WATCH: Mekhi Mews goes 69 yards for Georgia's first punt return TD since 2018
ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia walk-on receiver Mekhi Mews continues to make big plays. After scoring on a long screen pass last week, the Central Gwinnett took a punt return 69 yards for the first punt return touchdown in Athens since 2018 when Mecole Hardman did it against Middle Tennessee State.
“I thought CJ Smith and (Mekhi) Mews were two guys that stepped up tonight,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said after the game last week. “”I don’t do game balls. I’ve never been smart enough to figure that out. My game balls go out on Monday when we watch the tape. If I had to, it’d be Mews or CJ Smith.”Those are two guys that had outstanding camps, and it rolled over into opportunities. Those two guys had never really made a play in the game, and they went out there and did that. That’ll pay dividends down the road.”
“Mews does that every day,” Smart added on Mews in the spring. “Mews is a guy that, he last year kept getting really close to being able to play and help us. He was on scout team so I had seen him make plays on scout team. We put him in a couple of guys as the returner. Very sure handed, makes good decisions, you saw today he’s got some return ability. Exciting, and you get what you get from Mews every day. The guy is a worker, and I thought he made some plays today with his feet and made some really tough catches.”
Mews, who had an impressive spring game and has been a name brought up several times by Smart as he’s come onto the scene, got a spot in the starting lineup without usual starters McConkey and Rosemy-Jacksaint. In fact, he got a touch on Georgia’s first offensive play. Also serving as the return specialist for both kickoffs and punts, Mews was able to find the end zone from 54-yards out on a well blocked tunnel screen that helped spark a better second half for the Bulldogs.
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“He had a great fall camp. I would say he had the best fall camp out of any guy on our team,” quarterback Carson Beck said. “He works hard. I think all the other wide receivers also played really well.”
“That shows how hard the he works in practice. Now it’s duplicating to the field,” fellow wide receiver Dominic Lovett added. “Mekhi has been working hard since he got there. He finally got his chance and he scored. I was so proud of him.”
The touchdown gives Georgia a 7-0 lead in the second quarter. The game is ongoing on SEC Network.
