lot more of that is being done.

“Yeah, we’ve got a lot of different rotations. By period we change guys on fields, tackles playing guards, guards playing tackles,” Smart said. “Certainly, some of our guards we don’t feel can play tackle, but we’ve got some guards switching who go out. I don’t think you guys get to see all those combinations, so there’s a lot of combinations going on to find the best depth we can find.”

Tyler Clark, Jonathan Ledbetter, and Julian Rochester figure to be constant staples, but figuring out the rest of the defensive line rotation remains a work in progress.

“Any defensive line in the SEC has to play a lot of guys on the defensive line. They get worn down; they’re second-effort players. They cover down, and they run so much more than offensive linemen,” Smart said. “So, to be able to split those guys out—linemen are playing double teams—I think it helps. I don’t know yet who those people are, who our eight or nine are going to be whom we rotate in. There’s some really good competition there.”

That includes players like junior David Marshall, senior DaQuan Hawkins-Muckle, Devonte Wyatt, Justin Young, Michail Carter, Malik Herring, Michael Barnett, along with newcomer Jay Hayes.

“Jay Hayes is a guy who has picked things up mentally,” Smart said. “But after those core guys, what you’ve got is a group of guys who are fighting for those rotations, and I think the fastball world we live in, you’d better be able to get guys in and out of the game.”

Georgia spent the first half of Tuesday’s practice inside the team’s Indoor Athletic Facility due to lightning before ultimately spending the second half outside.

“Some leaders are starting to show up. We've got some good leaders, I think. The biggest concern I've got is whether the best players play the best. That probably hasn't happened so far in camp,” Smart said. “We have some guys I consider to be really good players, and they aren't playing up to their potential. But we've also got a lot of players who were 2s and 3s last year that are playing pretty well. So, we've got some good competition going on out there, and I'm excited about that.”

Smart was asked if complacency might be an issue.

“You can call it what it is. I know I can look out there and say, OK, this is a guy who played pretty well last year and 'he's not playing to the level I think he can play to.' And that's one of the scariest things that can happen to our team. But the good news is that, at a lot of those positions, the guy is just as talented behind him and is scratching and clawing,” Smart said. “Or maybe he just got here, and he's fighting and eager to learn. Sometimes you get a casual nature about you if you think you know everything, and you think you kind of understand everything. So, we may have to have some talks with some guys.”

The Bulldogs are off Wednesday before returning to practice on Thursday. Georgia’s first scrimmage is set for Saturday at Sanford Stadium.

● Terry Godwin (knee) returned to do some drills but still isn’t 100 percent.

“No, he’s not all the way back. He did maybe some indy drills. That’s about all he was able to do today as when y’all were there. We’re trying to get a little more out of him each day. If I’m not mistaken, he only did periods two and three, and that may have been the time y’all were there,” Smart said. “He’s still trying to push through. We think he’s going to be fine, but it’s a deal where he’s got to be able to build up stamina. He hasn't been able to get in shape because of the injury.”

● Punter Marshall Long (knee) is still not at practice as he recovers from a third knee surgery.

However, he's still part of the team.

“Marshall is not completely healed. I mean, he felt like he was back right before the end of the summer, but didn’t feel like he was quite 100 percent. We’ve got two 100-percent players versus a guy who is injured,” Smart said. “So, it’s really seven or eight practices before school starts, and Marshall will be back with us on the Monday school starts, (August 13).”

Freshman Jake Camarda and graduate transfer Landon Stratton are currently battling for the starting job.

“The other two guys have been neck-and-neck by the numbers. They’re both competing,” Smart said. “(Operation) times are good, hang times are good, distance has been pretty good. I would venture to say I’d like to see more consistency, but camp is still young. We have to see how those guys grow and kind of where they go.”