Isaac Nauta: “I’m Shooting for the Mackey…”

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Isaac Nauta: “I’m Shooting for the Mackey…”

Isaac Nauta (18) - UGA Fall Camp - Practice No. 15 - Wednesday, August 16, 2017
Isaac Nauta (18)
– UGA Fall Camp – Practice No. 15 –
Wednesday, August 16, 2017

 
 
Isaac Nauta spoke to the media on Wednesday afternoon after day 15 of Fall Camp. The sophomore tight end talked about his plans for fall along with areas he has improved on for his second year with teh Bulldogs. During the off season, he focused on blocking and his physicality. Nauta, however, expressed what his ultimate goal is, he wants to win the John Mackey Tight End Award.
 
The Mackey watch list player opened the interview up with a bold statement about Georgia’s tight end group. Nauta expressed that in his opinion the Bulldogs have the best tight ends in the country.
 
 

“We got one of the best tight end groups, if not the best in the country, in my opinion,” Nauta stated. “Every single one of those guys can go somewhere and play right off the bat. Super talented guys, all great guys, all smart guys and we got a great group and I’m blessed to work with them.”

 
 
Nauta then answered a question about things he worked on this off season. The first thing he mentioned was blocking.  He expressed how he did various drills and worked on the small things to improve this important area of his game. The second thing was physicality.
 
 

“Blocking was one of the things I needed to work on headed into this year and this camp,” Nauta said. “I worked a lot with footwork drills and refined my blocking game. That started off just being number one more physical and then some of the smaller technical stuff with the foot work and the hand placement. That all came with it, but physicality wise I definitely improved there.”

 
 
As for transitioning from year one to year two, Nauta expressed the learning curve that comes with playing early.
 
 

“Physicality is something I’ve been working on really just reading coverages, pre snap seeing whats going on and being able to make plays off of that,” Nauta said. “There’s such a big learning curve from high school to college that when you’re trying to learn a system and try to figure out what defense is going on when trying to learn the offense it’s tough. Now that I know the offense and what I’m doing out there I can focus on the defensive schemes, and that definitely helped me out a lot.”

 
 

Isaac Nauta
Isaac Nauta

 
 
Finally, Nauta talked about a few goals he has for the upcoming season. He included his ultimate goal of winning the John Mackey award. The award goes to the best tight end in the country and the sophomore is on the watch list. If Nauta wins the award, he would be the first Georgia player to do so.
 
 

“I’m shooting for the Mackie and that’s been my goal since I’ve gotten into college. That’s something I really want to accomplish,” Nauta stated. “I feel like if I’m doing everything I can to help this team win and I do everything I know I’m capable of doing you know that first and foremost. If the Mackie comes because of that you know I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve always wanted to be the best in whatever I do and that would be awesome to win that.”

 
 
Check out Isaac Nauta’s full interview below:
 
 

 
 
 
 

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Savannah Leigh is a recent graduate of the Grady College of Journalism at the University of Georgia. She is an avid SEC, Dawgs, and college football fan. She also adores her four-year-old black lab, Champ Bailey.