ATHENS — Coming out of Georgia’s game against Texas, there’s been plenty of discussion about the Georgia passing game.
Carson Beck threw for 175 yards but he tossed three interceptions and no touchdowns. While Beck was far from perfect, his weapons didn’t help him either, as there were several drops on the night.
David Pollack, in an appearance on The McShay Show noted the receiver struggles and in particular called attention to the lack of Oscar Delp’s involvement.
“The receiver problem is real,” Pollack said. “They drop balls at the third highest-rate. They don’t make contested catches. Delp is M.I. A. this season. He has less than 8 catches on the season. If you want to boil down to what you see and watch on tape, Carson Beck don’t trust Delp. He doesn’t. You can tell there’s definitely not a level of trust. (Brock) Bowers, that ball was getting force-fed. (Ladd) McConkey, that ball was getting force-fed.”
Delp has just 7 receptions for 98 yards on the season. He did have the longest play in Georgia’s win over Texas, as he ripped off a 43-yard catch and run. It was Delp’s biggest play of the season.
Sophomore Lawson Luckie actually leads Georgia’s tight ends in receptions, yards and touchdowns so far this season. He’s caught 12 passes for 162 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Delp still has earned the praise of head coach Kirby Smart, but more so for his blocking ability than pass-catching.
“Oscar’s one of the best blocking tight ends in the country. He works really hard,” Smart said. “He’s a tremendous kid. I think he would tell you he’s left some plays on the field that he would wish he could have back, but he made the most of those. And that’s what you’re judged on, is your competitive character for the next play. He made that play and continued to do it and hopefully will get a bigger role in passing game as we keep going down the road.”
Georgia still has plenty of season in front of it, as the Bulldogs are 6-1 and ranked No. 2 in the country.
But as Pollack and Todd McShay both pointed out, the standard is the standard at Georgia. And for a program that has gotten a lot of mileage out of the tight end in recent seasons, it needs more from Delp, in addition to the rest of the pass catchers.
“I think Beck will continue to get better and I’ve seen some pocket stuff from him that I really like,” Pollack said. “But if they don’t get better at that receiver spot, I absolutely don’t think they can win it.”
Coming out of the off week Georgia will take on Florida. The game is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC.