Wednesday, wide receiver AD Mitchell made the decision to enter the transfer portal. The departure came after the second consecutive campaign that Georgia has gone most of the season without the player expected to be its No. college football playoffs. Mitchell, as George Pickens in the previous season, he entered 2022 and is expected to be the star after his big touchdown in the CFP title win over Alabama. But Mitchell would finish sixth on the team with just nine receptions and seventh in receiving yards, playing just six games. Dominique Blaylockwho finished fifth among Georgia wide receivers with 15 receptions, also entered the portal this week.
Assistant Bryan McClendonwho just finished his freshman season on the Georgia team, remarked on pre-SEC championship media day that the challenge of making it work with the next man actually helped the program.
“It’s been a blessing in so many ways,” McClendon told Dawgs247. “A lot of guys, because we’ve been bumped, we’ve been able to share the growth. Even with guys who’ve played a lot before to guys who haven’t played a lot, like freshman Dylan Bell , who came in and had to play a bunch of key roles in different areas. Guys came into different roles and guys had to grow up in a lot of different areas. Without some of these injuries, this wouldn’t have happened. So , all in all, it hasn’t always been easy, but it has been good in many ways.”
McClendon signed a trio of four-star wide receivers this cycle in Tyler Williams, Anthony Evansand Yazeed HaynesWilliams being a Top 100 prospect and a big talent.
“There’s no question about it,” McClendon said of Williams having immense potential.
“But not just him, you know? All the freshmen we left high school with, we feel great. These are guys who, frankly, over the years in high school, just got better and better. I know you know, sometimes you see some of the highly recruited guys, they kind of start to run out of steam at the end because they feel like ‘I’m in, I’m ready to look forward to what might be next .’ And that’s not wrong either. But you’re really excited about the guys taking advantage of every opportunity that they have there. And you saw that when these guys came in, during their short time here. They want to do well, they want to be coached, they want to improve, and that’s what really excites you.
“I feel like the guys we’ve been able to bring in, first and foremost, are good people. When you bring in quality people who are quality players, I feel like that gives you a chance, and that they’re giving themselves a chance to be able to do a bunch of special things. From there, I feel like we hit the jackpot with the kind of people we bought in. Then , you talk about their skills, each one of them brings a different skill set but a very good skill set for the team every time you bring quality players like that to any position you feel that we’ve done a good job helping the team. I’m doing everything I can to make sure my guys help the team win.”
Haynes was not highly rated when he flipped his Penn State commitment to Georgia, but his performance at camp in June made it a no-brainer for McClendon and the Georgia coaching staff.
“The most important thing is you have to trust your eyes, you can’t trust anything other than that,” McClendon said. “That’s why you put so much time and effort and energy into going out there and showing up in front of the kids and seeing them work. He was one of those guys who embraces that whole process of don’t care about working. So we made him work a few times, the second time I was making sure the first time wasn’t a lie. The skill set he has, you really feel excited and so on and how naturally he has. He definitely has room to grow just like all of them, but I feel really excited about him and what he brings to the table.”
The position room got a big boost in December when Dominique Lovett transferred from Missouri and Ra Ra Thomas transferred from Mississippi State, giving Georgia two players who led their respective SEC programs in receiving last season.
“Dom and RaRa, we feel like we hit the jackpot with these two guys,” McClendon said. “The first thing you look at is the people they are. Definitely coming from a college program, you want to make sure that one of the first conversations you have is, ‘Hey, man, just understand the type coaching that you’ll get into here is more of the us versus me type of coaching. We take that very seriously here. And after playing those two guys as well, they’ve seen the benefits of the current approach. that we adopt every day Georgia did a great job of selling themselves These guys really wanted to be in These two guys have proven players in this league and made plays against the same guys we played against So you feel really good that these guys can come in and add value to the team.
Now, with the return of the first Georgia receiver in Ladd McConkeya good health Ariane Smitha reliable option in Marcus Rosemy-Jacksainta more experienced Dill Bell, incoming freshmen and two SEC leaders in Lovett and Thomas, McClendon is ready to get back to work this spring.
“I’m really excited,” McClendon said. “All these guys, everything in the room that we have back, I’m excited for everyone who’s going to be a part of it. This offseason is going to be important. It’s going to be vital. So make sure we understand that we don’t have no days to lose during the off-season either.”
#Georgia #football #receivers #Bryan #McClendon #excited #season