After seeing much of his time limited to primarily special teams, redshirt sophomore Xavian Sorey is getting an opportunity to play an expanded role.

Per head coach Kirby Smart, strides are being made.

“He’s rotated in with the ones. He’s shown some exceptional acceleration in flashes,” Smart said. “Consistency is the biggest thing with him. There might be a mental lapse every now and then, and he’ll be the first to admit it that when he gets it right, he can be really good.”

Sorey played in 14 games for the Bulldogs last fall as reserve linebacker and a starter on Georgia’s kick coverage unit.

After originally starting out as an outside linebacker, Sorey was moved inside, a position Smart said fits the Florida native best, despite only weighing 214 pounds.

“He’s a kid that everyone else that you recruit at that position, they played that position in high school. Smael (Mondon) played, Pop (Jamon Dumas-Johnson) played,” Smart said. “This kid played at a really small school until he went to IMG. Then at IMG he had a foot injury and lined up at the end of the line. He had never stepped back and keyed.”

Now that he's done that, Sorey is beginning to make the strides Smart thought he would all along.

“I’ve got enough football awareness and football experience that kids that do that, it takes them a little while,” Smart said. “Channing (Tindall) went through that a little bit where you don’t play at the second level a lot, and you’ve got to key and diagnose. He has tools that some guys on our team don’t have. We’ve tried to utilize those, and we’ll continue to, but he’s developing and he’s rolling in with those guys and playing well.”