Kirby Smart discusses Georgia receiver recruiting and what he wants
ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia’s wide receiver recruiting has been a hot button issue for a few years now. It’s been since 2019 – five full signing classes – that the Bulldogs brought in a five-star, and of the 16 players they’ve signed at the position since then, just one (Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint) has even been ranked among their class’s top 10 receivers.
To put that in perspective, Georgia has a five-star at every other position (quarterback, tight end, offensive line, defensive line, outside linebacker, inside linebacker, cornerback and safety) aside from running back where there have only been six five-stars since 2020. Furthermore, the Bulldogs account for 55 players ranked in the top 10 at their respective positions in that time with Rosemy-Jacksaint, who ranked No. 10 at his position in 2020, being the lone receiver representative.
So why is that? Well, recently at least, Georgia has turned its attention to the transfer portal for pass catchers. The Bulldogs landed a pair last year (Dominic Lovett and Rara Thomas), have a commitment for this coming season (London Humphreys) and are expected to do even more damage.
Still, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart is excited about the two signees the Bulldogs do have from the high school ranks. While neither Nitro Tuggle nor Sacovie White crack On3’s top 30 of receivers, Tuggle comes in at No. 90 overall and No. 19 among receivers according to the Industry Ranking. Furthermore, White has shown some exciting potential despite being undersized.
“Yeah, I’m excited about all those guys. Certainly you build your wideout room through high school. We feel like we should build every room through high school, but over the last I guess 2-3 years we’ve gone into the portal and been able to get some experienced wideouts,” Smart said when asked about the wide receiver recruiting approach. “I think that’s critical. I do think you can play early in college football at wideout. I think people have proven that. George [Pickens] proved it, AD [Mitchell] proved it, Jermaine [Burton] proved it. They’ve all proven — Dillon Bell proved it — that you can go out and play as a freshman, but it’s nice to get some SEC experience in the two guys we got last year. You know, we need more depth at receiver. It’s a position that we’re thin at that we’ve got to have enough people to surround Carson with to create weapons.”
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The addition of Humphreys falls in line with exactly what Georgia got out of the portal last year: a proven SEC commodity. Some of the others that the Bulldogs are rumored to be in the running for would be slightly different in terms of from outside the SEC but would accomplish the same thing when it comes to experience.
Smart might also be able to get that experience from within his own roster. Both Rosemy-Jacksaint and Ladd McConkey still have NFL Draft decisions to make while the transfers from 2022, Lovett and Thomas, are in all likelihood headed back to Athens for another year. Throw in the likes of Dillon Bell, Arian Smith and younger, developing players like Anthony Evans, and Georgia should be just fine.
So, it’s clear what Smart wants. He’ll take talented players at the receiver position if they fall into his lap, but with the transfer portal consistently providing a number of playmakers available, he’s happy to turn there too. All in all, the end goal is to provide his quarterbacks with weapons in whatever way they come.
