Coming into this season, we all knew Georgia’s tight end room was stacked.
Tennessee State was outmatched, for sure, but it still didn’t take long for the Bulldogs’ tight end group to show its depth and potential.
The tight ends jump-started things in the season opener, combining for six receptions, 100 yards and three touchdowns (through the first four games of last season, Georgia’s tight ends had a total of seven receptions, 105 yards and a single touchdown).
As Georgia moves forward to face Western Kentucky this Saturday, that room should get fans excited:
Elyiss Williams scored a touchdown on his first touch of the season. Jaden Reddell did the same. The latter also had a touchdown wiped away, which was even more impressive than either of the touchdowns that counted.
“Our tight end room’s amazing,” Georgia safety KJ Bolden said. “The tight end room is crazy. Like, Coach (Todd) Hartley does a great job with them guys, and then them guys, they worked their tail off. That’s probably one of the hardest-working groups we’ve got in the program right there because the way them guys just push each other, it’s crazy.”
It’s no surprise that Georgia’s tight end room is the talk of the offense after the way it performed.
It’s a strong start for a group that has a claim as the most talented position room in all of college football.
Senior Lawson Luckie, the leader in the room, didn’t even record a catch in the season opener. That was on coach Kirby Smart’s mind after the game.
Along with making sure to spread the wealth across the position.
“I thought we could have got Lawson more involved,” Smart said Saturday. “I mean, he’s had a good camp. But I mean, some of that tight end room is just, they have to learn to share. And they have so much respect for each other. They’re such good weapons that it can’t be about individuals in that room. It has to be about the production of a unit, and a unit can grow that.”
Luckie and Ethan Barbour got the start for Georgia against Tennessee State.
Yet from a production standpoint, they had just one reception. Barbour should’ve ended up having a better day. A possible touchdown didn’t come to be after Ryan Puglisi’s pass hit a Tennessee State defender in the head, instead of an open Barbour.
Georgia tight end Ethan Barbour celebrates a first down catch against Tennessee State at Sanford Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026, in Athens. (Jason Getz/AJC)
Georgia tight end Jaden Reddell (front) pushes past Tennessee State linebacker Matthew Wilson for a touchdown at Sanford Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026, in Athens. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)
Smart challenges Georgia defense before Western Kentucky game
Georgia had a nearly flawless showing in its season-opening win over Tennessee State.
But there was one area Smart wants to see improvement.
“We got to create some turnovers on defense. We were not able to do that,” Smart said in a radio appearance on 680 The Fan on Wednesday. “We dropped a pick. We got a fumble out, but it was late. The whistle had blown. If we’re going to be a good football team. We got to turn people over.”
For as well as the Georgia defense played, it did not force a turnover. Georgia held Tennessee State to just 109 total yards of offense and finished with three sacks.
The Bulldogs didn’t give up a first down until Tennessee State’s sixth drive of the game. By that point, Georgia was already up 35-0.
Georgia’s pass rush had been another area of concern coming into the season.
The Bulldogs finished the game with three sacks, but Smart wasn’t ready to say that issue was totally resolved.
“Hard to evaluate it based on those guys they were going against — no disrespect to them,” Smart said. “But there was not a long time for the quarterback to be able to throw, and the quarterback got it out really quick as well.”
Georgia takes on a Western Kentucky team that got rocked by Nevada to open the season, 49-14.
But the Hilltoppers have seen SEC teams before, having played LSU a season ago. Brian Kelly had been fired by that point in the season, but Western Kentucky played the Tigers to a 13-10 loss.
Smart mentioned earlier this week that he has a healthy amount of respect for Western Kentucky and their coach, Tyson Helton.
“I know Tyson Helton, have a lot of respect for him as a coach and the program, they’ve done a tremendous job with their program over years — a lot of years,” Smart said. “And they’ve got several members from our staff that are working up there and got close connections. Their coaches come down and work our camps in the summer, and they’ve got a lot of Georgia kids on their program.”
Georgia left a strong first impression with most of its fans in beating Tennessee State 63-3 on Saturday, but not all the AP Top 25 voters were as impressed.
The Bulldogs moved up a spot from No. 3 to No. 2 in the AP Top 25 rankings, but curiously enough, Georgia is the only team among the top eight not to have a first-place vote.
Georgia was ranked No. 2 on 23 of the 69 pollsters’ ballots — up from having seven that voted them No. 2 in the preseason poll.
But the Bulldogs were also voted No. 9 on three ballots — this, after their lowest vote on the preseason ballot was No. 8, according to two voters.
Georgia will wear an all-white uniform this Saturday for the first time in school history.
What is Smart’s record when the Bulldogs wear alternative uniforms?
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5-star commits headline Georgia football visitors list for WKU
Jaxon Dollar, the No. 2 tight end in the 2027 class, is going to be in Athens on Saturday for the “Whiteout” against Western Kentucky. He’s also expecting to make a return trip for the Oklahoma game later this month.
That’s the latest news in a slew of RSVPs for elite recruits for this weekend. The headliners include:
10 current UGA commits and counting
5-star junior QB commit Jayden Wade
The No. 1 junior prospect in Georgia (5-star McEachern safety Casey Barner)
The nation’s No. 5 junior WR (Cartersville 5-star Madoxx Davis)
The No. 4 junior CB in America (Carrollton 5-star Tyler Boyd)
The nation’s No. 1 sophomore OT prospect for Rivals (Milton’s Landon Ghea)
The nation’s No. 1 sophomore DL prospect for Rivals (Taylor County’s ZayQuan Dozier)
It is worth taking into consideration how Georgia has been able to draw a strong group of visitors given the fact that a pair of marquee national games — Ohio State at Texas and Oklahoma at Michigan — are also taking place on Saturday.
While Georgia is only playing Western Kentucky, it appears the all-white look for the Bulldogs this weekend has captured the attention of recruits. Georgia will be wearing that popular uniform variant in a game for the first time.
Those all-whites have been a popular look for official visit photo shoots over the last four or five years. When Texas quarterback Arch Manning took his official visit to UGA back in June 2022, he picked out the all-white look for his OV photos.
“You know it’s big, as a lifelong Georgia fan and now as a committed player,” 4-star safety commit Adryan Cole said. “We’ve never seen those get pulled out before so it’ll be great to see.”
Four-star tight end Jaxon Dollar walks the sidelines at Sanford Stadium during G-Day on Saturday, April 18, 2026, in Athens. (Jeff Sentell/DawgNation)
Trivia answer
4-0
(Black jerseys against Louisiana in Sanford Stadium in 2016, against Mississippi State in Sanford Stadium and Cincinnati in the Peach Bowl in 2020; white jerseys and red pants vs. Arkansas in 2020 to honor 1980 champions)
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