Kirby Smart explains what trio of transfers bring to table for Georgia
ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia added a trio of transfers from the portal this offseason, all three of whom come from the SEC. In Missouri wide receiver Dominic Lovett, Mississippi State wide receiver Rara Thomas and Texas A&M defensive back Deyon Bouie, Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs believe that they landed three players who can step in and make an immediate impact, exactly what Smart and company are looking for out of the portal.
“I think their experience,” Smart said when asked on Tuesday what stood out to him about the players they added via the portal. “When you talk about Dom and RaRa, they’re guys that have competed in our league, they’ve caught a lot of passes in our league, they’ve been very productive in our league and it was a position that we were losing several players at. We needed to be able to help our quarterbacks. Quarterbacks need some weapons to throw to, and those guys do that. And then with Deyon, he’s a guy that I’ve known a long time. Since ninth grade he’s been coming up here to camp. We’ve known a lot about him, and we’re looking forward to seeing him go compete in a secondary with a lot of open spots.”
Lovett and Thomas certainly accomplish what Smart wanted to do in the portal, giving his quarterbacks talented targets to throw to. Georgia lost AD Mitchell to the transfer portal at that position while the Bulldogs watched as Darnell Washington and Kearis Jackson went off to the NFL. Plus there was Kenny McIntosh, the team’s top pass catcher out of the backfield last season, who also went pro. Yes, the likes of Ladd McConkey, Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint and Brock Bowers all return, but Smart and company simply couldn’t pass on the opportunity to add two players that led their team in receiving. Lovett hauled in 56 passes for 846 yards last season at Missouri while Thomas racked up seven touchdowns on 44 catches for a team-high 626 yards.
As for Bouie, a Peach State native once committed to Georgia, he only played in eight games last season at Texas A&M but was a highly touted recruit as a part of the Aggies’ No. 1 ranked Class of 2022. He joins a Georgia secondary that is tasked with replacing Christopher Smith at safety and Kelee Ringo at cornerback.
“Those guys came in and immediately wanted to learn the playbook, immediately wanted to get in the weight room, wanted to get out there and get some work in,” Ladd McConkey said about his new teammates in the wide receiver room. “Those are two hard working guys, and I can already tell that they’re going to bring a lot for us, they’re going to give everything they have and I’m excited to see them get out there and compete this spring … Seeing what they did at Missouri and Mississippi State, y’all have seen it too. They’re explosive. They make big plays, they’re fast, good route runners. I’m excited to get ready and compete with those guys.
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“Smoke, he’ll help the defense out a lot,” Zion Logue added on the lone defensive transfer addition. “I don’t want to say just him – there’s a lot of young guys in that defensive back room that can help us out a lot. I’m ready to see what they can do this spring.”
Smart was asked about Thomas and his availability for spring practice given his arrest in late January. Thomas had a felony charge for false imprisonment dropped earlier this month but still faces a misdemeanor domestic battery charge. He’ll enter a pretrial diversion program for that. Kim Stephens, Thomas’ Athens-based attorney, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Thomas will have to complete an anger-management course, 40 hours of community service, and will pay service fees to the court. Once all of that is in the books, Thomas will have the charges expunged from his record. As a result, he is able to participate in spring practice with the Bulldogs per Smart.
Georgia’s practice on Tuesday will be the first of 15 over the next 33 days including three scrimmages. Spring practice culminates on April 15th with the G-Day spring game in Sanford Stadium at 4:00 p.m. ET on SEC Network.
