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O’Gara: Time for Georgia transfer WRs Dominic Lovett and RaRa Thomas to step up

Connor O'Gara

By Connor O'Gara

Published:

Kirby Smart isn’t a big portal guy.

That’s fine. The Georgia coach recruits high school talent as well as anyone in the sport, and when you’re the winner of consecutive national championships with 15 NFL Draft selections in between those teams, your way is gospel.

Smart doesn’t preach a completely anti-portal message — he’s not Dabo Swinney — but as recently as last month, he addressed why it hasn’t been a mainstay of UGA’s roster building like it has with other teams in the sport.

“They’re all taking kids out of the portal and I think that’s the right of a coach and you can look and point to some teams that have done an incredible job and have caught a program up very fast versus somewhere you catch a year that you don’t get enough out of the portal and you got nothing developing and you end up in a bad situation,” he told On3. “I don’t know because I’m not in the portal industry as much. I mean, we’re gonna always look and try to take a great player, but I’m not gonna live and die by it.

“I want to develop players and bring them in from freshmen all the way up.”

That makes sense. And while guys like Tykee Smith, Derion Kendrick and JT Daniels all carved out significant roles as former portal guys, Smart’s stance on being extremely selective with transfers is understandable.

But in the wake of the Brock Bowers injury, something tells me that Smart is about to appreciate the portal as much as he ever has. That is, assuming Dominic Lovett and RaRa Thomas can rise to the occasion.

Somewhat quietly last December, Smart added the leading receiver from a pair of SEC teams. Lovett (Mizzou) and Thomas (Mississippi State) didn’t figure to step into a go-to role because of the aforementioned Bowers, as well as veteran Ladd McConkey. But providing depth instead of relying on some other oft-injured Georgia receivers seemed like a wise move, and those additions looked even more crucial once Playoff hero AD Mitchell transferred to Texas the following month.

So far, it’s been a mixed bag for Lovett and Thomas. Neither has hit 80 receiving yards in a game this season, though the biggest individual performance from either player came from Lovett, who had 9 catches for 72 yards and a touchdown in the Vandy game when Bowers went down. That score was his first in a Georgia uniform, and it came off an excellent play design from Mike Bobo:

One would assume that there’ll be a lot more scheme built around the skill set of Lovett in the slot, especially if tight end Oscar Delp doesn’t play in the slot quite as often as Bowers.

The same could be said of Thomas, who had his breakout game a week earlier in the blowout win against Kentucky. His first and only score of the season also came on a play in which he was Carson Beck’s first read in the red zone:

Knowing how experienced both players are, it’s a bit of a surprise to see that they haven’t been featured in the red zone more. Of course, Bowers’ red-zone presence might have something to do with that. There are a ton of mouths to feed, and at a place with just 1 season with a 1,000-yard receiver in program history, it’s not a shock that the touchdowns haven’t come in bunches for the newest UGA receivers.

Their production has been extremely similar through 7 games:

2023 Lovett Thomas
Catches 31 16
Receiving yards 282 256
Receiving TDs 1 1
20-yard catches 3 3
Snaps 243 259

On the surface, that’s what complementary production looks like. Bowers and Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint had more receiving yards than Lovett. Most of that was without McConkey, who returned from a back injury against Auburn and just got back to a normal snap count against Vandy.

But while Thomas and Lovett are well off repeating their 2022 numbers at their previous SEC schools, it’s not as if there’s a lack of trust in them. Lovett, who primarily lines up in the slot, ranks 2nd on the team behind Bowers in catches per game (4.4) and Thomas saw an increase in snaps at one of the outside receiver spots that went to Arian Smith at the start of the season.

Plus, look at the reliance on them in 3rd down situations:

I’d imagine that Beck is going to have to rely on his veterans more during this daunting stretch without Bowers. All 4 of UGA’s upcoming opponents rank in the top half of FBS in scoring defense, and 3 of the next 4 are in the top half of FBS in yards/play allowed. The lone team in the bottom half of that is Florida, which still ranks No. 21 in FBS against the pass.

Last year, the Gators held Lovett to just 39 receiving yards, which was one of his quietest games of the season. Granted, that was against a different Florida defense and Lovett had much different surroundings. A repeat of that on Saturday would be a frustrating development, though it’s hard to say that’d be a deal breaker for a team riding a 24-game winning streak into Jacksonville.

UGA also has a streak of 35 consecutive wins when it scores 27 points. When was the last time that the Dawgs hit that mark and lost? The 2020 Florida game, AKA Georgia’s last regular-season loss. Getting through a third consecutive regular season without a loss would be no small feat, especially if Bowers doesn’t return until the postseason.

Lovett and Thomas will have a big say in that. If they emerge down the stretch, perhaps Smart will have something new to say about the portal.

Georgia doesn’t have to live and die by it, but it can sure as heck help those national championship hopes survive.

Connor O'Gara

Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.

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