Saturday’s game at Auburn (3:30, CBS) promises to be an emotional one for freshman receiver George Pickens.

If you follow recruiting, then you’ll know that the talented former five-star from Hoover, Alabama, was committed to Auburn for two years, before ultimately deciding to sign with the Bulldogs.

Many Tiger fans didn’t take that too well, and Pickens figures to hear about it once on the field, not just from fans but perhaps Tiger defensive backs as well.

“I realize what you're pointing at and saying with it being emotional, that he was committed to them for a long time,” head coach Kirby Smart said. “But that doesn't take away from what happens when you step inside the lines. I mean when you step inside the lines, you have to go execute, you have to focus on the task at hand. You have to block out all the noise and the outside stuff, and you have to go play. That doesn't change week to week.”

According to senior defensive back J.R. Reed, he and other Bulldog veterans plan to do their part to make sure the freshman is focused to ensure the only thing that gets in his head is catching passes from quarterback Jake Fromm.

“We’ll most definitely have George calmed down and under reigns during the game,” Reed said. “We’ll have it figured out before we get there Saturday. He’ll be okay.”

Offensive lineman Cade Mays says Pickens, who has 29 catches for 389 yards and four touchdowns, brings a lot of energy to the offense.

“He brings a great vertical threat, a lot of charisma, a lot of energy,” Mays said. “He has a great personality. He’s going to celebrate, he’s going to be playing hard, he’s going to be blocking the guy on the edge, getting in his face to let him know he’s here.”

Smart’s just happy he’s a Bulldog.

Although Pickens’ flip surprised many, Smart said it wasn’t a shock that he ultimately decided to come to Georgia.

“George is a kid that we recruited all the way throughout, and came over to a couple of his home games. We had him over in the summer. He's a kid that had been here several times. He played on a 7-on-7 team out of Georgia,” Smart said. “So he got to spend a lot of time with a lot of the kids we recruited. We didn't really know until very late. I forget exactly when it was, but I thought in our home visit, it was very obvious he was thinking about making some changes.”

The fit was natural.

“He saw the ability to throw the ball at our place, and he saw three guys leaving,” Smart said. “Once we had three guys leave our team—two left early in a tight end and a back—it cleared things up for him, so he thought he was going to be able to have an impact and decided to come.”

Although Smart said indications are positive that Trey Hill (ankle) won’t have to miss Saturday’s game after injuring his ankle against Missouri, Cade Mays says he’s going to be prepared to play wherever.

“I’m not sure. I’m sure I’ll find out today,” said Mays, who rolled his ankle on Saturday.

Fortunately, the injury was a minor one, and Mays will play, as will right tackle Isaiah Wilson, who momentarily left the Missouri game after having his wind knocked outof him per our sources.

On Auburn defensive lineman Derrick Brown:

“Derrick is an extremely good athlete. I mean, first of all, when you put athleticism in a person's body that size, I mean, he was a great basketball player. He's a great athlete. You can see that he has ball skills. He gets interceptions. He gets fumbles. He's around the ball, and he's explosive. You got that kind of twitch, and you're as big as he is, it's hard to block. He's been a very disruptive player in this league for a long time.” – Smart

On defending Auburn speedster Anthony Schwartz:

“You try and know where he is. They do a good job of putting him in different locations. They don't leave him in one spot. He's not always the feature guy. Sometimes he's the decoy, and sometimes he's not the decoy. And you don't really ever know which one he's going to be. And he's very explosive. I think awareness is how to handle it, because we've got the players we've got; they've got the players they've got. And nobody in the country is as fast as that guy. So nobody's going to be able to match up with him and just run with him. You gotta have ways to put people over the top of him. You gotta have ways to protect against him. You gotta have ways to get your hands on him. They're going to get him the ball. You gotta go tackle him. Good thing we're not in a track race against him. We gotta play football against him, and he's a really good football player.” – Smart

On how blocking schemes change from week to week: “The match-ups are different every week. The schemes are not extravagant or a lot different. I mean, every offense has a different way to present a play. But they block the play the same way. Gus's offense, they're going to run certain plays, but they're going to have a different presentation to try to window-dress it and make it a different picture, the same way our guys will do. So the match-ups change. The schemes don't change a lot. They've got really physical players up front. They strike blockers well. They play really hard, and they rotate a lot of guys who play in there, and they've proven that by how they've played some really good offenses.” – Smart

What Auburn does offensively:

“Yeah. It's very different. They do a good job of changing things up. You throw in the tempo with it. You throw in some of the most elite speed guys in the country on the perimeter, and what you get a recipe for is potential big plays. They do a good job of attacking your perimeter and your edges. He has the ability to get on the perimeter with every play, but also pound and you grind you. A lot of teams aren't committed to the run. They don't run gap-scheme plays, and they don't run things like that; but these guys have all the runs. They have a little bit of this, a little bit of that, but in every one of them, they've got the ability to get the ball on the perimeter, and they've got players to get it on the perimeter with. So he does a good job changing that up.” - Smart