In terms of top end depth and talent, there might not be a better position on Georgia’s team than the tight end room.
Oscar Delp and Lawson Luckie both return for the 2025 season. The duo combined for 45 receptions, 596 yards and 7 touchdowns last season.
Neither have much to prove this spring, beyond becoming better leaders for the team. That both players spoke to the media this week indicates that head coach Kirby Smart thinks they have those capabilities.
Because Delp and Luckie are going to have to shepherd in the next wave of great tight ends at Georgia.
“Yeah, I mean, they’re all doing a great job,” Delp said of the younger tight ends. “They’re as physical as they come. I mean, y’all have seen Elyiss and y’all have seen Ethan. Huge. I mean, they’re going to be really good players.”
The head-turners thus far in this group are freshmen Elyiss Williams and Ethan Barbour. shepherd at 6-foot-6 and 255 pounds. The comparisons to Darnell Washington will be made, even Williams isn’t quite the same hulking presence.
He is however farther along as a pass catcher than Washington was at this point in his Georgia career. Washington became a third-round pick for the Pittsburgh Steelers after winning multiple championships at Georgia.
Barbour is not to be slept on though. While he wasn’t as touted of a recruit as Williams, the buzz on the Milton High School tight end has been consistent since he arrived for practice in December. He’s earned some comparisons to Brock Bowers in terms of work ethic already.
“Yeah, they’re picking it up fast. I mean, they both work extremely hard. I mean, it’s always tough for a freshman coming in or mid-year just adjusting to the speed of practice,” Luckie said. “So when they get used to that, I mean, the ceiling, I mean, there’s no ceiling on them. Those kids are ballers. They work, they take coaching, they go hard. I’m excited to see what they do.”
Williams and Barbour will push for playing time in Georgia’s tight end room. They know they’ll need to do everything in order to play right away, as they’ll be expected to be on standby. Delp famously got thrown to the wolves as a freshman when Washington went down with an injury against Ohio State in the College Football Playoff.
Luckie knows better than most the importance of sustaining gains. Few players in the Smart era have generated as much early buzz as the Norcross High School product. But an ankle injury in August submarined his freshman season.
Williams and Barbour aren’t the only young tight ends to impress this season. Much like Luckie was last preseason, Jaden Reddell has become somewhat of a forgotten man in the room. Williams and Barbour are the newer, shinier toys at the moment.
But Reddell has an edge in terms of time in the system. And he’s no slouch either, as the former top-100 recruit enters his second season at Georgia.
“Yeah, I mean, he’s doing great. He’s so much bigger, so much stronger,” Delp said of Reddell. “I think him getting a year of the Georgia weight room is huge for him, and it’s really showing out there at practice every day.”
Despite all the early hype, it’s best for Georgia if Delp and Luckie are Georgia’s top two tight ends this coming season. They’ve got the battle scars formed over years that should prepare them for another difficult schedule.
While Williams, Barbour and Reddell offer intrigue and upside, it’ll be on Delp and Luckie to set and meet the standard in Todd Hartley’s room.
“We just want to have more production,” Luckie said. “I mean, we didn’t have the offseason and the preparation that we wanted to last year, and then just doing just some self-scout. I mean, we know we were doing wrong last year and we’re excited to go and work.”
