Georgia
Entering his fifth Georgia football season, wide receiver Arian Smith ‘still hungry’
Arian Smith discussed his leadership role on the team
Arian Smith discussed his leadership role on the team
The University of Georgia
Arian Smith joined the Georgia football team as part of a 2020 recruiting class that featured guys now playing in the NFL in Kelee Ringo, Jalen Carter, Broderick Jones and Darnell Washington.
He’s been around long enough that a couple of his former teammates have left and returned as graduate assistants: Warren Ericson and Prather Hudson.
That didn’t diminish the redshirt senior wide receiver’s enthusiasm when he reported for yet another camp this preseason.
“It definitely hit me,” Smith said. “I’m like, ‘Woo, this is year 5.’ I’m excited regardless of what year it is. I love this sport. I’ll do it 100 times if I could.”
Smith, from Bradley, Fla., was a top 60 recruit himself, a four-star in the nation’s top-ranked recruiting class.
He’s shown a big play ability at Georgia, but battled injuries (ankle, leg, wrist, toe, knee, shin) and inconsistency, which have him wanting more.
“I’m still hungry,” Smith said. “I feel like I didn’t play that much over the years with me being injured and things like that.”
Smith played every game last season and set a career-high in catches with 8 for 153 yards and two touchdowns. He hauled in the longest offensive play for Georgia in the SEC championship game against Alabama, a 51-yard reception.
He’s worked this preseason with the starters at receiver, along with Dominic Lovett and Dillon Bell, for a group that added transfer wider receivers Colbie Young, London Humphreys and Michael Jackson III but lost a top contributor, Rara Thomas, after his dismissal following a domestic violence incident.
“I’m fired up about that group because we got a good group of protectors around them, a good quarterback to get them the ball, and a good group of tight ends,” coach Kirby Smart said.
The 6-foot, 185-pound Smith ran track for Georgia in 2021, finishing second in the NCAA outdoor 4×100 meter relay on a team that included Matthew Boling.
His speed is what teammates gush about.
“He’s fast,” cornerback Daylen Everette said with a smile. “He’s got crazy speed. … Speed kills and that shows with him.”
“There’s not a lot of people with his type of speed,” offensive tackle Warren McClendon said during the 2022 season.
Smith has 20 career catches for 539 yards, with six of the receptions going for touchdowns, including a 76-yard score against Ohio State in the Peach Bowl playoff semifinal win in the 2022 season.
He’s averaging 27 yards per catch as a Bulldog.
“I guarantee you that defense knows when number 11 is on the field because of the speed and the ability to make not just a 20-yard explosive, but he’s a guy on your team that could have a 70-yard explosive at any time,” offensive coordinator Mike Bobo said. “And the thing with Arian, we’re just trying to be consistent every day.”
Smith has a chance to be more consistent by being available for practice and games.
He’s embracing leading the receiving group and is one of a handful of players still left from that 2020 team along with Carson Beck, Dan Jackson, Xavier Truss and Tate Ratledge.
Smart said coaches have spent more time trying to develop Smith.
“He’s definitely a big special teams player for us and that’s been a big role for him,” Bobo said. “But a lot of times, he’s repped so many things in special teams, I get to have him during those special teams periods and really work on techniques of running certain routes. We’re not running full speed all the time, but talking about routes and body control, working on the deep ball, adjusting to the deep ball with our eyes, not necessarily running a full speed post or a full speed go.”
Smith has made his share of big plays, but also let some big plays slip away last season. His three drops, a 27.3 drop percentage according to Pro Football Focus, was highest among Georgia wide receivers.
Smart won’t let that or being sidelined earlier in his career cloud Smith’s value to the team.
“I think Arian has reached his potential,” Smart said. “I mean, he’s a guy that every time we’ve needed him to make big plays, he’s made a bunch of big plays. I don’t think a lot of the health, he can control that. There’s some things you can control, some things you can’t. Most of the injuries he’s had have occurred by circumstance or collisions, so I’m very pleased with where he is. I’m excited of the leadership he showed in that room spring through the summer, and even now he’s much more confident in himself. … I’m excited to see what he can do with it.”
AUSTIN — Yeah, yeah, sure. Georgia has beaten Texas twice already this year. The Bulldogs have done their best to ruin a perfectly good season on the Forty Acres. If not for Georgia, well, Texas wouldn’t even have had to go to work Saturday.
But hear us out: Maybe that’s not such a bad thing.
After all, Texas got another Bevo Walk, one more time for an experienced senior class to soak in the atmosphere of 101,150 at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. It gave the Longhorns one more opportunity to hear Matthew McConaughey get weird on the sound system. Most importantly, it gave the Longhorns another opportunity to get back to what they actually do really well: Run the damn ball.
In a 38-24 win over Clemson in the first round of the College Football Playoff, Texas outmuscled and then outran the overmatched Tigers defense for a season-high 292 yards and four touchdowns. Texas will take its regrouped ground game back to Atlanta, site of the most recent loss to Georgia, to play Arizona State in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl on Jan. 1.
Texas split things up pretty evenly: Quintrevion Wisner and Jaydon Blue each got two. Wisner did most of the hard running early; Blue — who had touchdown runs of 38 and 77 yards, the latter coming after Clemson had closed within one score — did the speed work. End of the night: Blue had 146 yards, Wisner, who didn’t play in the fourth quarter to rest a knee he “banged” late in the first half, had 110.
