Kirby Smart Talks About "Musical Chairs" At Wide Receiver
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ATHENS - Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs have played 14 games this season and are undefeated heading into their 2022 national championship game against TCU.
It’s hard to stay healthy for an entire season, and with a hobbled Ladd McConkey coming into the Peach Bowl, Smart said he’s had to play “musical chairs” at wide receiver this season.
“We’ve had musical chairs, and most people do because people have injuries at wide receiver positions”, Smart told reporters on Tuesday. “But between AD, Marcus, there's been a lot there. And I think B-Mac and Coach Monken have done a tremendous job of slicing and dicing those roles.”
The Georgia Bulldogs have 12.5-point odds to defeat TCU on Monday night according to FanDuel.
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McConkey has been Georgia’s most consistent wide receiver this season, but with him not being completely 100% during bowl preparation, the Bulldogs needed another wideout to step up.
In comes Arian Smith. Arguably the fastest player on the team, Smith had dealt with injuries throughout his Georgia career, but now that he’s healthy, he was able to see the field and give Georgia some explosiveness on offense.
“Arian has developed through not being injured”, Smart said about his speedy wideout. “His role has increased probably with every week this season. It may not have always shown that way in the stat line or in the number of snaps played. I don't think you guys can evaluate it that way because you don't see what goes on in practice for five days.
“So he has grown and developed and gotten better and better and better”, Smart added. “He really just got more opportunity to do what he's been doing. I wouldn't call it a redefined role. It would be an opportunity because of Ladd's injury and we didn't know how long or how hard Ladd would be able to go.”
“Ladd looked good, looked good in warmups, and was able to go and play. We're hoping he's even better this week. But we had to have somebody ready. And you can imagine over 28 days of preparation there's a lot of days that Arian was repping and doing things because Ladd wasn't able to. As we got closer and closer to the game, Ladd was doing more and more. It was a balance between the two.”
It’s near impossible to have EVERYONE healthy, but Georgia’s receivers are as healthy as you could ask for right now.
AD Mitchell is back. Clearly.
Arian Smith is healthy.
Dominick Blaylock looks like the 2019 version of Dom Blaylcok when given an opportunity.
MArcus Rosemy-Jacksaint is healthy.
Ladd McConkey might not be 100% just yet, but he’s still playing, and he made an impact against the Buckeyes.
They may have played “musical chairs” the entire season, but with one more game to go, you have to really like where the Bulldogs sit at wide receiver. They’ll need to be at their best offensively against TCU, and they have plenty of weapons on the outside who are fresh and ready to roll.
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