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2025 Opponent Offseason Storylines: Kirby Smart looks to the transfer portal to strengthen his WR corps

Joe Cookby:Joe Cook•05/10/25•

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Zachariah Branch Georgia
Georgia wide receiver Zachariah Branch (1) during Georgia’s practice session in Athens, Ga., on Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (Tony Walsh/UGAAA)

It’s a given that a Kirby Smart Georgia team is going to have an elite defense. The Bulldogs have boasted top-10 defenses in defensive FEI in five of Smart’s nine seasons in Athens. The only defense that wasn’t top 20 in defensive FEI under Smart’s watch was the one his program fielded during his first year as head coach in 2016, and even then they were just outside at No. 24.

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The offense has often followed suit, but its strength is built upon mauling run games and some of the best tight ends in recent memory. Wide receiver play has not been what’s carried the Bulldog offense. In fact, last year’s 817-yard effort from Arian Smith was the first time a wideout had gone over 800 yards during Smart’s tenure as head coach.

Counting stats aren’t the be all and end all for offense, plus the presence of a Brock Bowers on a roster is going to focus gameplans on Bowers. But a prolific receiver has not worn red and black in almost a decade, and college football has changed since then.

Georgia has put in the effort to find the types of receivers that could be targeted in a way that leads to 1000-yard campaigns. Nitro Tuggle and Rara Thomas were seen as candidates, but off-field issues eliminated their chances to post standout seasons in Athens.

So with a new quarterback era starting at UGA with one of either Gunner Stockton or Ryan Puglisi, Smart went to the transfer portal to revitalize the Bulldog receiving corps.

It should be noted that star tight ends Oscar Delp and Lawson Luckie, two players who combined for 596 yards and seven touchdowns on 45 catches, are back. The Mike Bobo offense makes heavy use of tight ends in order to help elite offensive linemen create extra gaps for usually standout running backs to run though. But Georgia loses three top-100 draftee interior offensive linemen plus a fourth-round back in Trevor Etienne. It’s hard to think their replacements won’t be great, but it creates questions for Georgia’s offense.

So how does a team filtering in new offensive linemen, a new quarterback, and a new running back help things go? Smart looked to the transfer portal and those transfers will be relied on to catch passes right away in 2025.

Smart added Texas A&M’s Noah Thomas and USC’s Zachariah Branch to ostensibly start for the Bulldogs. Branch, a former five-star prospect, had two decent years in Los Angeles but sought a new home after ups and downs in his Trojan career. Thomas was A&M’s leading receiver in 2024, catching eight touchdown passes in maroon.

They’ll join returning senior Dillon Bell and five-star freshman Talyn Taylor as the top wide receiver options for Georgia in 2025.

2024 Georgia Receiving Corps

2025 Georgia Receiving Corps

Whether it’s Stockton or Puglisi, Georgia will surround the quarterback with a number of elite talents. But at wide receiver, the main targets will be transfer portal additions.

When the Bulldogs need it, will those portal additions give the UGA offense an extra gear not often utilized during Smart’s time in Athens? Will they even need it? It’s one of the few questions that exist about one of the top programs in college football in the past 10 years.

2025 Opponent Offseason Storylines

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