Ladd McConkey kicks into high gear for Georgia in second half
Georgia wide receiver Ladd McConkey is finding his stride in the second half of the season. After starting strong against Oregon with two touchdowns in the opener, McConkey hit a little bit of a slump. He went through fumble problems and struggles with drops. That all led to five straight games without a score. However, in each of the last three, McConkey has made his way into the end zone including two times Saturday against Mississippi State. Both came in the second half after Georgia head coach Kirby Smart told him that they needed a spark.
“I just told them I was disappointed in the way that we had handled some things, that we had really played well defensively and give up one play and we needed a spark,” Smart said. “You know, it was the first time we were going to have the ball starting out the second half it seemed like in forever, and we needed to go out and make a statement. The first run went 4-5 yards. I thought we mashed them. And then the next play we hit the big one, and that kind of got our energy back where it needed to go.”
“We wanted to get momentum back. They had a great play. It’s always huge when you get the ball back, you want to be able score on that first possession. Go out there, execute, score and get the ball back in our hands.”
On the next drive, McConkey did it again. This time it was a little bit shorter – only 17 yards – as Stetson Bennett found one of his favorite targets near the goal line. He and Bennett connected in total five times on the night including a 28-yard pickup on the possession after his second touchdown to get Georgia down to the 1-yard-line. The Bulldogs would eventually punch it in and make it 38-19.
“When we first got here, I knew from the moment he walked in, I was wondering why we weren’t, I was like, ‘Get this guy on the field,'” Bennett said, remembering when he first realized the potential that McConkey had as a wide receiver. “He’s a stud. He’s unbelievable.”
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McConkey finished the night as Georgia’s leader in both rushing and receiving with 70 yards on the ground (all on the touchdown run) and 71 yards receiving. He of course had the two touchdowns. On the season, McConkey is first on the team in receptions (43), tied for first in receiving touchdowns (4) and is less than 40 yards shy of Brock Bowers’ team-high 615 receiving yards and 20 yards off of his total yardage (rushing and receiving) number of 704.
“It obviously wasn’t just me,” McConkey said. “There were so many other guys that made some huge plays. It’s awesome any time I can make a play for the team, I love to do that.”
Georgia will need McConkey to continue to play as well as he has recently the rest of the season. The Bulldogs are back on the road as they travel to Lexington and take on Kentucky next Saturday before closing out the regular season against Georgia Tech at home. Saturday’s win also clinched their spot in the SEC Championship Game on December 3rd against LSU.
