Coming off an SEC title and an appearance in the National Championship Game, everyone knew that Georgia would compete for titles again in 2018. Still, there were areas of concern.

One area of concern was finding guys to make big plays at wide receiver after Javon Wims ventured off to the NFL. Wims led the Dawgs’ receivers in catches (45), yards (720) and TDs (7). Well, it’s become clear in four weeks that those worries were unfounded.

Mecole Hardman has 4 receiving TDs in 4 games. He's on pace to break Terrence Edwards' single-season record (11 in 2002).

Georgia’s wide receivers might very well be the most important unit on this offense. They keep making big plays every week, and it looks like that’s not going to change anytime soon.

“We have a lot of guys out there who can score, some really good weapons,” Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm said after Saturday’s big 43-29 victory over Missouri. “We came away with a win on the road against a very, very good football team. They’re a really good football team. So it’s good that we faced some adversity. But we’ll get better this week and try to come out and play better (next) Saturday.”

Fromm and his wide receivers really cranked it up in the second half to take control of the game. They did it with a 33-yard touchdown pass to Riley Ridley and a 61-yarder to Jeremiah Holloman in the third quarter, and Mecole Hardman scored on a 54-yard pass play on the first play of the fourth quarter to give Georgia a 40-22 lead. Hardman has now scored a touchdown in five consecutive games, starting with last season’s national title game.

“I thought it might become a shootout, but not in that form,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “I am proud of the way we competed; they made a play, we came back and made a play.

“We just had to overcome a lot. But that’s one thing we’ve been able to do so far on offense is have some explosive plays. We had some today in the passing game.”

It took a while to get rolling, as the passing game was just a bit off in the first half. Plays were  there to be made, but they just didn’t happen.

“There are definitely things I still need to improve on,” said Hardman, who’s also played a big role on kickoff and punt returns. “Those are things you just keep working on in practice and they’ll come.”

Hardman leads the team with 247 receiving yards, with Holloman (173) and Ridley (169) not far behind.

Hardman also has a team-high 4 receiving TDs. He is on pace to break Terrence Edwards’ single-season school record (11 in 2002). Edwards is the only Georgia receiver with more than 9 in a season.

Receivers have also made big plays in the running game, breaking big gainers on jet sweeps. Demetris Robertson (72 yards) and Tyler Simmons (56 yards) have have long TD runs.

It’s not perfect yet, but it’s getting there.

“Of course, there are always a bunch of things we could do better,” Ridley said. “But we don’t really look at the scoreboard. We come out and try to execute the best as we can and if we do that the points will come.”

Fromm was 7-for-9 for 194 yards with 3 touchdowns in the second half at Missouri. He has played well through four games, completing 72 percent of his passes and throwing 9 touchdown passes to only 2 interceptions.  That explosive third quarter-plus was impressive.

“We challenged some guys (at halftime) and came out and got started making plays,” Fromm said. “We just came out and got ready and said, ‘Let’s go and take care of our defense, which has taken care of us.’ That was the mindset and we went out and played football.”