Winner: London Humpherys
On the whole, it was a positive day for the wide receivers. Colbie Young had an impressive touchdown grab, while Dillon Bell did a little bit of everything. Cole Speer and Talyn Taylor each had a drop but CJ Wiley made an impressive one-handed grab for a 35-yard reception.
Yet among all of Georgia’s pass catchers, it was the second-year transfer from Vanderbilt who had the best day. Working for both squads, Humpherys caught 5 passes for 85 yards.
He ripped off a 50-yard reception, the longest play on the afternoon. He finished the day with two touchdown catches as well.
“He’s probably the only guy he and Dillon Bell that can play all three (wide receiver positions),” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said of Humphreys. “Coach Coley did a great job of teaching those guys all three positions. And that’s a little bit of a product today of playing the multiple positions. Because he can go out there, somebody goes down and jump out there and play.
“And London’s very smart. He doesn’t have a lot of anxiety. He’s very mature, and he’s good for those kids in that room. Because he works really hard.”
Humphreys had two big catches in Georgia’s season-opening win over Clemson last season. He looked like an immediate contributor at the position.
But injuries and an illness prevented him from building on the performance. He finished with 15 receptions for 244 yards on the season. After scoring a touchdown against Clemson, he didn’t find the end zone again until the last regular-season game against Georgia Tech.
Now healthy, Humphreys looks like someone who can help whoever Georgia’s next quarterback ends up being.
“I felt like I’ve improved in every facet,” Humphreys told reporters earlier last week. “But one that maybe sticks out to me is just the physicality of the receiver position, it’s required of you here at Georgia to be able to catch the ball here, you gotta block here. So I felt like I’ve improved a lot in that aspect, and being able to do all sorts of things, being blocking, it allows you to open up the passing game even more, and helps you with releases and whatnot.”
Loser: The Nico Iamaleava situation
No one is better off following Iamaleava’s decision to leave Tennessee after what appears to be a contract dispute regarding NIL money.
Iamaleava will now try and find a new school to go start at. He’ll have to do so without the benefit of spring practice. He started every game for Tennessee last season, but he didn’t look prince-that-was-promised he was billed as coming out of high school. Who knows if he’ll get the reported $4 million he was asking for.
Tennessee now needs a starting quarterback. It has just two scholarship quarterbacks on the roster in Jake Merklinger and George Macintyre. The two have combined to throw just nine passes in their collegiate careers. Gunner Stockton seems like a grizzled veteran compared to Tennessee’s current options.
Iamaleava is now the poster child for the modern age of college football. For better and worse, this is what the sport has become now.
Georgia’s game against Tennessee on Sept. 13 doesn’t seem as intimidating now as the Volunteers scramble to find a replacement. Expect them to be very active in the transfer portal, which opens on Wednesday and closes on April 25.
But Smart doesn’t take much joy in Tennessee’s dismay. He understands this isn’t a sustainable model for the future of college football.
“I’m worried about my house, and I try to control what goes on in my house,” Smart said. “I can’t worry about everybody else’s house. So the climate is different. But again, I’m focused on the kids we got who wanna be here.”
Winner: Justin Williams
It wouldn’t be a surprise if Justin Williams ended up as Georgia’s fourth-best linebacker this season. CJ Allen and Raylen Wilson have a leg up in experience and Chris Cole could well be Georgia’s most versatile defender.
But Williams showed on Saturday why his efforts or ability shouldn’t be discounted either.
The sophomore linebacker had a game-high 9 tackles. He was consistently in the opposing backfield, finishing with 3 tackles for loss.
On a day that is supposed to be an offensive showcase, it was Williams who looked like the best player on the field.
“He can do everything,” Wilson said. “And that’s always great from the inside backer room right now.”
Because quarterbacks can’t be hit and Georgia went very vanilla in its blitz packages, the Bulldogs did not generate much of a pass rush on Saturday. Even if those restraints weren’t there, Georgia has very real questions about if it can get pressure from the outside linebacker and defensive line positions.
That puts a lot on the plate of the inside linebackers. Based on what we saw on G-Day, this group may be capable of living up to those massive expectations.
If this Georgia defense is to reach its ceiling, it’ll need Williams to have more days like he did on Saturday.
Smart believes that is possible.
“Fire, passion, and energy pays off,” Smart said of Williams and Cole. “It’s not the ratings or the stars or all those things. It really isn’t. It’s just the kids that want to play the game the most right now and those are the ones that play the best, and those two guys personify that.”
Loser: Spring games
The announced attendance for Saturday’s spring game was 35,003, a far cry from 93K day. The game was not televised. Up until a few weeks ago, it wasn’t really even known if Georgia would have a traditional spring game.
Smart was asked about the future of G-Day following Saturday’s events. It very much sounds like it is going to be an up-in-the-air situation.
“I’d say it’s year by year,” Smart said. “It probably has more to do with my team, the health of our team, the number of players in college football. I mean, we as coaches don’t control the numbers we have, so if we don’t have enough numbers we won’t be able to have the game.”
Georgia was without a handful of contributors on Saturday, including defensive starters Daylen Everette, Christen Miller and Gabe Harris.
Outside linebacker Quintavius Johnson left the game with an ankle injury, further depleting the situation at outside linebacker. Wide receiver Noah Thomas left the game with an AC sprain as well.
It was still a treat to get to watch Georgia football play competitive football in Sanford Stadium on Saturday.
But it is fair to wonder how much longer that will be possible moving forward given the climate of college football.
“I mean, I think it’s a great tradition, but it’s more about what does our team need than just what Athens needs,” Smart said.
Winner: Dominick Kelly
For all the words written about Georgia’s freshman class and the players people were most excited to see for the first time on G-Day, Dominick Kelly was not on the radar.
Yet he became a main character with his play on Saturday. He intercepted a Ryan Puglisi pass in the second quarter and added an impressive pass breakup later in the game.
Not bad, especially when you consider Kelly was originally a 2026 recruit who reclassified late in the recruiting process to get to Georgia.
“He’s definitely impressive,” Allen said of Kelly. “You know, just coming in as a mid-year I know from firsthand it’s not always easy, especially at the cornerback position. Especially the amount of stuff that we do and we expect, you know, it’s the expectation of the Georgia defense.”
Kelly still has a long way to go to factor in at the cornerback position this season. Everette will assume one of the starting spots when he returns to full health.
Daniel Harris also came away with an interception on Saturday and looks to be ahead of the hard-charging Ellis Robinson and Demello Jones in the tightly contested cornerback battle.
“He’s competing harder,” Smart said of Harris. “I think it matters to him more. He sees two really good players at the corner position with him, in Demello (Jones) and Ellis, and he’s competed really hard. All three of those corners have gotten better. I think Donte’s done a great job with them, having a lot of confidence in those guys.”
While there will be plenty of discussion about the current state of the cornerback position at Georgia, Kelly showed why the future of the room is just as bright.
