Georgia wideout Mekhi Mews had a productive season-opener against UT-Martin on Saturday.
The 5-foot-8 walk-on had a career game with three receptions for 75 yards and a receiving score.
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said he holds walk-ons in the “highest regard."
“It's a credit to Mews. He came in here and wanted an opportunity to compete, and earned it,” Smart said. “We saw him in high school, and he was very high on our preferred walk-on list. He earned it.”
Mews played at Central Gwinnett High School, which is about 45 minutes from Athens. He was a multi-sport athlete but excelled on the gridiron. He earned awards as Region 8-AAAAAA Player of the Year and Gwinnett County Wide Receiver of the Year during his senior season for his team in 2020.
As a senior, the diminutive wide receiver hauled in a team-high 76 passes for 1,065 receiving yards and eight touchdowns. Mews accomplished all of this as he carried a struggling Black Nights squad. However, he wasn’t hearing from a lot of colleges.
"Out of high school, I wasn’t highly recruited,” Mews said on Monday to reporters. “I had a couple of Division II and Division III offers, but I felt like when Georgia offered me to be a PWO [preferred walk-on], it was perfect. It was forty-five minutes from home, right by home. I just wanted to make the most of it once I got here. I put my head down every day and went to work.”
Mews’ name became familiar to Georgia fans after his G-Day performance.
Mews hauled in a team-high four passes for 90 yards and a receiving touchdown for the Black Team. He also had a 98-yard punt return for a score, although it was called back due to a holding penalty.
Mews’ performance during the G-Day scrimmage in April wasn’t anything new to Smart or his teammates.
"Mews does that every day. He’s a guy that last year kept getting close to being able to play and help us,” Smart said at G-Day. “He was on the scout team, so I've seen him make plays. We put him in as the returner. Very sure-handed and makes good decisions. You saw today he's got some return ability. Exciting, and you get what you get from Mews every day. The guy is a worker. I thought he made some plays today with his feet and made some tough catches.”
Georgia quarterback Brock Vandagriff said at G-Day that Mews impressed his teammates all of spring camp.
“So, today was the first time y’all got to see Mews get after it, but we’ve been watching that for 15 practices,” Vandagriff said after the scrimmage. “That kid is going to go out there and give it all he’s got. He has a chip on his shoulder and he’s always wanting to do well. He’s a baller, for sure.”
Mews may be a bit undersized as a wideout in the SEC, but it doesn’t stop him from playing his best.
He stated on Monday that he doesn’t look at his size as a disadvantage.
“I look at it as an advantage for me. I just play to my advantage and try to give my best effort,” Mews said. “If I give it my all, then I feel like I can do anything.”
Mews also played baseball at Central Gwinnett during his senior season for head coach Eli Autry, who also coached him on the football field. He’s always been impressed with Mews as an athlete.
“He was a lot of fun to coach. I can tell you that,” Autry told UGASports.com. “When in doubt, you get the ball in his hands. He’s going to make something happen. There’s a reason why he was named Region Player of the Year as a senior. You’ve got to think about the region we were in. We were in there with schools like Buford and Brookwood. For them to say that he is the most dynamic player on the field in that region, should tell you something. He was an absolute game-changer.”
