Is Georgia football still winning the transfer portal?
ATHENS — Georgia’s recent transfer portal dealings are under scrutiny, but critics might want to give things a chance to play out before making any conclusions.
Coach Kirby Smart, after all, has been among the best when it comes to roster management, winning more titles and turning out more NFL draft picks than any program over the past five years.
The No. 10-ranked Bulldogs will take a transfer-rich, much-improved receiving corps to Auburn at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, but there remain concerns about a pass rush that has yet to get a lift from incoming players.
Catching on quickly
On the most positive of portal notes, USC transfer Zachariah Branch has proved to be an electric addition to the receiving corps, proving pivotal in a 44-41 overtime win at Tennessee.
Branch, who also returns kicks and punts, had five catches for 69 yards against the Volunteers, including a 36-yard touchdown catch that put Georgia on the board and then a fourth-down conversion catch to sustain another TD drive after Tennessee had re-extended its lead to 21-7 in the first quarter.
The Bulldogs’ top three receivers to date are all portal additions:
• Colbie Young (Miami): 18 catches, 247 yards, 1 TD
• Zachariah Branch (USC): 18 catches, 234 yards, 2 TD
• London Humphreys (Vanderbilt): 11 catches, 140 yards, 2 TD
Indeed, it was Humphreys reeling in a fourth-and-7 catch from the Tennessee 28-yard line to pull Georgia within 38-36 and then Branch breaking open for the 2-point conversion that ultimately sent the game to overtime.
Part of the reason offensive heroics were needed was the Bulldogs’ inability to pressure the Vols’ quarterback, who was not sacked or hit on any of his 36 drop-backs.
Sad sacks
Georgia’s inability to create havoc and affect the pocket was an issue again in a 24-21 loss to Alabama. UGA managed one sack and four hits on Crimson Tide quarterback Ty Simpson, who was nearly flawless in converting 13 of 19 third-down plays into first downs, nine times with passes completed.
“We made Ty Simpson look like Tom Brady; by the third quarter, his jersey was still white,” said Davin Bellamy, one of five players on UGA’s 2017 team who recorded five sacks or more.
“We just don’t have a guy who can win the one-on-ones. … I don’t see a guy consistently winning on the edge with moves.”
Bellamy explained how Georgia is trying to compensate by playing unconventional fronts attempting to confuse linemen, as opposed to pushing them back into the quarterback or winning individual battles with rush moves.
The inability to affect the quarterback has added pressure to a secondary that’s still searching to solidify itself and led to some uncharacteristic Georgia defensive rankings:
• 108th in the nation with five sacks
• 52nd nationally with four interceptions
• 77th in the country in pass efficiency defense
• 71st in third down-conversion defense
It has amplified the departure of Damon Wilson II, who transferred out of Georgia to Missouri, where he’s the highest-rated edge defender in the SEC, per PFF, and has 22 QB pressures while UGA doesn’t have anyone with more than 12.
The Bulldogs acquired Army transfer Elo Modozie through the portal, but to his point, the former cadet has yet to make a significant impact on his 55 snaps in five games, recording just one quarterback pressure.
“When you bring in a transfer, there’s always an element of, how are they gonna fit in with our people?” UGA defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann said during preseason camp. “When we bring people in, do we think they fit our culture? And he’s done a great job of that.
“The things you saw on tape that made us interested in him coming here, you see those, and I think as he gets more and more reps, he’ll continue to see more and more of what he can do from an edge rusher standpoint and setting.”
Junior Gabe Harris Jr., a top-100 recruit signed by UGA out of IMG Academy, has started all five games and played 171 snaps, has generated five QB pressures, but has no sacks.
Situational awareness
Smart noted UGA didn’t get Tennessee in enough down-and-distance situations to capitalize with subbed-in pressure packages and said film review indicated Georgia did a good job with its pass rush, even if it didn’t deliver the results.
“We executed at a high level, we did not have a lack of execution on third down‚” Smart said. “... When you play in the home environment, you go back and say, ‘OK, is there a lack of execution?’ No, there wasn’t a lack of execution.
“There was really good execution and a high-level quarterback play. Give him a lot of credit, shake his hand, say he did a great job. The ball came out before some of our rush got there.”
Smart said Monday he has been pleased with Georgia’s dealings with transfers.
“We’ve had some success going into the portal and bringing guys in to help our team. I look at (Trevor) Etienne last year and the impact he had, it’s easy to do,” Smart said. “You have to be better than the guys in front of you and play better than the guys in front of you. That’s the truth, whether you’re here or anywhere.”
Flashing back
To Smart’s point, Etienne’s contributions occurred at key times in the middle and at the end of the 2024 regular season in wins over Texas.
Etienne, a transfer tailback from Florida, had 22 touches and accounted for 110 of the team’s 283 yards, along with scoring all three of Georgia’s touchdowns in a 30-15 win at Texas.
In the SEC title game, against the Longhorns again, Etienne had 21 touches and was responsible for 122 of the team’s 277 total yards and scored both of UGA’s touchdowns in a 22-19 overtime win.
It’s not a stretch to say that without Etienne, the Bulldogs would not have finished as SEC champions.
Stetson Bennett is another successful transfer story. Georgia signed Bennett as a transfer following the 2018 season after Justin Fields elected to transfer to Ohio State, leaving UGA in need of a backup quarterback for Jake Fromm.
Bennett had enjoyed great success in his season at Jones Junior College in Mississippi before returning to Georgia as an 11th-hour signee.
Bennett’s well-documented Cinderella story unfolded from there, with him leading the Bulldogs to national championships in 2021 and 2022 and finishing as a Heisman Trophy finalist.
“I was all revved up and ready to go to Lafayette, and then they called me,” Bennett said on the ESPN-Plus show “Eli’s Places” in 2022, recalling the 2019 signing day call from Georgia that led him from then Louisiana-Lafayette coach Billy Napier and back to UGA, where he began his career as a walk-on during the 2017 season. “I still thought I was good enough, and I could feel that in the back of my brain, so I ended up giving it another go.”
Georgia has lost more transfers than it has added, most notably after winning the 2021 championship. The Bulldogs had an NFL-record 15 players drafted off the 2021 title team, and that was compounded by 14 players entering the transfer portal — nine from Georgia’s two-deep depth chart.
The Bulldogs responded with a perfect 15-0 season in 2022, arguably the most impressive reloading effort in college football history.
Modern-day challenges
Revenue sharing and NIL dealings have led to more parity and more challenges retaining and securing talent in today’s college game.
But Smart remains optimistic this Georgia football team ultimately has what it takes, even if the early season has revealed concerns.
“I have a lot of confidence in our defensive unit, team, pass rush, coverage, third-down plan,” Smart said. “I feel good about it. I don’t feel good about the stats, but stats are misleading, guys.
“I’ve been very pleased with the guys we’ve gotten out of (the portal) and what they’ve done to help us.”
About the Author
Mike is in his eighth season covering SEC and Georgia athletics for AJC-DawgNation and has 30 years of collegiate sports multimedia experience, 25 of them in the SEC including beat writer stops at Auburn, Alabama, Tennessee and now Georgia. Mike was named the National FWAA Beat Writer of the Year in January, 2018.
