O'Gara: We saw in Georgia's spring game why we don't need to worry about Carson Beck's weapons
One drive told you all you needed to know.
Kirby Smart made the atypical decision to leave Carson Beck in for a last-minute drive of a spring game. On a day that Beck had some struggles — Georgia’s defense tipped 4 of his passes and picked off 2 — the decorated returning starting quarterback got a chance to put together a potential game-tying drive. He couldn’t turn to soon-to-be early NFL Draft picks Ladd McConkey or Brock Bowers, who was in street clothes on the sideline to watch his former team.
No worries. Georgia’s pass-catchers took care of it.
A 20-yard throw and catch to Dominic Lovett started the drive, followed by an all-world dart from Beck to RaRa Thomas on the left sideline for 39 yards to get into scoring position.
Two plays later, however, was the play that should make UGA fans breathe a sigh of relief. On a slot fade, Beck went back to Lovett and this time, he underthrew the former Mizzou transfer.
No worries. Lovett took care of it.
Somehow, he pinned the ball to the back of defensive back Patrick Taylor and hauled in the last-minute touchdown as he crashed into the newly planted baby Sanford Stadium hedges.
Dominic Lovett: 1⃣
baby hedges: 0⃣
What a TD catch. pic.twitter.com/HaG21om3dF
— Dayne Young (@dayneyoung) April 13, 2024
Lovett’s day closed with 104 yards on 7 catches, the last of which was that game-tying score to force a tie on G-Day. Smart said the biggest victory was getting out of Saturday healthy. I’ll beg to differ. The biggest win of Georgia’s spring game was seeing that these pass-catchers will be just fine in a post-Bowers/McConkey world.
Yes, it was a spring game. But you could forget that by the way Smart approached things. This wasn’t some 7-on-7 scrimmage that had wacky scoring and was uncompetitive in the second half. Nope. The team with as many losses as national titles (2) in the last 3 seasons had first-teamers vs. first-teamers.
Hence, why it’s actually fair to be impressed with the day the UGA pass-catchers had.
RELATED: Looking to place a bet on the 2024 national champion? Follow along with SDS’s national championship odds
The final box score only told part of the story. Beck attempted 46 passes, 25 of which were completed for 301 yards, though it’s worth noting that the ever-versatile Dillon Bell appeared to make a beautiful contested catch in the end zone that the officials ruled was out of bounds.
(Aaron Murray joked on the broadcast that he should’ve had full replay authority to overturn that … I agree.)
The first touchdown score that did count for Beck came on a perfectly thrown ball to Miami (FL) transfer Colbie Young on a quick fade. In typical Smart fashion, however, Young didn’t exactly get a mountain of praise from his new head coach. When Murray interviewed Smart at field level, he called Young a “home run” in the transfer portal, which the Georgia coach quickly pushed back on.
“The guy makes 1 play and you want to call the guy a home run?” Smart quipped.
Fair. Young doesn’t need to be a home run. He does, however, need to use that 6-5 frame to give UGA another red-zone weapon alongside Bowers’ replacement, Oscar Delp, who had a quiet day with just 1 catch for 6 yards. The same was true of Vanderbilt transfer London Humphreys, who didn’t make a catch until the 4th quarter. There’s hope that Humphreys can check a lot of the boxes that McConkey checked as a guy who can line up both in the slot or out wide and get separation.
The last time we saw Georgia face real competition — no disrespect to whatever Florida State roster it put on the field in the Orange Bowl — was when McConkey and Bowers clearly weren’t at full strength against Alabama in the SEC Championship. That felt like the story of the season at the pass-catcher spots. There wasn’t much time that both players were available for Beck at full strength.
For 2023, that was a bummer. For 2024, it could be a blessing.
Guys like Delp, Bell, Lovett and Thomas (before he got hurt) had to step into more prominent roles. A few months later, that’s still the case. Week to week, Beck could have a different go-to guy. It might not always be Lovett, though all reports out of spring were that he certainly looked the part heading into his second season in Athens.
What’s clear is that Georgia has depth, and it has to take advantage of that depth to win its third title in 4 years.
