Edwards on Arik Gilbert: "He's in a good space"
Terrence Edwards watched with tremendous pride as he followed Arik Gilbert’s every move on the football field during Saturday’s G-Day game.
Georgia fans were excited about the results: three catches for 49 yards and two touchdowns contributing to the Black Team’s 26-23 win.
However, that was not where the focus was for Edwards, Georgia’s all-time leading receiver, who has worked at his wide receivers academy with Gilbert since the player's ninth-grade year at Marietta High.
His interest was on more of a personal level.
“He’s in a place where he’s happy. We saw that big smile,” said Edwards. “I was talking to his mom this past weekend. It’s been about a year now since he’s did anything like this—a year and a half—so for him to come back and dominate like that was great to see, even though he’s still got a lot of room to grow.”
By now, Gilbert’s story is familiar to Bulldogs fans.
The former five-star transferred from LSU to Georgia, but after briefly practicing with the team during the fall, disappeared and did not play at all during 2021 campaign. Many wondered if he ever would.
It was not until January that Gilbert returned.
Initially some looked askance at Gilbert, questioning his motives for leaving in the first place and doubting whether or not he could truly have the type of impact many predicted he would when he came out of high school as the nation’s top-ranked tight end.
Truth was, Edwards said Gilbert was going through a dark, deeply personal time in his life. There were a lot of things he needed to get right.
So, seeing him have success, seeing him smile Saturday, was a big deal for Edwards, who thanked Georgia fans on behalf of the family for their continued prayers.
Edwards was asked to recall the last time he saw Gilbert appear so happy.
“It’s been a while. We’re all excited. There were personal reasons that he had to take care of. If anyone knows Arik, he doesn’t talk very much, but he smiles a lot. He’s a happy kid,” Edwards said. “You read stuff about him, and some people call him a drama queen. Especially during the recruiting process, people said all kind of things about him.”
Edwards explained that’s never been the case.
“I wanted to say stuff. He’s a kid who loses his cell phone. I’m like, what kid loses his cell phone and really doesn't care about it? He doesn’t really care much about the limelight; he’s just a happy-go-lucky kid. That’s what I’m seeing right now," Edwards said. ""I think Georgia and Coach (Kirby) Smart, that staff, really did a great job of continuing to just help the kid and build up the kid and didn’t run away from his issues he was dealing with. They stood beside him, and that’s what he needed.”
Although he offered no specifics, Edwards acknowledged that Gilbert went through some dark times in his life during the month he was away.
No returned phone calls and no returned texts became the norm.
But Edwards persisted. He was not about to leave Gilbert alone.
Daily texts, Bible verses, and other words of encouragement were went out daily.
“When he finally got back, he told me ‘Coach, you just don’t know—I got all your messages and that got me through a lot of dark times. I really appreciate that,’” Edwards said. “Just continually texting, sending him Bible verses during what he had going on, he just really appreciated it. It didn’t cost me a dime to just send the kid a note to say I’m thinking about him. He knows that win, lose, football, no football, just life, that Coach Edwards will always be by his side.”
The same can be said for Smart and his staff at Georgia.
It would have been easy for the Bulldogs to have turned a blind eye to Gilbert’s personal issues. Instead, they offered support, assistance, and stood by him, not just as a player and potential contributor to the team, but as a person in need of help.
“He’s done the work we’ve asked of him. He’s doing well academically,” Smart said of Gilbert. “Arik’s a guy that’s carried a lot of that burden with him in terms of expectations. Our expectation of Arik is to be the best person he can be, first and foremost, and hopefully be the best player he can be. He’s had a really good offseason.”
His performance during G-Day was a result of the work he has and continues to put in.
“It was what I’ve always seen, a guy who has a unique ability to just catch a football. He’s big, strong, so the football part, just catching it was my least worry,” Edwards said. “It’s been documented about him needing to get his weight down; I think he’s got just a couple more pounds to go. But he still looked fantastic. He looked in fantastic shape.”
Edwards laughed aloud when he considered the damage Gilbert, Brock Bowers, Darnell Washington, and Oscar Delp might do and the trouble the foursome could give opposing defensive coordinators in the fall.
“I was joking the other day we could go four wide, 10 personnel, but it’s basically 14 with four tight ends and a running back,” said Edwards, who believes Gilbert weighs 265, but with a goal of being around 250 once fall camp begins.
Quarterback Stetson Bennett said he’s been impressed.
“First of all, he’s just a freak. Second, he knows football. He knows space. Not just the two touchdown passes, but the one in the two-minute drill, right before we kicked the field goal to win the game,” Bennett said. “He made some great catches. I’m kind of getting that trust with him and getting to know where he's going to be on the field.”
The main thing for Edwards is that Gilbert is happy. Considering where he was in his life just a few short months ago, that should be reason to celebrate, even if Gilbert never catches a pass in his career.
Of course, nobody is expecting that.
“People can see that this guy can make plays, although he’s got a long way to go,” Edwards said. “I told him, ‘Man, this isn’t a slight, but I saw you try to block Jalen Carter, and it didn’t go very well.’ Stuff like that I’ll talk to him about, just to make fun a little bit, keep him smiling and not be so serious all the time. I knew he was going to get back on the field. He’s in a good space right now.”