Georgia's Orson Charles shows off his skills

Georgia’s sleek and ultra-athletic sophomore tight end took advantage of Florida’s defensive fascination with receiver A.J. Green to catch six passes for 108 yards and a touchdown in the Bulldogs’ 34-31 overtime loss to the Gators.

Charles dominated his man-on-man duels with Florida’s linebackers and safeties to record his best game of his career at Georgia and boost this season’s numbers to 16 catches for 247 yards. Those aren’t far from his totals from his freshman season, when he finished with 23 receptions, 374 yards and three touchdowns, but not what he expected, especially with Murray, his former high school teammate, starting at quarterback.

Charles said he and Murray have chemistry, but it hadn't been evident this season until Saturday. Georgia's tight ends found themselves blanketed during Green's four-game suspension to start the season, and Charles didn't catch a pass against both Arkansas and Kentucky, but came back strong against the Gators.

At 6 feet 3 and 240 pounds, Charles is smaller than fellow tight ends Aron White and Bruce Figgins, but is faster.

“Orson does have a great skill-set,” coach Mark Richt said. “Orson is very strong. He’s got good speed. He’s got really tremendous hands, strong hands. He can really snatch a ball like a receiver snatches a ball. Some tight ends, you feel like you better throw it right on his body or he’s not going to be able to get a ball, or he’s not going to be able to snatch a ball out of his body, but he can catch it just about anywhere.

"I’ve seen him dig it off the shoelace. I’ve seen him jump and turn. I’ve seen him do what receivers can do as far as catching the ball.”

Richt and the offensive coaches said they are growing more creative with their hybrid tight end/receiver. They’re beginning to move him away from the offensive tackle, where tight ends traditionally line up, which they hope will create more mismatches and allow Charles to use his speed more to Georgia’s advantage.

“He is definitely blazing,” White said. “He can get out there and move with the best of them. It surprises me sometimes because we watch film and he’ll take off and the receiver will take off, and 10 and 12 yards down the road, they are neck-and-neck. That is the kind of speed and ability that he has, and hopefully he will continue to get better. As he gets bigger, he has maintained his speed, he’s maintained the ability to get in and out of cuts, and that is where his competitive advantage lies.”

Richt hinted early last week that he thought there would be plenty of opportunities for Charles after watching Florida’s defensive tendencies on film and by judging what other defenses had done to try to slow Green.

Charles caught only one pass in the first half, but had three receptions on the Bulldogs’ first drive of the second half that ended with a field goal to cut Florida’s lead to 21-10.

Murray came back to him on the first drive of the fourth quarter, hitting Charles on a 23-yard pass and then connecting with him on a 29-yarder that Charles turned into a touchdown with 9:01 left.

Murray’s two-point conversion tied the score at 24-all.

It was Charles’ final catch of the game.

“I think they gave us a lot of single coverage of one guy playing underneath, and we took advantage of it,” White said. “I couldn’t be prouder of [Orson]. He came out and had a really good game. Hopefully he comes out and continues to have that same success in these upcoming weeks.”