There are worse things in life than redshirting in Athens GA

Young Mr. Park knows his place.

"Everybody comes in to play, but I'm just going to come in and do what I have to do to get better," Park said this week in his first meeting with reporters in Athens. "If I redshirt, that's great. If I get the No. 2 spot, that's great, but redshirting doesn't seem like a bad idea."

Georgia's tradition of redshirting quarterbacks under coach Mark Richt began with D.J. Shockley in 2001 and continued with Joe Tereshinski ('02), Blake Barnes ('04) and Joe Cox ('05). The streak was snapped in 2006, when heralded prospect Matthew Stafford enrolled early and won the starting job midway through his freshman year.

Redshirting resumed with Logan Gray in 2007 and Aaron Murray and Zach Mettenberger two years later. 

via 247Sports

Paschall goes on to point out that the only quarterback to not redshirt his first season other than Stafford was none other than Hutson Mason. Of course that was due the extreme circumstances of Logan Gray waving goodbye and Mett's transfer.

Back to Park, here's the head coach's early assessment:

"I'm not sure you would design an entire offense around a lot of QB runs for him and making that the mainstay, but he can do it," Richt said. "He's a pretty athletic guy, and he will definitely keep people honest with some of the QB runs. He can also create by making people miss.

"He's got some strength about him, but he'll get stronger, obviously. He's got a lot of great habits, and we think he's going to be good."

This may be a post for another day. But the quarterback position in Athens is seemingly going through a transition period. And that's not just a statement about a fifth year senior in Murray moving on. We might see "business as usual" with Mason this spring and likely the fall as well. But with a guy like Bauta and Park, there's going to be some emphasis on running the football from that position.

That's something I thought Bobo should've done more with Murray, at least early in his career. With the depth appearing to be restored to the way Richt likes it, I can't help but think the reins are about to be turned loose.