ATHENS — Georgia and Kirby Smart have made it clear they’re trying to find ways to add depth at the wide receiver position.
The Bulldogs dismissed Rara Thomas at the beginning of the month. Transfer wide receiver Colbie Young is currently dealing with a hamstring injury.
Georgia feels good about the top of the depth chart with the likes of Dominic Lovett, Dillon Bell and Arian Smith. But the Bulldogs have made a concerted effort of late to develop more weapons for Carson Beck.
“I would venture to say everybody in the country is that way because you’ve got one wide out out, maybe a tight end out, maybe a back out, and the next thing you know, you don’t have everybody out there,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “You’re really trying to develop two things. Is chemistry with your number ones more important than developing your number twos?”
There’s always an eagerness for new players to emerge, and Smart did note some positive progress made by transfer London Humphreys in the most recent scrimmage. The Georgia head coach has also spoken positively about freshmen Nitro Tuggle and Sacovie White.
But after the second scrimmage, Smart’s strongest praise came for junior Cole Speer.
“Cole’s been a dominant special teams player, and he’s going to take on more role this year at receiver on top of being a good special teams player,” Smart said. “He’s a core product of our system. He came in probably under-recruited, not highly touted. He’s gotten better every year. He’s really tough. He’s really physical. He’s really fast.”
Georgia signed Speer out of Calhoun, Ga. in the 2022 signing class. To Smart’s point, he was the No. 848 overall player in the 2022 recruiting class. The Bulldogs were the only Power 4 offer that Speer had coming out of high school.
But Speer first carved out a role for himself on special teams. That is almost always a good sign for the future of a perspective player and that once again seems to be the case with Speer.
“He can dominate on all four phases of special teams but he’s also created a role for himself at wide out,” Smart said.
Speer alone won’t fix all of Georgia’s problems at wide receiver. And Smart is always stressing the importance of depth this time of year.
The junior wide receiver isn’t going to be stealing reps away from the likes of Bell, Lovett and Smith. But Georgia will gladly take any positive developments it can get at this critical position.
“We’ve done a really good job pushing the envelope with London (Humphreys), Michael Jackson, Sacovie White, Nitro Tuggle, Jaden Reddell, Colton Heinrich, making sure they’re on the same page as Carson (Beck),” Smart said. “Sometimes when you do that, you might lose a little continuity or rhythm because you don’t have your top guys in there.”
Georgia will spend the rest of the week trying to better develop its wide receiver room before fully turning its attention to Clemson. But as that game approaches, it seems clear Georgia has plans for Speer.