It was, in a lot of ways, just like coach Steve Sarkisian drew it up after Georgia held the Longhorns to 31 yards 10 days ago in a 22-19 overtime loss in the SEC Championship.
“One of the first bullet points I put up in the room was ‘run to win,’” Sarkisian said of his workweek message to his team. “We needed to run to win this game. And we’re going to need to run the football to advance in these playoffs. That’s what playoff football is about. So, we really challenged them on the run game.”
They responded. Just as they did the first time Georgia beat them back in October and held the running game to 29 yards. Texas followed that up with three 200-plus-yard games on the ground in the five games ‘twixt Georgia meetings.
Against Clemson, it was important to demonstrate that the issue was just a Georgia thing. Clemson was the perfect opponent for Texas to reestablish the ground game. Clemson entered the playoff ranked 73rd in the country — last among the playoff teams — in run defense. There was a weakness to exploit and eventually a message to send to the rest of the remaining playoff field: Sarkisian may have been a quarterback once and may remain a quarterback at heart, but Texas will run to win. Arizona State, consider your Sun Devils warned.
“The run game is really important for us on a lot of levels,” Sarkisian said. “One, our offense is better when we can run it, because then the balance can really kick in for us. It opens up a lot that we do. When we can run it effectively, teams have to prepare for a lot when they’re getting ready to play us.”
On Saturday, this is how effective Texas’ running game was: It literally didn’t matter who was where on the offensive line. Texas got left tackle Kelvin Banks, who missed the SEC championship game, back Saturday, but lost center Jake Majors and right tackle Cameron Williams on successive plays late in the first half. Guard Hayden Conner moved over to center and Cole Hutson moved into the offensive line, which was jumbled to say the least. Worked good enough to spring Blue on a 77-yard TD run through the right side three plays after Clemson had cut a onetime 28-10 lead to 31-24. On both of Blue’s long touchdown runs, Ewers had checked off a pass play after reading the Clemson defensive set.
It was also good vindication for Blue, who dealt with issues holding on to the ball earlier this season, and had fallen into more of a secondary role to Wisner.
“The guys up front, those guys paved the way for me,” Blue said. “We made a big emphasis that we’re going to have to run the ball in order to win this game.”
For that, Texas can somehow thank Georgia for the reminder.
So far, so good: See photos from Texas’ first-round College Football Playoff win over Clemson in Austin
Find more Texas coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
Indiana’s Curt Cignetti on team’s first-round loss to Notre Dame
Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti discusses the pride he has in his team’s season despite a first-round exit to Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff.
Sports Pulse
The first round of the College Football Playoff lived up to expectations, as the Notre Dame Fighting Irish claimed a quarterfinal spot after defeating the Indiana Hoosiers in snowy South Bend, Indiana. The Fighting Irish will face the No. 2 seeded Georgia Bulldogs in the Allstate Sugar Bowl.
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish secured their first playoff victory in the new era of the College Football Playoff with a 27-17 win over Indiana. Quarterback Riley Leonard delivered a stellar performance against the Hoosiers, completing 71.9% of his passes for 201 yards, one touchdown, and one interception while also scoring a touchdown on the ground. On defense, safety Xavier Watts was the standout player, recording 10 tackles and an interception to help the Fighting Irish clinch the victory.
The Bulldogs, who received a bye, are gearing up for a run at the College Football Playoff without their starting quarterback, Carson Beck. He will likely be sidelined due to an elbow injury on his throwing arm, which he sustained during the final play of the first half in the SEC Championship game against Texas. This injury forced him to leave the game early. Sophomore Gunner Stockton stepped in and successfully led the Bulldogs to a 22-19 victory. Gunner has a completion rate of 78.1% and has thrown for 206 yards in the three games he played this season. He is expected to lead the offense moving forward.
Here is everything to know ahead of kickoff at the All-State Sugar Bowl.
Allstate Sugar Bowl odds, lines: Notre Dame vs. Georgia
The Georgia Bulldogs are favorites to defeat the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, according to the BetMGM college football odds.
Odds as of afternoon on Saturday, Dec. 21.
- Spread: Georgia (-1.5)
- Moneylines: Georgia (-120); Notre Dame (+102)
- Over/under: 44.5
How to watch Notre Dame vs. Georgia in the Allstate Sugar Bowl
- Date: Wednesday, Jan. 1
- Time: 8:45 p.m. ET
- TV: ESPN
- Stream: Fubo
- Where: Caesars Superdome (New Orleans, LA)
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ATLANTA, Ga. (WALB) – All Georgia Disaster Recovery Centers will be closed for the holidays.
For the upcoming Christmas holiday, the centers will be closed from Tuesday, Dec. 24, until Thursday, Dec. 26.
The centers will be closed from Tuesday, Dec. 31, until Thursday, Jan. 2, for the New Year holiday.
All centers are also closed on Sundays.
While the centers are closed, you can call the FEMA helpline at (800) 621-3362, or apply or check your application on https://www.disasterassistance.gov/. The helpline will be closed on Dec. 25 and Jan. 1.
Survivors may visit any one of the FEMA Disaster Recovery Centers throughout the state to apply for assistance. Click here to find a center near you.
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