ATHENS — On Oct. 1 last year, maybe an hour after Georgia’s game against Missouri concluded in Columbia, Missouri, Dominic Lovett limped slowly across Faurot Field back toward the Tigers’ locker room. A prolonged visit with family and friends helped alleviate some of the heartbreak that Lovett was feeling following a 26-22 loss to the nation’s No. 1 team. Thanks in large part to the contributions of Lovett, Missouri led that game for 56 of the 60 minutes.
In that moment, Lovett never would have guessed that he’d be suiting up for the Bulldogs a few months later. Now, one week away from Georgia’s season-opening game against Tennessee-Martin, he’s poised not just to play a role for the Bulldogs, but he likely will start at slot receiver.
“With them being undefeated and just winning the national championship, I actually took that game as an honor,” Lovett said, reflecting earlier this week. “I went out there and had fun, played ball. We were up, they came back and won. But honestly, I look at that game as a growing point for me.”
Lovett was a tough matchup for the Bulldogs that cold night in Columbia. He led the Tigers with six receptions for 84 yards, including a 36-yarder that set up an early touchdown. If not for a second-half ankle injury, Lovett might’ve inflicted more damage against Georgia.
Luckily for the Bulldogs, they won’t have to game plan for Lovett when they meet Missouri in Sanford Stadium on Nov. 4. Lovett was one of the first high-profile players to enter the NCAA’s transfer portal in its new December window, which opens right after the conference championship games. By Dec. 22 – the day before Missouri faced Wake Forest in the Gasparilla Bowl – Lovett committed to Georgia.
“I felt a strong connection to Georgia as soon as I entered the portal,” Lovett said. “I came down here, they showed me around the facilities, the nutrition, the academics. It was basically everything I was looking for in a program – the standard, how they send young men to the (NFL) at a very high level, (Georgia) coach (Kirby) Smart, the coaching staff, it was everything I wanted.”
Lovett was one of four players that Georgia took out of the portal after last season. The Bulldogs also accepted receiver Rara Thomas from Mississippi State, defensive back Smoke Bouie from Texas A&M and running back Len’Neth Whitehead from Tennessee. Bouie has since left UGA and re-entered the portal.
As for Lovett, the Bulldogs love having him aboard. Since they game-planned for Missouri in Week 5, they knew Lovett was a matchup nightmare in the slot.
“We saw what he did to us when we played him and just felt like he was a really good player and would be a good asset to the program,” Smart said. “Once we were around him and knew what kind of person he was and his family, we felt like he was a good fit and a good match. It’s just a tremendous blessing.”
Of course, the same defensive backs who desperately were trying to slow Lovett in Columbia are the same ones Lovett finds himself going against every day in practice now.
“We mostly joke and laugh about it,” Lovett said. “They kind of tease me about it every day. It’ll come on the TV, and they’ll be, like, ‘Hey, Dom, look,’ and I’ll just laugh. It’s nothing but a laugh. But it is kind of cool seeing where I was and how I ended up here, from going against them to now playing with them. That’s pretty dope.”
Now Lovett finds himself a long way from home. A 4-star prospect and the No. 3-ranked player in Illinois coming out of East St. Louis High, Lovett went to Missouri in part because it was close to home.
Having led the Tigers in receiving (56 catches, 846 yards, 3 TDs) last season and competed at a high level the past two years in the SEC, Lovett started thinking about the prospect of playing for championships and getting to the NFL. Georgia, he believes, checks both those boxes for him.
“I feel like I’m just another weapon added to an offense that already had plenty,” Lovett said. “That’s why I can look back and say they welcomed me with open arms here. I’ve been able to add some other brothers, some other teammates, all pushing in the same direction. I’m not really focused on individual goals.”
The Bulldogs, of course, are pursuing a third consecutive national championship. The prospect of contributing to winning one excites Lovett.
“It drives me a lot, but that’s not something I’m really focused on,” he said. “My focus is on our first opponent, which is Tennessee-Martin, prepping for them and getting ready for them.”
With that statement, it’s clear that Lovett has been fully indoctrinated as a Bulldog.
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