ATHENS — Things have gone very differently in Georgia’s wide receiver room this year.
It is not the problem it was for the offense in 2024, when the Bulldogs led the nation in drops. Zachariah Branch has emerged as a star. Dillon Bell and London Humphreys have come up with clutch catches. Prior to his injury, Colbie Young was the physical outside wide receiver Georgia so clearly lacked last season.
Yet the injury to Young — a leg fracture that will sideline him for a significant amount of time — illustrates how thin this group is compared to past years.
In Georgia’s first full game without Young, only four wide receivers played more than one snap. Noah Thomas stepped in for Young on the outside and played a group-high 49 snaps.
Thomas would go on to catch his first touchdown of the season in the 24-20 win.
The Bulldogs did lean heavily on its tight ends against Florida, with Oscar Delp and Lawson Luckie each playing more than 45 snaps. That will likely continue, as Georgia wants the tight ends to be involved in the game plan, even as opponents aim to take them away.
“It’s just a matter of how people play us,” Smart said. “When they’re playing zone, when they’re playing man-match, they’re a big man-match team. And it’s easy to take the tight ends away when you play man-match.”
At wide receiver, Georgia has plenty of more bodies. The problem is that they’re all either in their first or second year of college football.
Landon Roldan played one snap in the win, with Gunner Stockton targeting him deep downfield in the second quarter. It was not dissimilar from how Georgia used fellow freshman Talyn Taylor against Alabama.
Smart gave an update on Taylor, as he recovers from a collarbone injury he suffered prior to Georgia’s game against Kentucky.
“ Talyn’s coming back from his injury, getting better and running now,” Smart said.
As for the rest of the wide receivers, Smart likes what he sees. That Roldan earned a target is an encouraging sign for his development.
“I thought both he and CJ Wiley had really good off-week practices in build-up to Florida,” Smart said. “Tyler Williams is doing a great job, (Thomas) Blackshear. When you look across the board, that’s a great class and they continue to work. I’m excited today to see those guys continue to work.”
Smart wants the quintet of young receivers to be ready to play a larger role, even if Georgia currently has its wide receiver rotation at four.
As Young and Taylor have unfortunately shown, injuries can pop up at any time. Smart wants the fellow 2025 wide receivers signees to be ready before that happens.
With all the close games Georgia has played, it hasn’t gotten very many opportunities to play its young players as much as it would like. That’s one of the very real downsides that come with playing your proverbial food.
“Just trying to show the younger dudes the way and letting them know from experience from the teams that I’ve played in the past,” Thomas said. “So this week’s probably just same way, just going to keep telling them from my past experience and letting them learn, and they’ll be ready whenever their names called too.”
Against Mississippi State, Georgia will look to once again push the ball downfield. Georgia scored 41 points against Mississippi State last season and the opposing Bulldogs have given up 30 points in all but one SEC game this season.
Saturday’s game against Mississippi State is set for a Noon ET start, with ESPN broadcasting the game.