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Georgia teammates bullish on Dominic Lovett's potential impact

On3 imageby:Jake Rowe•08/16/23•

JakeMRowe

Dominic Lovett Georgia
Georgia wide receiver Dominic Lovett (6) during Georgia’s practice session in Athens, Ga., on Tuesday, March 28, 2023. (Tony Walsh/UGAAA)

ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia bolstered its passing game this offseason in more ways than one. It inked three talented wideouts from the high school ranks in Tyler Williams, Anthony Evans and Yazeed Haynes. The coaching staff has been and still is excited about those guys. But it also reached into the transfer portal to get two proven SEC playmakers — Dominick Lovett out of Missouri and Rara Thomas out of Mississippi State.

The Bulldogs obviously had a good idea as to what both players were all about. It wasn’t long after they entered the NCAA’s student-athlete transfer portal that Georgia began its pursuit. UGA played both last season but the Bulldog faithful probably recall Lovett the clearest.

That’s because the argument can be made that if Lovett had stayed healthy last fall in Columbia, Georgia might not have finished undefeated. The St. Louis native was targeted eight times in the first 16 minutes of that game, catching six passes for 84 yards. A shoulder injury limited or kept him out the rest of the way and he wasn’t targeted again. The Bulldogs needed 14 unanswered points, all in the fourth quarter, to escape The Show Me State with a win and now the most explosive playmaker on the field that day wears a different uniform.

Lovett joined the team in January and adapted quickly. It wasn’t long before he was talking about the culture as if he’d been around much longer than a few months. Lovett was featured in the team’s workout videos and talking about how no one can outwork the Bulldogs. It has been a smooth transition for the guy was the SEC’s fifth-best receiver last season in terms of yards per game and his teammates are impressed.

“His ability to learn the plays right away, his athletic ability, he’s super fast, super quick,” Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint told reporters after Tuesday’s practice. “Great hands, great route running. I feel like he’s going to be an extra tool for us to use this year. Great person, great player. He’s put in a lot of work for us this year and he’ll contribute for us this year.”

There’s a reason Georgia went hard after Lovett and Thomas back in December. The 2022 season, when it came to receiver depth, was a bit of a nightmare. With AD Mitchell, now at Texas, dinged up with an ankle injury and Arian Smith trying to come back from one, the Bulldogs had to lean on a handful of guys each week. It was tough at times to get through a full practice.

Ladd McConkey developed tendonitis in his right knee but it was a tough injury to rest because he was such a key part of the offense. Rosemy-Jacksaint is one of the guys who helped pick up the slack. Smith also stepped up and had some big grabs in big moments. Dominic Blaylock and Kearis Jackson also did their thing in the slot.

But those last two receivers is where Lovett really comes in handy for the 2023 season. Listed at 5-foot-10 and 179 pounds, Lovett has spent a ton of his time as a Bulldog in the slot. His skillset and playmaking ability has quite a few folks close to the program thinking that the Bulldogs will spend more time in three-receiver sets in 2023 as opposed to the two-tight-end makeup a season ago. Mike Bobo will use a combination of both, to be sure, and Lovett is going to be a big part of the plan.

“Dom coming in is going to be huge for us this year,” McConkey said earlier this spring.

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