ATHENS — Mike Bobo believes in Gunner Stockton. The Georgia offensive coordinator praised the internal improvements made by the Georgia quarterback.

But Stockton can’t single-handedly elevate the Georgia offense in 2025 to a successful level. Georgia asked Carson Beck, a more experienced option, to do so a season ago and that didn’t end well.

Bobo wants the run game to be the identity of this Georgia offense. He wants more explosive runs. Having wide receivers block on the outside can help greatly in that department.

So the presence of big-bodied wide receivers Noah Thomas and Colbie Young should greatly help with this team’s identity.

Because for all Georgia’s offense was without last season, it lacked a physical outside receiver for much of the season. Thomas was at Texas A&M, while Young was suspended for the final nine games of the season due to an off-field arrest that has since been settled.

Add in that Rara Thomas was dismissed from the team prior to the season starting, Georgia was forced to use Dillon Bell as its outside wide receiver. Bell, who is also back this season, is listed at 6-foot-1 and 210 pounds.

Young is 6-foot-4 while Thomas checks in at 6-foot-5.

Of all the players Bobo spoke about with the media last week, no player earned more effusive praise than Young.

“He doesn’t take a play off,” Bobo said of Young. “And he’s a guy that we brought in out of the portal. But, you know, he is probably the leader in that room. He sets the standard of how to work. And I’m not just talking about whether it’s route running or catching balls, it’s blocking, it’s his effort. And that’s kind of contagious because we’ve got some talented receivers in that room and some of them are young and they need to know what it means to wear the Georgia uniform. And he represents that every day.”

Young is back at Georgia due largely to the court win by Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Paiva that granted players who had spent time in junior college additional eligibility.

Young seems to be making the most of his second season, and opportunity, in Athens. He caught a touchdown pass in the spring game, snatching a Ryan Puglisi pass that only the massive wide receiver could’ve pulled down. Young carried that momentum into the offseason and now fall camp.

As for Thomas, Bobo noted that the Texas A&M transfer’s head was spinning a little when he got to Athens. That makes the fact that he’s been able to establish himself so quickly in James Coley’s wide receiver room all the more noticeable to this point.

Thomas won’t just be able to box out small defenders for jump balls. He’s got some deceptive speed for someone of his size.

He should also be able to punish defenders when Georgia runs the football, using his long frame to shield defenders from Georgia’s ball carriers.

“New system, new terminology, trying to figure everything out and probably wasn’t playing as fast as he would like,” Bobo said. “And just, you know, our message to him was he’s going to be OK, just keep your head down, keep working and you’re seeing incremental improvements from him. He’s light-years ahead of where he was in the spring. He gives you he gives you another big, big body outside that can catch those balls that are contested.”

Between adding Thomas, bringing back Young and then grabbing Illinois running back Josh McCray via the transfer portal, Georgia made it a point to get bigger and more physical at the skill positions this offseason.

Not all transitions have been seamless to the Georgia offense, with McCray missing time early in camp due to an illness. Combined with the fact that McCray was not present for spring practice, he faces an uphill climb to make an immediate impact at Georgia.

But having those physical options not only boosts Georgia’s depth, it gives Bobo and Stockton more tools to work with.

For an offense that led to many questions last season, Young and Thomas continue to emerge as possible answers for the 2025 season.

“You’ve got to figure out where we’re going to put these guys to get them in the right spot, and figure out ways that sometimes in the past, we’ve kind of let the offense run through the quarterback and he takes the guy that the defense gives us on maybe a passing concept,” Bobo said. “We’re going to have to figure out ways to get some of these guys that you mentioned, generate touches for those guys.”

Thomas and Young won’t just make life easier for Stockton, but the other wide receivers, too. Their presence allows Bell to be used wherever he is most needed.

They also reduce the burden on fellow transfer Zachariah Branch. He is the antithesis of Thomas and Young from a size standpoint, but he brings some much-needed juice to the Georgia offense and special teams. That was on display at the team’s scrimmage this past weekend.

A season ago, Georgia’s offense greatly missed a physical wide receiver on the outside. A player like George Pickens or AJ Green to go even further back.

It’ll be a tall task for Thomas or Young to do what either of those two did in their time in Athens, especially as both players are set to exhaust their eligibility after this season.

But Georgia is very glad to have them on the roster in 2025. If they’re able to play as big as they physically are, it should make things easier for Bobo, Stockton and even the all-important rushing attack.