ATHENS — Georgia has made the College Football Playoff in each of the last two seasons and hopes to do so for a third consecutive year.

If that is to happen, the Bulldogs are going to have some unproven players step up and replace what Georgia lost to both the NFL draft and transfer portal.

No position was hit harder in terms of personnel departures than the Georgia wide receiver room.

With Zachariah Branch, Dillon Bell, Colbie Young and Noah Thomas moving on, the Bulldogs have major questions at the position.

The national media is watching to see how Georgia’s replacements step into their larger roles.

“London Humphries is the only returning piece from that group,” Chip Patterson of CBS Sports said. “Isiah Canion transferred in from Georgia Tech and could compete for starting snaps, but he’s been held out of spring practice with an ankle injury. That’s opened the door for a lot of attention on some young stars who hope to bring some more explosiveness to the pass game.”

With Georgia only bringing in Canion from the transfer portal, the Bulldogs place a rather large bet on their high school signees to help the wide receiver room.

That starts with redshirt freshman Talyn Taylor. He was limited in Georgia’s first scrimmage and will have a lot of eyes on him as Canion continues to deal with an ankle injury.

“The 6-foot receiver suffered a collarbone injury in October that limited his freshman campaign, but he’s gotten praise from coaches and teammates for his work this spring,” Patterson wrote.

Two other pass catchers who have turned heads are freshmen Craig Dandridge and Kaiden Prothro. The latter is a tight end for Georgia but has made some impressive catches when working out wide.

As for Dandridge, his versatility has helped him get on the field at a number of positions. While he isn’t the biggest or fastest wide receiver the Bulldogs have, he’s quickly proven to be a capable player.  

“He’s very twitchy, fast, he can get off a release, he knows how to use his feet, he understands what he’s good at, and he uses that to his advantage,” Sacovie White-Helton said of Dandridge.

Georgia will hold its second scrimmage of the spring on Saturday. One of the points of emphasis will be the play of the wide receiver room.

Georgia coach Kirby Smart wants the group to see the group make explosive plays.

The room understands what is being asked of them not just this spring but for the 2026 season.

“Well, I feel like we’re doing well. We can be a lot better,” White-Helton said. “I just feel like when we set the tone, when we’re blocking first, nobody in the receiver room, we’re not a liability at all whatsoever. So just saying, our defense, spring game better be ready because we’re coming to block.”