Kirby Smart reveals his thoughts on Arik Gilbert following big G-Day performance
The Georgia Bulldogs wrapped up their G-Day on Saturday and head coach Kirby Smart got a nice look at the defending national champions in some live action. Georgia returns one of the most talented and stacked tight end rooms in college football. Not only do they return the likes of Brock Bowers and Darnell Washington, the Bulldogs also return an uber-talented prospect that is still learning the nuances of the position, Arik Gilbert. They also reeled in a four-star tight end in their 2022 recruiting class, Oscar Delp. Gilbert put together a head turning performance on G-Day, reeling in three catches for 49 receiving yards, while bringing in two touchdowns catches.
Kirby Smart on Arik Gilbert’s spring and his future
Following Gilbert’s big-time performance in the spring game, Smart spoke with the media about his thoughts on his uber-talented tight end. “Yeah, Arik’s a very tough, physical player that’s done a good job. I’m more proud of the practices he had leading up to today than today,” Smart said.
“I mean, today was a little bit of icing on the cake. He got some good breaks. He had a ball that I think Stetson [Bennett IV] was throwing it away that he ended up making a play on,” the Georgia head coach said.
Smart then made sure that everyone knew that Gilbert has plenty to work on in the future. “But he’s not where he needs to be, either. There were two missed assignments where he did block a guy, that in the run game, could kill us with a tackle for loss. And we ended up not blocking a guy,” Smart said.
“He lost a lot of weight, but just what he’s been through and overcome is such a great story. But he’s not where he needs to be. He’ll be the first to tell you, he’s got to continue to grow, to get in shape, to change his body, and get an opportunity to help us. The two other guys we got coming back, it makes it a luxury of those guys being able to make us a special football team,” the Georgia head man said.
Just in case defending the freak of nature that is Brock Bowers wasn’t enough for opposing defenses to worry about next fall, Gilbert made some remarkably acrobatic grabs in the spring game and flashed excellent chemistry with Stetson Bennett IV. While he’s got plenty to learn, it’s easy to see why Georgia fans would get so excited after watching catches like this one below.
Catches like that one are precisely why Gilbert was rated as the No. 1 tight end in America for the 2020 class, according to the On3 Consensus Rankings. He even earned a lofty five-star plus ranking from the experts at On3 and only 11 prospects in that 2020 class earned that ranking. That’s no small feat.
It’s going to be really, really fun to watch Gilbert and the rest of the Georgia tight ends grow in the coming years.
Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs begin their defense of their 2022 College Football National Championship on Saturday, Sept. 3. They will face off against the Oregon Ducks in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.