ATHENS — Nobody is expecting Georgia to steal the moniker “Wide Receiver U” from other schools that make that claim. Not yet, anyway. But the Bulldogs like their wideouts just fine, thank you very much, and they’re content with building their own reputation this season.
Georgia’s receivers distinguished themselves well in the season-opening win over Oregon on Saturday. The Bulldogs attempted passes on 37 of 62 plays in the 49-3 victory, completing 30 of them (81.1%). Quarterback Stetson Bennett was named National Offensive Player of the Week by the Walter Camp Foundation and a Manning Award star of the week after completing 25 of 31 passes for a career-best 368 yards and two touchdowns in the win.
While Georgia’s wideouts contributed to that pass-game success, Bennett distributed the load among 10 players overall. Four wideouts accounted for 195 yards on 13 receptions. Running backs had the same number of catches (13 for 173 yards). Tight ends had the other four catches.
That represents the bad and the good of Georgia’s passing game, such as it is now. While the Bulldogs work intentionally to raise the overall profile of their wide receivers, this still is a spread-the-wealth offensive system.
“I don’t know that we have great depth; I know we can spread the ball around,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “We don’t have the depth we need at the skill positions, talking running back and wide receiver. But (spreading the ball around) is the product of Stetson being able to get through the first and second reads and also scrambling and making plays with his feet.”
As Smart and offensive coordinator Todd Monken emphasize all the time, the mission of Georgia’s offense is to be explosive and score points. It was good on both counts Saturday.
“Explosive pass plays” are specifically defined by the Bulldogs as those that gain 16 yards or more on a single play. By that definition, Georgia had nine against the Ducks.
Running back Kenny McIntosh had the longest at 38 yards, followed by tight end Brock Bowers (29), split end A.D. Mitchell (27), and Ladd McConkey and Darnell Washington with 25-yarders each.
Of the three touchdown passes, Mitchell and running back Kendall Milton each had scoring grabs of 18 yards. McConkey’s TD came on a 4-yard grab after an extended Bennett scramble. He would’ve had a 26-yard TD had he not been brought down once at the 1. McConkey also scored on 9-yard run off a reverse.
So Georgia’s wideouts were very much involved in the action. But they remain an unfinished product.
“You know, A.D. and Ladd aren’t like veteran guys; they’re one-year guys,” Smart said. “We have very little (upperclassman) leadership at that position. Marcus (Rosemy-Jacksaint) does a tremendous job leading that room. Kearis (Jackson) sets a great example. (Dominick Blaylock has) been away and back and away and back. So, it’s a different kind of (group) in terms of the experience level. But I am excited about those young guys and what they can do if they learn the system.”
If there is an area of criticism, it would be on straight deep routes. That’s where the Bulldogs miss Arian Smith, who is sidelined indefinitely with an ankle injury, and Jermaine Burton, who transferred to Alabama. Bennett tried to hit McConkey, who was open on one go-route but overthrew him.
But you’ll hear no complaints among the Bulldogs or their coaches. The game plan against Oregon was to get their receivers – regardless of position – into one-on-one matchups on the perimeter. In that regard, Saturday’s mission was accomplished, overwhelmingly.
“We’re more than capable of being explosive,” said Jackson, whose longest of three receptions went for 23 yards. “We were able to get some opportunities and showcase our ability. We got into the open field and made guys miss, had a lot of yards after the catch. All that showed up Saturday.”
Of their 439 yards gained via the forward pass Saturday, 310 was recorded as “YAC,” or yards after catch. McIntosh was credited with 119 yards after the catch. Officially, he had 117 receiving yards on nine receptions.
“It was a lot of fun because I love catching the ball out of the backfield,” McIntosh said. “I don’t think I ever had a game like that, just catching the ball like a receiver so I could run.”
Georgia worked hard in the offseason to recruit wideouts with game-breaking speed. The Bulldogs thought they landed a couple with that in freshmen De’Nylon Morrissette and C.J. Smith, who has run a 10.3-second 100 meters. But their progress has been slowed by injuries.
Morrissette has been battling a hamstring issue, while Smith was set back by a knee injury earlier this summer.
“I’m riding them really hard because I have high expectations for them, and they can help us,” Smart said. “They each have really good attributes, and they both really want to help our team. … C.J. hit some high numbers on GPS recently. We’re trying to bring him back slowly because he’s had some knee issues, and then De‘Nylon has had a couple good practices. We need to bring those guys along to get the depth we need to support our offense.”
So far, McConkey has done the most to resemble a go-to receiver for the Bulldogs. The sophomore from Chatsworth had eight touches Saturday, including two on jet-sweep runs. He also is getting looks on kick returns, though he did not record a return against Oregon.
McConkey ranked second on the team behind Bowers last season, with 31 receptions for 447 yards and five TDs.
“Ladd’s always been a good player,” Smart said. “That’s not something new. He’s always been an extremely hard worker. He’s dependable, conscientious, it’s important to him. He gives you everything he’s got every day. And the biggest difference is, you know, he has confidence in himself because he performed on big stages last year.”
Jackson said that goes as well for Mitchell, a star of the national championship game.
“They’re starting to get their confidence up,” Jackson said. “They’ve been in this offense more than one year now, have that experience from last year, having Stetson as QB for the whole fall camp. That’s really given us all confidence as a receiver group.”
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