Georgia is going to have a new leading receiver in 2025. Arian Smith is a New York Jet after leading the team in receiving yards last season with 817.

Few would’ve predicted Smith to lead Georgia in yards last season and most would say his output should’ve been even higher, given some of the memorable drops he had on the season.

Georgia led the country in drops a year ago. It’s fair to say the room, on the whole, was a problem for the team.

But entering 2025, it has the chance to be a major headache for opposing defenses because of the influx of talent. Even with a new full-time starting quarterback, most likely Gunner Stockton at this point.

The Bulldogs signed five wide receivers in the 2025 recruiting cycle, led by Talyn Taylor and CJ Wiley. Both were top-100 overall prospects for the recruiting class and each was able to show this spring why there is such excitement about the future of the room.

But Georgia also hopes its transfer portal additions play a massive role. Noah Thomas led Texas A&M in receiving a season ago, while Zachariah Branch is one of the most hyped offseason additions in the sport.

The new faces are a significant reason for the vibe shift when it comes to the wide receiver room at Georgia. As for finding a leading pass catcher, the Bulldogs have plenty of established options they can turn to this coming season.

The wealth of options makes it tricky to forecast who might be Georgia’s leading wide receiver. A transfer receiver has never done it since Kirby Smart became the team’s head coach, meaning Thomas or Branch would be bucking nearly a decade of data.

Add in that Georgia could have one of the best tight end rooms in the country with Oscar Delp and Lawson Luckie, defenses are going to have a hard time trying to figure out who will be the team’s primary target.

As we see it, there are eight players who could potentially lead Georgia in receiving this coming season. We explain why they could become the go-to target in an offense that should have plenty of options in the passing game.

  • Senior wide receiver Noah Thomas: The Texas A&M transfer led the Aggies in every receiving category last season, doing so while Texas A&M bounced between quarterback options. The early returns on Thomas this spring were extremely encouraging, even while leaving the spring game with a shoulder injury. His size — 6-foot-5 and 205 pounds — should give the Bulldogs some much-needed physicality on the outside.
  • Senior wide receiver Colbie Young: When getting to watch Georgia during bowl practices last winter, it was hard not to notice how physically imposing Young was. The problem he was suspended at the time and would not play in the team’s bowl game against Notre Dame. He’s back for another season and, like Thomas, should have the ability to win consistently on the outside. His touchdown catch in the spring game was one of the standout moments of the afternoon. Working against him is that there’s a lot of overlap in terms of his skill set with Thomas. They might eat into each other’s statistics this fall.
  • Senior wide receiver Dillon Bell: The senior is the most experienced wide receiver for Georgia, as he is in his fourth year with the program. Bell has the ability to play all three receiver positions in the offense, which allows him to be on the field for every play. But what might work against Bell is that same versatility, as he worked at running back in the spring and has said he will do it in the fall if the team asks him to.
  • Senior tight end Oscar Delp: The senior might not even be Georgia’s most productive tight end, as he was not last season. But Delp was an improved player as the season reached its later stages and he is one of the most important leaders on the team. Delp also has an incredibly strong connection with Stockton, which the quarterback might lean on in times of trouble. Stetson Bennett would do the same with Brock Bowers.
  • Junior wide receiver Zachariah Branch: Georgia does not have another player like Branch on the roster. His speed is closest of that to Smith’s. Given how much Stockton likes to push the ball downfield, that might make Branch the perfect weapon for this Georgia offense. Branch is also likely to return punts and kicks, which will test his durability. Given Branch is on the smaller side, his ability to stay healthy will be crucial if he is to lead the team in receiving.
  • Junior tight end Lawson Luckie: Bowers led Georgia in all three of his seasons in Athens. If there is a tight end that could do that for Georgia this fall, it might actually be Luckie. As good and capable as Delp is, Luckie’s skill set is closer to Bowers’. Add in what Todd Hartley said about Luckie at the end of last season and it would not be a surprise to see Luckie have a truly monster junior year.
  • Junior wide receiver London Humphreys: This may seem like a bit of stretch given his profile. The Vanderbilt transfer is in his second year in the program after very little went right in his first season in Athens. But Humphreys knows the system and has the ability to play all three receiver positions in the offense. He’ll need to stay healthy this season, but Humphreys was the team’s leading receiver in the spring game. He finished with 85 receiving yards and 2 touchdowns.
  • Freshman Talyn Taylor: It would be pretty surprising to see Taylor outproduce all the names above. That doesn’t even include redshirt freshman Sacovie White or senior Cash Jones. Both players will be factors in the offense, even if they are not leading men. But the last time Georgia landed a five-star wide receiver, he led the team in receiving as a freshman. George Pickens did so back in 2019. Bowers also led the team in receiving as a freshman. Georgia is very encouraged by what Taylor brings to the table. Time will tell if he can put forth a truly special season.

As for how we would rank the candidates in terms of likelihood to lead Georgia in receiving:

  1. Bell
  2. Branch
  3. Thomas
  4. Luckie
  5. Young
  6. Humphreys
  7. Delp
  8. Taylor