UGA Football Coach Kirby Smart: "We’re Thin At Wideout"
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ATHENS - If you think the UGA football team has a deep receiving core, I’ve got some news for you.
You’re wrong.
Those are Kirby Smart’s words. Not mine.
On paper, it sure looks like Georgia has plenty of options. Ladd McConkey is back. Dominc Lovett, one of the league’s top receivers, will wear and red and black this year.
Arian Smith is explosive. Just ask an Ohio State fan.
Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint is an experienced veteran. Dillon Bell is a promising sophomore. Rara Thomas has made a lot of plays in the SEC. Throw in Jackson Meeks, Mekhi Mews, others, and some hungry freshmen, and it appears like the ‘Dawgs are fairly deep at the position.
Now there are some injuries and guys who are “banged up” according to Smart, but there’s still enough healthy talent ready for game one.
Still, Smart doesn’t think so.
He spoke with reporters about that earlier this week.
“I feel like we’re thin at wideout. Everybody keeps talking about this wide receiver core and I’m like, ‘We are thin.’ We just don’t have enough depth there. We don’t have enough guys in our two deep to finish practice, and so it makes it tough. We got guys dinged up, guys injured, so that makes it a little bit harder. I don’t know that you have a rotation. The year LSU won the championship, I think 95% of their snaps were three receivers and they were three really good receivers. So, you play the players that give you a chance to play.”
“We have a bar, and we say this is winning football above it and this is losing football below it, and if you can play winning football then we’re going to give you opportunities and chances to play based on what you have shown us”, Smart added. “We got some guys that can play winning football; we probably got six or seven. We probably got three of four that are right on the line that aren’t playing winning football yet but we’re going to try to get ready, so that’s the hope.”
What we know is that when this group is healthy, they should be one of the best in program history. There may not be a George Pickens or AJ Green type on the roster, but overall, it’s a group that does a lot of things well. They’ve got experience, guys who can stretch the field, block on the perimeter, and make plays after the catch.
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About UT Martin
The Skyhawks are members of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and are the two-time defending champions of the Oho Valley Conference. FCS teams can have a maximum of 63 scholarships and split them up however they want. The Skyhawks went 7-4 last season and fell 65-24 at No. 3 Tennessee. They are coached by Jason Simpson who is in his 18th season at the helm with a record of 107-84 (.560).
Did You Know? Simpson gave Bulldog defensive line coach Tray Scott his first full-time job when he hired him to coach UT-Martin’s defensive line in 2013. Simpson began his collegiate career as a football/baseball player at Mississippi State and concluded his career playing baseball at Southern Miss.
We’ve Gone Streaking
* The Bulldogs are 29-1 in their last 30 games including winning back-to-back national championships. Georgia enters the 2023 season on a 17-game winning streak, which is tied for the school record. The Bulldogs won 17 in a row from 1945-47 while the current stretch of success began with a 34-11 win over Michigan in the 2021 CFP semifinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl.
* Georgia has won 27 consecutive regular season games dating back to a 31-24 home victory over Mississippi State on Nov. 21, 2020. The school record is 28 in a row from 1981-83.
* Georgia’s longest home winning streak is 24 set from 1980-83. Currently, the Bulldogs have won 18 straight at home. The current streak began with a 21-0 win over Kentucky on Oct. 19, 2019.
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