For the first time in several years, there is no question who sits atop the Georgia football team’s tailback rotation.

That would be Knowshon Moreno, the redshirt sophomore who went off for more than 1,300 yards and 14 touchdowns as a freshman last season.

But also for the first time in several years, there isn’t much experience beyond that.

Aside from walk-on Kalvin Daniels, who got eight carries in mop-up duty last year, none of Moreno’s potential backups have ever so much as taken a snap in their collegiate careers.

And up until Saturday’s intra-squad scrimmage, head coach Mark Richt had voiced some displeasure with those backs’ spring performances.

“I felt like they were not running with the authority that you’d like them to run sometimes,” Richt said.

“The backs didn’t have a whole lot of running room [Saturday], but I thought they ran the ball harder. I thought they gave better effort.”

Daniels, redshirt freshman Caleb King and early-enrolling freshmen Richard Samuel and Dontavius Jackson are competing for the carries behind Moreno.

This is new for the team that had an abundance of experienced tailbacks in recent years, including the departed Thomas Brown, Kregg Lumpkin and Danny Ware.

“I think they’re definitely making progress, just doing a good job learning the system so far,” Moreno said. “They’re learning.”

King, who has had an extra year in the program as a freshman who redshirted last season, seems to have the inside track to earning a spot as the backup.

Samuel and Jackson, meanwhile, who graduated high school a semester early to enroll at the University, say they are just trying to adjust to college life and learn the offensive playbook.

“It’s going OK,” said Jackson, who is seeing his first on-field action since breaking his wrist in September. “There’s just a lot of things we’ve got to learn. You mess up every once in a while, but I’m catching on to it. It’s going to be tough right now.”

Offensive coordinator Mike Bobo said there hasn’t been much separation between the two freshman, and Richt has been quick to say the competition will be open through the fall, when signee Carlton Thomas also joins the fold.

“It’s still too early,” Bobo said. “Both of them are doing a good job. Both of them are having to be told everything to do every play, but I do like their effort and the way they practice every day. We’ve got to get one of those guys in, and Kalvin Daniels has done a nice job. He’s in the mix.”