With Georgia’s top receivers out for half of SEC Championship, here’s who must ‘step up’
The end of this season isn’t going exactly how Tyler Simmons imagined.
Simmons said he, along with Georgia’s other secondary receivers including Kearis Jackson and Matt Landers, have been preparing for “this moment.” That, of course, refers to the present time when the team’s leading receiver Lawrence Cager is lost for the rest of the season with an ankle injury.
But the mental preparation usually doesn’t involve getting ready to face the No. 2 team in the country for an SEC championship and College Football Playoff berth. However, that’s exactly the situation the Bulldogs find themselves in.
“They’ve been waiting for their number to be called, just ready to make plays,” Simmons said after Georgia’s 52-7 win over Georgia Tech on Saturday. “That’s always the mentality is next man up.”
Georgia entered the game knowing Cager wouldn’t play. Early on, the receivers struggled with being thrust into the limelight.
Quarterback Jake Fromm missed on his first four passes, with many early throws sent to receivers that were blanketed by defenders. Throughout the day, Fromm had times where he held the ball for seemingly an eternity waiting for a receiver to come open.
But with the negatives came some positives. The first completion went for 25 yards to Simmons and set up Georgia’s first touchdown, and the senior himself found the end zone later in the day.
Demetris Robertson also hauled in three first-half passes for 23 yards, and tight end Charlie Woerner even nabbed his first-career touchdown. On the day, 10 different Bulldogs caught passes and Simmons, Woerner, Dominick Blaylock and George Pickens all caught touchdowns.
“I saw them seize an opportunity today,” Fromm said. “For them, they had a lot more reps and a lot more opportunities to make plays, and they did.”
Pickens was conspicuously absent in the first half. The team’s leading receiver in terms of touchdowns sat out the first half due to a violation of team rules, Smart said, but returned in the second half.
Things went well early, as he drew a pair of defensive penalties and got open for an easy 41-yard score. Then came the fight on the Flats.
On the touchdown pass from Fromm to Blaylock, Pickens began skirmishing with Yellow Jacket defensive back Tre Swilling. The fight spilled through the end zone and against the padded wall, and Pickens eventually was ejected.
“George is a great kid. He’s a freshman,” Smart said. “I know now because I have my own children, that you have to love them and you have to help them. And you have to discipline your children. They do things wrong, then they get punished.”
That punishment consists not only of Saturday’s ejection, but a suspension for the first half of the SEC Championship Game. In the biggest game of the season, Georgia will be without both of its top two receivers for the first 30 minutes of play.
But attrition at that position is nothing new. As Smart put it after the game, “we’ve had a merry-go-round of receivers.”
Such is the situation the Bulldogs find themselves in. Their ultimate goals are still attainable, but to get there they need pass catchers outside of Cager and Pickens to step up.
The team has full confidence that their teammates will do just that.
“All of those guys made plays before,” running back Brian Herrien said. “At this point, it’s just their chance to do it again. You’ve just got to step up and do it even better than you’ve done before.”
This story was originally published November 30, 2019 at 7:12 PM.