ATHENS, Ga., — Kirby Smart told reporters last week that Tyler Simmons will be one of the starting wide receivers for Georgia on Saturday against Vanderbilt.

If practice is any indication, the fellow starters will be Demetris Robertson out of the slot and redshirt sophomore Matt Landers working the other outside receiver spot. That has been consistent for the past week.

On Tuesday at practice, there was a slight change, as redshirt freshman Kearis Jackson was not running routes during the media viewing portion of practice. Prior to Tuesday, Jackson had been running out of the slot. Freshman Dominick Blaylock went after Robertson in the slot position in drills.

Smart provided more insight on the wide receivers and the rotation at the position on Monday.

“Every one of those wide outs at one time or another has made really good plays, so there’s a body of eight or nine of them there that I think they need to get confidence,” Smart said. “They need to get catches, catch and run with the ball, make people miss. They need to use the skillsets that so many of them used to get them here.”

On the defensive side of the ball, there was a rotation among the safeties as Christopher Smith was spotted working with senior safety J.R. Reed during a tackling drill. Tyrique McGhee did get some work with Richard LeCounte as well during the drill that also involved the STAR position and linebacker.

This comes a day after sophomore cornerback Tyson Campbell was working with the second team at cornerback, leading to the assumption that D.J. Daniel was working with the first team. 

Other Georgia football practice observations

  • No Jamaree Salyer once again for Georgia. Smart said that he was behind freshman linebacker Nakobe Dean in terms of recovery, but that Salyer was still expected to be back by the Vanderbilt game.
  • The first team offensive line was once again — from left to right tackle — Andrew Thomas, Solomon Kindley, Trey Hill, Cade Mays and Isaiah Wilson. Mays has been in a competition with Ben Cleveland for the starting right guard spot. Mays was also getting some work at center when working with the quarterbacks and running backs.
  • Dean was once again working with the inside linebackers during practice, as he had been since he returned to practice last Friday. The freshman from Horn Lake, Miss., did have an ankle brace on his left ankle.
  • Running back D’Andre Swift was once again in a red jersey, as has been the case in every practice since Friday. Last Wednesday White wore a black non-contact jersey during practice, but Smart assured reporters afterward that he was fine.

DawgNation’s Mike Griffith also contributed to this report

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