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Kirby Smart bullish on Georgia receivers, freshmen make big strides

On3 imageby:Jake Rowe•04/14/25•

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Talyn Taylor Georgia
Apr 12, 2025; Athens, GA, USA; Georgia Bulldogs wide receiver Talyn Taylor (11) tries to make a catch behind defensive back Jontae Gilbert (18) during the Georgia Spring game at Sanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

Much of the talk since the beginning of last season has centered around Georgia’s situation at wide receiver. The Bulldogs felt like it would be a strength of the 2024 team but injuries and off-field issues put a stop to that. A year later and Kirby Smart seems to like what he sees.

UGA welcomed four freshmen to campus earlier this year — Talyn Taylor, CJ Wiley, Landon Roldan, and Tyler Williams. Three of those players, Taylor, Wiley, and Roldan, participated in the G-Day game while Williams missed most of spring after suffering an ankle injury in week on. Each one of those youngsters is in a completely different spot than they were in early March.

“Yeah, way, way, way, way, way further ahead,” Smart said after the G-Day game. “I mean, they’ve come a long way. They were thrown into the fire. They’ve been demanded to get the call, line up. I mean, they’re ahead of where our typical freshmen are because they’ve gone with the twos. They’ve got a ways to go still. They had a little anxiety today. They had a couple plays I thought they should have made. But they’re a good group, and Tyler’s been hurt. We haven’t been able to see him much. But that young group has made some plays for us.”

WIley had a couple of catches for 47 yards in his first G-Day scrimmage. Taylor had a drop but also caught three passes for 32 yards. Roldan caught one of four targets for four yards. All got their first taste of fast-paced college ball after dominating at the high school ranks last season.

But the freshmen aren’t the only newcomers on the roster. Georgia also brought in a pair of transfers in Noah Thomas (Texas A&M) and Zachariah Branch (USC). Both turned in successful springs and worked with the projected No. 1 offense at G-Day.

Between the two, they’ve played a lot of football. That’s why Georgia made the effort to bring them in. But they’ve only been Bulldogs for a few months and they, along with the freshman, still have plenty to learn.

“Excited to see some more growth, excited to see some more toughness,” Smart said when speaking about the group as a whole. “Excited to see what they can do in the fall. The biggest thing is keeping them healthy. I don’t know what the number is, but I would bet there’s six or seven of them that are in their first time playing this offense, and that takes a little time. So I thought the six or seven new guys got better as the spring went on, and they got a chance to get 20-something more practices to grow even more. We’re not where we need to be at wide out, but we have a good group to work with.”

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