In fact, Geelong's coaching staff has high hopes that the 20-year-old, who played three AFL games last year and was best on ground in the club's VFL Grand Final victory, can become one of the best players in the competition.
"George is quite a versatile player," Cats assistant coach Nigel Lappin told AFL.com.au.
"He really knows our structures and he's a very bright person – academically, he's very smart.
"He coaches himself as much as we coach him. He always knows what he needs to work on when it comes to his game.
"We see the role that George will play for us … and I'm going to throw up a couple of big names here, not that George is necessarily going to end up as good as these two, but we see him playing the type of role that Josh Kennedy plays for Sydney or Jobe Watson for Essendon.
"He is really good inside midfielder, who's got really nice skills, works his way out of traffic quite well, and makes the right decisions.
"The other thing that he has is great leadership qualities. We think he'll be able to set the structures up in the midfield and help out Joel Selwood like that.
"I know that sounds like a big wrap for him, and he's got a long way to go, but Kennedy and Watson are the type of guys he's modelling his game on at the moment."
A polished and courageous player on the field (he wears the No. 33 guernsey previous worn by Geelong's much-loved man of steel, Max Rooke), Horlin-Smith is a very humble young man off it.
"For me, personally, it's more about improving my game and my knowledge of positions and making sure I contribute every week," he said.
"Hopefully that will hold me in good stead and will win the trust of my teammates."
But Horlin-Smith, who is listed in the new AFL Season Guide as 186cms and 83kgs, has certainly put in a big pre-season, adding bulk to his rangy frame and working hard to gain power as well.
"He has built himself up a bit," Lappin said. "He's not only got a bit stronger, but the important thing for George is that he has got a lot more powerful.
"It's never really been as much of a concern of ours than of his, but he's never been as quick as some of our players, so he's done a lot of work on that.
"We've got a new strength and conditioning coach, Chris Dennis, who's done a great job with not just George but our whole list.
"So George has become a bit more powerful and not just in the gym. He's been able to transfer it out onto the track and we've seen the results during the pre-season. So he's been quite exciting.
"At Geelong, we rate big-bodied midfielders, and we've always had them in our team, whether you’re talking about Jimmy Bartel or Joel Corey or James Kelly.
"We like the bigger, taller midfielders, and George really fits that mould."
Geelong beings its NAB Cup campaign by travelling to Perth to take on West Coast and Fremantle on February 16.
Barring any hiccups on the track, Horlin-Smith will be among the many young Cats to make the trip.
"By all means he's on the fringe at the moment. But he's one of a number of young players that we're looking forward to knocking down the door and forcing us to play them," Lappin said.
"It’s going to be tough for us as a selection panel this year, because we're going to have a lot of young players that are ready to play.
"George has got himself into a position where we consider him quite close to being ready to play AFL footy, so he's just got to force his way in.
"He's doing that at training. The next thing is to make sure he carries that training form through into the NAB Cup."
Adam McNicol covers Geelong news for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter at @AFL_AdamMcNicol
