UGA Football: New ‘Playmakers’ Shine In Rout Of Clemson

ATLANTA — Georgia’s versatile and explosive wide receiver Dillon Bell summed things up well Saturday afternoon, following the top-ranked Bulldogs’ 34-3 throttling of No. 14 Clemson in the Aflac Kickoff Game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Bell, who had four receptions for 32 yards and a 27-yard rush, said there are “a lot of playmakers on our roster.” And the Bulldogs used a lot of them effectively in the second half to blow open what was a 6-0 game at halftime. Some are familiar names, like quarterback Carson Beck and safety Malaki Starks, while others, such as tailback Nate Frazier and receiver London Humphreys, made big plays in their first games in the red and black.

Yes, the Bulldogs have lost a lot of offensive and defensive playmakers to the NFL over the past couple of seasons — standouts like Brock Bowers, Ladd McConkey, Kamari Lassiter and Javon Bullard — but as we see year after year, that just creates opportunities for new guys to emerge.

Beck and Starks were preseason All-Americans and first-team All-SEC picks for a reason, and their strong play against the Tigers was a continuation of what they did in 2023. Beck wound up completing 23 of 33 passes for 278 yards and two touchdowns, and Starks had two tackles and made a leaping grab for an interception that helped put the game away in the fourth quarter.

For Frazier, a 5-foot-10 and 210-pound freshman, Saturday’s action was the first of his Georgia career. And with the Bulldogs playing without Trevor Etienne, someone needed to make things happen in the backfield. Frazier did just that, rushing 11 times for 83 yards and a 1-yard touchdown — highlighted by a 42-yard cutback run from left to right across the field — and turning a short reception into a 24-yard gain.

Georgia coach Kirby Smart said Frazier was “awesome,” and then explained that he’s had to get on the talented tailback often since he joined the team this summer.

“The players can tell you that I get on him all the time because he’s out of control. He is just foot to fire, moving, going at the speed of light, doesn’t know he might run into a brick wall, cutting back,” Smart said.

It’s the cutbacks, when Frazier is vulnerable to getting blindsided or stripped by a chasing defender, that had Smart concerned. But Frazier made him a believer.

“I might have actually said some things I can’t say in here, but he cut back and went all the way across the field for about 50, and (I) told him it’s OK now, he can do that,” Smart said. “He’s a great kid. He got an opportunity (and) he seized that moment.”

A year ago, as a freshman at Vanderbilt, the 6-2 and 200-pound Humphreys caught a 49-yard touchdown pass against the Bulldogs in Georgia’s 37-20 win in Nashville. On Saturday, in his Bulldog debut after transferring, Humphreys had a 23-yard reception in the third quarter, followed by a 40-yard touchdown catch in the fourth.

“I don’t remember (the touchdown) much, it just kind of happened. All I know is, I was in the end zone and 10 of my brothers were right there,” said Humphreys, who made the SEC All-Freshman team in 2023 after producing 439 receiving yards and four touchdowns with the Commodores.

Another transfer, 6-3 receiver Colbie Young, who caught 79 passes over two seasons at Miami, hauled in two passes for 15 yards in his Bulldog debut. Most notably, he pulled in a seven-yarder for a touchdown to cap the first drive of the second half and push Georgia’s lead to 13-0.

When it comes to the players on the field, college football has never been older. According to a National Football Foundation news release this week, a record 3,534 graduates are playing this fall.

In Saturday’s game, Georgia and Clemson had a combined 27 college graduates on their rosters: nine for the Bulldogs, 18 for the Tigers. Georgia’s grads included pivotal players like Beck, safety Dan Jackson, offensive lineman Xavier Truss and receiver Arian Smith.

While Smith is in his fifth season with the Bulldogs, he’s not yet been a top target in the passing attack due to a variety of injuries and some inconsistency.  He came in never having caught more than three passes in a game — he had three for 129 yards against Ohio State in the 2022 College Football Playoff — and he had 20 career catches coming into Saturday’s opener. Against Clemson, he led Georgia with five catches for 56 yards. He also had a seven-yard run.

“I think the wide receiver room has so much depth,” Beck said. “Everyone wants to say guys left and there’s no talent there, but there’s so much talent — and we have so much confidence in every single guy that goes out there.”

And Saturday proved exactly why.

Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men’s Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He’s also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.