ATHENS — It speaks to the interest around Talyn Taylor that the first question asked to Kirby Smart was asked about the redshirt freshman on Tuesday.

Taylor signed with Georgia as a 5-star recruit in the 2025 recruiting class. He did not have the freshman season he would’ve liked, as much of it was ruined due to a collarbone injury he suffered in early October.

There was some question about Taylor’s health coming out of Georgia’s first scrimmage on Saturday. Smart, though, seemed confused about the inquiry, indicating everything is all good with Taylor.

“Talyn’s great. Talyn had a good practice,” Smart said. “Talyn scrimmaged Saturday, caught punts, did a lot of good things.”

In addition to the 5-star ranking, Taylor will be a central figure in Georgia’s made-over wide receiver room in 2026. Georgia lost four of its top five pass catchers to the NFL draft, creating a massive opening for Taylor to step into.

With Zachariah Branch moving on to the NFL, quarterback Gunner Stockton is going to need a new top target. Taylor has the talents to become that.

Former teammate Noah Thomas compared Taylor to current New York Jet Garrett Wilson, while current teammate Sacovie White-Helton praised Taylor’s separation skills.

“He’s grown up a lot, plays faster, he looks like he knows offense better,” White-Helton said. “So whenever you know the offense better, you can play a lot faster, you can see coverages better. And you can just read a lot of things, know where the soft spots in defense are. And you know how to get open and make people miss and go score.”

Georgia wants its offense to be more explosive than it was a season ago. The Bulldogs had only 42 passing plays of 20-yards or more, which ranked 56th in the country.

Perhaps the defining moment of Taylor’s season came when he dropped a potential touchdown catch against Alabama in a September loss. Had Taylor held on to the football, it would’ve given the Bulldogs a lead in the second half of the game. Instead, Georgia lost 24-21.

That drop can be a minor footnote in Taylor’s career if he continues to improve. White-Helton noted a more mature Taylor this spring, as he seems to have a better understanding of what is asked of him and the wide receiver room.

“Excited about all the wideouts,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “They’ve done a good job. We want to be more explosive. We had some explosive plays in the pass game. We had some in the run game. We had some turnovers. We had some penalties — holding penalties and things on DBs. But as a whole, I thought it was a good scrimmage.”

Freshman wide receiver Craig Dandridge has earned praise this spring. He seems to have filled Taylor’s role as the shinny new freshman in the Georgia wide receiver room.

The Bulldogs brought in Georgia Tech transfer Isiah Canion this offseason, but he’s been held out of practice due to an ankle injury.

Taylor still has the ability to work with the team and showcase the strides he’s made for the Bulldogs this spring.

That’s a positive, even if he is still a mystery in terms of how much he will be able to impact Georgia’s 2026 championship chances.