There was an obvious effort on Saturday to get as many reps as possible for those pass-catchers. It was a game with 15-minute, running clock quarters and UGA had a combined 20 players catch at least 1 of the 87 pass attempts. That wasn’t an accident by Smart and OC Mike Bobo. As Smart said, UGA wanted to take advantage of having a live-game setting to get reps.
Georgia’s pass-catchers got no shortage of opportunities on Saturday. Maybe they won’t end the season with NFL eyes on them like what Bowers and McConkey have, but the potential for this to be a deeper, more versatile group of pass-catchers was evident on Saturday.
Even the baby hedges could see that.
NORTH CAROLINA
Must be 21+. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.
Counting the days.
That’s one stacked looking locker room. So much talent everywhere… probably too much. Watching the 2/3’s compete shows how little drop off there is. Some 5* early enrollees showed they can make some plays at the next level. Looking to have a really good team going into to fall…. hope the next portal doesn’t get too brutal.
So some of you Jawga fans are already crowning the dawgs national champions. Kind of funny. Better pump the breaks. Have to play all of the games first b
It’s spring. Everyone’s undefeated. (rolls eyes emoji inserted here)
S
H
I
T
H
E
A
D
Grow up.
F
U
C
K
Off
S
H
I
T
H
E
A
D
I probably would not be counting the days either if we had a coach who had never played or coached a down of SEC football.
Not to sure about that Army retired friend. Alabama looks like they will have a pretty fair team this year. Better pace yourself and your predictions/expectations. Got to play all of the games.
LFG
as a dog fan from 1956 i will support the team forever but
whoever wrote this left out a lot
1. if beck is hurt gunner is an athlete but not much of a QB too often he seemed lost
2. beck makes 2 inteceptions in a real game i wonder if smart will go balistic
3. this huge kid robinson is unstoppable except when he dances going the wrong way being tackled behind the line when all he has to do is run straight no one will stop him for less than 3 yards
4. if the offensive line is so great why were so many tipped balls
5. did beck try to be a hero with long balls since it seemed he was not on target on many of them
6. gunner is a great kid but he is not ready to be stetson bennet replacing daniels
Funny that you would want another Stetson Bennett since you hated the last one.
One of the things I read said DJ Shockley was commentating and said the offense was very vanilla. Saying the Defense had seen every formation and play so they were on it before the play happened. Which lead to the interceptions.
“4. if the offensive line is so great why were so many tipped balls”
Because quite possibly every player on the defensive front the O-Line went up against will play in the NFL???
That was probably the best defense the 2024 O-line will go up against.
I think it was more Carson’s failure to laterally move the throwing lanes, that’s the problem when you’re a tall QB. You try to throw over people. Doesn’t work against a tall front 7. He’ll figure it out quickly and get his lateral movement tuned in by opening week. The defense looked SCARY good…
Hump. I don’t think a lot can be determined by a spring game. It is great for the fans and another practice for the players. That is about it.
yes! a bronco sighting! i’m not sure if i’m more amazed or entertained by the takes that you share on this site…..particularly from the perspective of a fan of the team since 1956.
It is Spring Training, and yet you are reading about UGA’s Spring Game. Insert roll eyes emoji.
I was at the game and didn’t wear sunscreen. Beautiful weather but definitely got burned. Other than that Stockton looked good and so did Etienne. 1st team defense looked good too and I think the DL overall beat the OL. Offense was super vanilla though.
i think you just recapped an overall good day for the team! unfortunately, not a good day for your skin though.
Etienne is a great addition to the Dawgs running game. He was under-used & under-appreciated in Gainesville.
He has to clean his act up.
Beck threw 2 picks and had to rally late just to tie! Yeah I wouldn’t worry about his weapons, I’d worry about his 5 head getting the ball to them! Lol! Bobo is the man!
Every year/ it’s very difficult to give a great defense the credit it’s due. That’s all this needs to say.
Hopefully, this version of the Dawgs Curb Stomp Datboi and his band of Eeyore’s buddies.
I just watched the Georgia spring game. Very entertaining and competitive. Both QBs looked good. The WR versus the DBs was good. Overall Georgia is what we thought they are. A team that will challenge for the national championship.