What Georgia will look like in 2021 Part 7: Tight end
Tight end is one of those areas on the Georgia football team where coaches and fans have different expectations of what the position should be.
Fans want to see tight ends play an integral role catching the football, making big plays, and helping the offense put the ball into the end zone.
Coaches want that, too, although blocking for the run game sometimes seems like the preferred method of operation.
Last year, Bulldog tight ends combined to catch 24 passes for 381 yards two touchdowns after catching 23 passes for 292 yards in 2019.
Although last season represented a modest increase, one can bet offensive coordinator Todd Monken has his designs set on his tight ends playing an even larger role from a pass-catching standpoint come fall.
We saw enough of the 6-foot-7, 260-pound Darnell Washington to know that the more he learns the system, and the more confidence quarterback JT Daniels has in him, the greater a weapon the sophomore can become.
Washington is already an impressive inline blocker, but there are not many defensive backs eager to tackle the big guy once he gets in the open field.
That was certainly true in Georgia’s Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl win over Cincinnati, when he caught three passes for 61 yards. That included a memorable 38-yard pickup, when Washington ran over and through several would-be tacklers before being dragged down.
Joining Washington atop the tight end depth chart will be junior John FitzPatrick, who led all of Georgia’s tight ends in catches, with 10 for 95 yards.
Brett Seither is entering his third year with the program. He can split out wide and will receive some looks, with Ryland Goede needing to get healthy before he can be counted on in playing a larger role.
That will leave freshman Brock Bowers, who as an early enrollee, will have a chance to come in and figure into the mix his first season. Bowers has been turning heads in his short time in Athens.