ATHENS — At the midpoint of the 2022 Georgia football season, we’re finally starting to see some members of of the freshman class start to contribute in a meaningful way.

While the defense has seen significant snaps from Malaki Starks and Bear Alexander, it had taken a little while to see similar production on the offensive side of the ball.

That changed on Saturday against Auburn. Branson Robinson took home SEC Freshman of the Week honors as he finished with 98 yards on 12 carries.

Robinson saw an uptick in carries not because of some big internal improvement. Georgia felt confident in what it had in Robinson going into the Auburn game, as the freshman running back notched his first first quarter carry of the season. But when Kendall Milton exited the game with a groin injury, the path to playing time opened up for Robinson.

“He created that opportunity for himself through his work habits, how hard he’s worked since arriving,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “But it’s not like he hadn’t been talented the whole time he’s here. He’s earned the opportunity through the work he’s done. And you gain confidence through what you do in practice. And I think he continues to grow, have attention to detail in terms of pickups on checks and protection, and protecting the ball and making good run read.”

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Smart listed Milton as probable for Saturday’s game against Vanderbilt but Robinson still figures to factor in heavily into Georgia’s game plan.

The same can be said for tight end Oscar Delp. He was on the field for 21 snaps against Auburn last week, with a handful of them coming in the first half. Like Robinson, Georgia believed in the talent it had with Delp. His touchdown catch in the late stages of the South Carolina win clearly showed he’s an SEC-level athlete.

For Delp, Georgia wanted to roll out its three tight end package. The Bulldogs believed that personnel grouping offered some advantages to exploiting the Auburn defense.

“The 13 packages has opened him up to play, which is the three tight ends,” Smart said. “So he was in there and he played and we look each week at it how teams play different personnel groupings, and we thought that was a an opportunity to take advantage of. Sometimes it has to do with the depth at other positions that allow us to do that.”

Delp wasn’t just a blocker for the Bulldogs on Saturday, as he hauled in three passes for 29 yards in the win over the Tigers.

Smart also shared some thoughts on the Georgia freshmen wide receivers. While opportunity is been the name of the game for Delp and Robinson, confidence is the big word when it comes to the usage of Dillon Bell, De’Nylon Morrissette, CJ Smith and Cole Speer.

“I’m very pleased with that class of guys,” Smart said. “It’s probably the first wide receiver class that we can say across the board, man, they got some good players in it, they’re just not there right now. There’s a couple guys in front of them, too.”

Behind the scenes, there has also been a lot of positive buzz about the development of Gunner Stockton as well. The 2022 signing class, which leaned heavily on defensive talent, seems well-positioned to keep Georgia among the top teams in the country for the foreseeable.

The matter just comes down to when those players will get their opportunity.

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