In a late recruiting cycle flip of a one-time verbal commit to Auburn, Kirby Smart and UGA nabbed the talented wideout George Pickens from Hoover, Ala., prior to the 2019 football season. As a high school senior at fabled Hoover High, Pickens totaled 69 receptions for 1,368 yards and 16 touchdowns. He played in the Under Armour All-American Game.
By last season’s end, he was the Sugar Bowl MVP and widely considered “the future” at Georgia. With the early NFL departure of quarterback Jake Fromm – replaced by Wake Forest grad transfer Jamie Newman – and replacement of conservative play caller James Coley with Air Raid specialist Todd Monken, the future is now for a modernized Georgia passing offense.
All was not sugar for Pickens as a true freshman at UGA, as early on he struggled with misalignments and attempting one-handed highlight catches which should have been routinely secured with both hands. In the second half of the regular season finale at Georgia Tech, Pickens fought a Yellow Jacket and was subsequently suspended for the first half of the SEC championship game, the biggest football contest of the year. He was missed.
While Georgia football would not have won the Notre Dame game in Athens or the Georgia-Florida game in Jacksonville without the heroics of rangy Miami grad transfer Lawrence Cager, Cager’s inability to stay healthy ended up giving Pickens more real chances as a true freshman.
The net result of that experience could be of great benefit.
Pickens stat line of 49 receptions, 727 yards, 8 touchdowns should go way up, with more maturity and a year under his belt. Doing most of his damage in the first half, Pickens caught a remarkable 12 passes for 175 yards and a touchdown in New Orleans.
Look for him to be UGA’s second ever thousand-yard receiver in 2020.