Kirby Smart addresses the development of Georgia's freshman wide receivers

Georgia has quite the group of young wide receivers on its roster this season as part of a highly touted recruiting class. Through six games, Kirby Smart assessed their development.

Dillon Bell has the most yards of the freshmen, totaling 77 yards and a touchdown in his young career. Although that’s eighth on the roster, Smart said more opportunities will come for his young crew.

That’s all part of the development process.

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“The challenges are opportunities,” Smart said. “Something about laying receiver that you really need to do it in a game to get the utmost confidence, and Dillon’s probably got a little bit of that. De’Nylon (Morrissette), he’s played more than most freshmen, but still not a lot. C.J. Smith’s really come along well, but hasn’t had a ton of opportunities.

“Those guys are getting a lot of reps and getting better in practice, but it’s hard to gain the confidence and experience you need until you get live game reps. Those guys have not gotten a ton. They’ve gotten some, Oscar (Delp’s) gotten some. I’m very pleased with that class of guys. It’s probably the first wide receiver class that we can say across the board, ‘Man, we’ve got some good players in it.’ They’re just not there right now. There’s a couple guys in front of them, too.”

Kirby Smart opens up on Rian Davis’ growth

No. 1 Georgia hasn’t really missed a beat defensively so far in 2022 despite losing a boatload of talent off last year’s national championship team to the NFL Draft. Each week it seems like there’s a new player emerging, with linebacker Rian Davis‘ growth affording him the chance to be that guy Saturday in a 42-10 win over Auburn.

Davis finished second on the team in tackles in the game, notching four stops and a quarterback hurry.

“Had a very significant injury last year that prevented him from being able to contribute in other areas on special teams, and this year he’s been able to do that,” coach Kirby Smart said. “He got his opportunity Saturday and he made the most of it.”

It’s been a long time coming for the fourth-year junior.