Georgia head coach Kirby Smart sees the fact wide receiver Dominic Lovett will be lining up his former team Missouri as a non-story. Others would disagree.
Nevertheless, it’s at least an interesting sidebar to Saturday’s huge contest in Sanford Stadium (3:30 p.m., CBS) between the top-ranked Bulldogs (8-0, 5-0) and the No. 14 Tigers (7-1, 3-1).
"I think he’s fired up for every game. Dom’s a great kid. He’s a quality young man and he works really hard. He’s busted his butt since he’s been here, he’s very humble, and bought into what we’ve asked him to do and has been very selfless,” Smart said. “He’s trying to improve his game as a blocker, it’s one of the things he had to work on, but I’m not overly concerned about that. As much as a story for you guys, it’s not for him as it is the next opponent."
Whether or not that’s true, we’ll have to take Smart’s word for it.
Lovett, who has spoken to the media several times this season, was not being made available this week to talk about the game.
While that decision was likely made to not burden the receiver with continuous questions, teammates acknowledge this game likely means a little bit more.
“I’m sure he wants to play well against his old team, but ultimately, I do know Dom, and I do know winning the game is more important to him than anything,” center Sedrick Van Pran said. “If he plays the game, gets zero receptions, zero targets, whatever, but we win the game, I know 6 will be happy.”
There’s no question Lovett will have the opportunity to play a big role.
With 35 catches for 365 yards, Lovett is Georgia’s second-leading receiver behind tight end Brock Bowers, who remains out after undergoing tightrope surgery.
His two best games have been Georgia’s most recent contests. Against Vanderbilt, Lovett caught nine passes for 72 yards and a touchdown, before grabbing four passes for 83 yards last week against Florida.
Lovett talked about his role during an interview with reporters earlier this season.
“I’m just another weapon that’s been added to a team that’s already got plenty of weapons,” Lovett said last August. “I don’t really focus on individual goals. It’s a team sport. Without those other 10 guys on the field, I couldn’t do what I do, and without the defense, we couldn’t do what the offense is doing and vice versa. I just want to take it game by game, practice by practice, keep pushing and keep striving.”
Van Pran can vouch for that.
Lovett’s willingness to learn and do everything he can to fit in with his new team has stood out since the first day he arrived on campus back in January.
“The thing I love the most about Dom is he’s someone who wants to soak up everything he can,” Van Pran said. “He was quiet when he first got here. He wasn’t the first one to speak in conversations, he wasn’t the first one to say something, to be loud. He wanted to learn, listen, and just observe. He wanted to learn the way we’ve been doing things in previous years and be a part of it.”
Van Pran said Lovett has done exactly that.
“I think he’s done a tremendous job of acclimating himself without changing himself to what the Georgia standard is, to what Georgia wants to be and I think that’s an amazing thing,” Van Pran said. “I love that about him because he wants to learn, he wants to do it right, and he wants to win. That’s something you can’t coach, you can’t instill it in somebody. It has to be natural.”
