Or the life and times of D-Rob. The relative successes and limitations of Demetris Robertson last football season could be viewed as allegory for the Georgia passing offense as a whole. While he had some bright spots, he didn’t put up big enough numbers to be considered a national championship caliber starting wideout.
Back in March of 2019, head coach Kirby Smart was quoted as saying, “I think D-Rob’s stepped up.” But as the Georgia passing offense struggled, Robertson caught just 30 balls for 333 yards, with three touchdowns. He led the team with 3 catches in the Georgia-Auburn slugfest win on the plains.
The Savannah native signed with Cal out of high school and earned 2016 FWAA Freshman All-American status by catching 50 passes for 767 yards, with seven touchdowns. In 2017, Robertson caught seven passes for 70 yards before being injured and accepting a medical redshirt. He decided to transfer to his home state and UGA, where he could play immediately.
Log jammed in the deep lineup behind Jeremiah Holloman, Mecole Hardman, Riley Ridley and when-healthy Terry Godwin, Robertson was only thrown to twice with no competitions in 2018. He ran for 109 yards on four rushes, including a 72-yard score.
The would-be biggest play of the UGA football season was robbed from him in 2019. Desperate for a late score, Jake Fromm found Roberston in the end zone in the Georgia-Carolina game, as the Sanford Stadium crowd erupted. In Athens myself at the time, I had chills as I recalled the famous Larry Munson line aloud, “The stadium is worse than bonkers.”
With some questionable at best game management head coaching decisions afterward and a rare miss by kicker Rodrigo Blankenship, the Bulldogs somehow found a way to lose to the downtrodden Gamecocks in double overtime. At that point, it was the biggest upset across the national college football landscape and may have ultimately cost UGA an at-large entry into the College Football Playoff, if all other things were equal. Georgia finished the final CFP rankings in slot #5 for a second consecutive season.
D-Rob has struggled with drops at times but is a smart wideout, generally aligning correctly and running the right routes, which his wide receiving core teammates did not do enough last season. Georgia left way too many points on the field in 2019, relying so heavily on D’Andre Swift’s running and the height and strong positioning play of grad transfer wideout Lawrence Cager. When those players were not healthy, outgoing offensive coordinator James Coley and quarterback Jake Fromm had no consistent answers.
Could 2020 be a breakout year for the (6-0, 190) speedy fifth-year senior, who once showed so much promise as a true frosh in the Golden State? Can new UGA coordinator Todd Monken get more guys open in space?