Georgia Football: The curious case of Issac Nauta

Georgia Football has one of the most talented tight ends in the country in Issac Nauta. But 2017 wasn’t the breakout year many were hoping so could his junior season be where he reaches his potential?

Issac Nauta is a bit of an enigma really. He’s a curious case of tremendous potential wrapped up in a disappointing sophomore season. But circumstances seemed to go against him a lot this past season. How he responds to those in 2018 could well dictate just how good this Georgia Football offense is.

In his freshman year, Nauta flashed how good he could be. He caught 29 passes and 3 TD’s for 261 yards when Jacob Eason was throwing to him. That looked combination looked like one of the most dangerous for the Dawgs going into this past year. Then things changed.

It wasn’t Nauta’s fault that Eason got injured. It wasn’t Eason’s fault either, but that injury did change things for both players. Nauta and Eason are close. They were friends before they came into UGA together and that bond only got stronger during their freshman year. Both of them looked like 3 year players who were going to make names for themselves before heading to the NFL after the 2016 season.

When Eason went down, Jake Fromm came in and the rest is history. Fromm had built a strong relationship with Javon Wims who is also a big body guy, be it from the receiver spot. He became the safety blanket and the go to when Fromm needed a 1st down. Nauta saw his catches drop down to jut 9 in 2017.

It was more than just Fromm

As much as the change at QB effected Nauta, there were other issues as well. Reports out of spring and summer camp always seemed to say the same thing. That he wasn’t quite living up to his potential out there.

Kirby Smart want’s his tight ends and his receivers to block. He’s said it plenty of times, if you block, you get the ball, it’s as simple as that. Watching Wims this year confirmed that mindset was well in place. Wims’ blocking is one of the strengths of his game. There are plenty of big runs that went so far because he manhandled his cornerback and advanced the hole to the second level.

Riley Ridley did the same when he was in. So did Freshman Trey Blount and both of those players could end up seeing more targets with Wims graduating. Nauta however is yet to quite deliver on his potential on that front. More often than not when UGA had big runs last year, it was Senior Jeb Blazevich who was in at TE, not Nauta.

Next season can be very different

Nauta deserves a lot of credit in how he handled himself this past year. Having looked like a star in the making, he saw his star diminish as the UGA game-plan and personnel changed from the year before. That being said, he never complained outwardly and his blocking did improve as the season went on. While he didn’t get the ball as much as he would like, he absolutely became a better player.

If he can continue to improve, then he has a great chance to make a big impact this year. He’s going to have to because he’d not the only talented TE on the roster this year. Charlie Woerner had some moments in the Rose Bowl where he showed that he deserves a look. Luke Ford is a massive human being, so is John FitzPatrick and both of those guys are going to push to get a look.

But Nauta remains a special player. None of the other guys possess his explosiveness or his ability to be such a weapons in the passing game. At least not yet. This offseason, it’s critical for Nauta to get on the same page as Jake Fromm. If that relationship develops and the chemistry builds, they could take this Georgia passing game to a new level.

With guys like JJ Holloman and Riley Ridley providing size and Terry Godwin and Mecole Hardman bringing unique quickness, UGA’s passing game could legitimately carve teams apart next season. The running game isn’t going anywhere so having Nauta play to his potential could make this offense truly special.

Next: The seat is getting pretty hot for Mark Fox

The guy has all the talent in the world. If he realizes it, UGA could be even more fun to watch than it was this year. There are a lot of factors that could make this team better than in 2017, but none are more obvious, or more curious than Issac Nauta.