ATLANTA – When Kirby Smart went after Colbie Young and London Humphreys in the transfer portal, he did so for two reasons.
One, he felt they would augment his wide receiver room.
Two, he felt they’d be able to make plays.
During Saturday’s 34-3 rout of Clemson, both newcomers played big roles, scoring their first touchdowns as Bulldogs.
Young’s touchdown came on a 7-yard fade from Carson Beck to cap the first drive of the second half, while Humphreys scored Georgia’s next-to-last touchdown when he took a short pass and out-ran the would-be tackler to the end zone for a 27-3 lead.
“I really don’t even remember what happened,” Humphreys said. “I just remember turning around and all of my brothers were there to congratulate me.”
“London, I thought, really stepped up,” Smart of Humphreys, who also had a big catch on third down. “I thought the play of the game was the play he caught over the middle. Dillon (Bell) had gone down with some cramping, and he had to step up and play.”
The conversion, which came in the third quarter when Georgia was up 13-3, was key to the Bulldogs putting the game away.
“They played a similar coverage on a couple of third downs in the game, so Coach (Mike) Bobo went to a play that he’s on an in-breaking route,” Beck said. “He did a great job of breaking the corner off, coming back negative underneath the linebacker, which is first and foremost. I have to have a lot of trust in him that he’s going to run the route the right way, that he's going to win so I can let it go on time.”
That’s just what he did.
Humphreys’ two catches resulted in 60 yards worth of gains, while Young caught two for 15.
“London is a great kid,” Smart said. “Nothing really affects him. It didn’t surprise me that the moment was not too big for him because he’s played in a lot of these SEC matchups.”
Look for more from both in the future.
“I think the wide receiver room has so much depth, and I’ve been saying that,” Beck said. “People want to say guys left, and there’s no talent in there, but we’ve got a lot of talent. We have so much confidence in every single guy that goes out there and steps out there on that field.”
