Explosive plays are a tenet of Kirby Smart’s offensive philosophy. While the Georgia coach is more widely regarded for his defensive acumen, Smart has always placed a premium on creating explosive plays.

That Georgia slipped in that category last season is one of the many reasons the offense took a step backward. After ranking in the top 10 plays of 10 yards or more in each of the previous three seasons, Georgia ranked 22nd in the country in that metric.

The 2022 and 2023 offenses ranked first in that category. The 2021 team ranked 10th but that group was also backed by arguably the best defense of the 21st century.

There’s no doubt last season’s offense struggled. Now it has to replace its starting quarterback, top two wide receivers and No. 2 running back.

Even for all the questions that Georgia faces this coming season, it does have enough talent on the offensive side of the ball to answer one of its most important: Where are the explosive plays going to come from?

Below are the three players we think have the potential to be Georgia’s most explosive playmakers on the 2025 team. Should they create chunk plays, it should make things much, much easier for Georgia’s next starting quarterback.

Zachariah Branch, wide receiver

Perhaps the easiest playmaker to predict. Branch is Georgia’s fastest receiver and should easily slide into the role vacated by Arian Smith.

Branch should help on special teams as he is an ace punt and kick returner. But the Georgia offense would benefit most if he is able to elevate his game as a wide receiver.

At USC last season, Branch caught 47 passes for 503 yards. That’s just 10.7 yards per reception and he had only one touchdown. Those are hardly great numbers for someone who entered college as a five-star prospect. Smith averaged 17.0 yards per catch.

Branch did showcase his playmaking ability on G-Day, as he hauled in a 36-yard pass from Gunner Stockton. Branch’s explosiveness was a big reason Georgia aggressively pursued the transfer receiver in the transfer portal.

“They just felt like I was an explosive player and, you know, also a great person off the field who could be a great fit in the locker room to help encourage certain guys to ultimately reach that goal towards the end of the season,” Branch said this spring. “That was something that they really sold me.”

Smith, drops and all, still led Georgia with 817 receiving yards on just 48 receptions. If Branch can produce numbers similar to that, Georgia’s passing offense could easily be better than it was a season ago.

“[Zachariah] has extreme quickness, and he’s an explosive playmaker that we got to find ways to get him the ball as well as all the guys around him in the offense,” Smart said of Branch.

Nate Frazier, running back

Explosive plays aren’t just limited to the passing game. The Bulldogs must do a better job of running the ball in 2025, as they ranked 102nd in the country last season in yards per game.

Even more alarming is that Georgia ranked 86th in the country in rushes of 10 yards or more. The Bulldogs averaged 3.9 such plays per game, easily the lowest output of Smart’s tenure.

As any coach will tell you, it becomes a lot more difficult to score touchdowns when you need nine or 10-play drives to get into the end zone.

Frazier led the team in rushing and is in line to have a much bigger sophomore season. Even with the addition of Illinois transfer Joshua McCray and the emergence of freshman Bo Walker, Frazier is still Georgia’s No. 1 option in the backfield.

McCray and Walker are physical runners, which should ease the every-down burden on Frazier.

That should keep him fresher over the course of games and give him the opportunity to take advantage of fatigued defenses.

As a freshman, Frazier rushed for 671 yards and 8 touchdowns. He did that without the benefit of going through spring practice and spending much of the early part of the season behind Trevor Etienne.

Frazier was the only Georgia running back to top 100 yards in a game last season. The Bulldogs will need him to do so multiple times in 2025 if the rushing attack is to get back on track.

Dillon Bell, wide receiver

To some, Bell might be an interesting choice. He is not the physical freak that Colbie Young is, nor is he the mismatch that tight ends Lawson Luckie and Oscar Delp are.

But what Bell does bring to the table is versatility.

Following Georgia’s spring game, Smart remarked that Bell and London Humphreys are the only two wide receivers who have the ability to play all three receiver positions. That gives them the chance to be put in advantageous positions to attack the defense.

Georgia was forced to play Bell at the X receiver position after Young was suspended midseason. Prior to that suspension, it’s worth remembering that Bell scored on a 67-yard touchdown in the team’s loss to Alabama.

Bell also gives Georgia the option to help out in the ground game. He lined up at running back in 2023 and has also shown he can take end arounds and reverses.

Smart told reporters this spring that Bell was helping out at running back. The addition of McCray likely decreases the need to play him there out of necessity. But it wouldn’t be a surprise to still see Georgia employ Bell in that regard.

Georgia is going to have to be creative in getting Bell the football. But if it can get him the ball in space, he’s shown he is plenty capable of creating chunk plays on his own.

“We mix Dillon in practice to practice,” Smart said of Bell. “He works in the slot. He’s tried to develop as a wide receiver and a back. He’s been great and in a good attitude and being committed to “Coach, if it means me playing 10, 15 snaps at back, I wanna do it. If I can develop as a slot, I wanna do it.’”