When you’re as talented as Georgia football, with natural recruiting success and top-3 classes over the last four years, you don’t need to rely as heavily on the transfer portal to fill your roster. However, when head coach Kirby Smart does use the portal, it is usually for significant acquisitions.
Although the Bulldogs football team lost out on a three-peat and another national championship in 2023, Smart hopes to put Georgia back in contention in 2024, even with a new playoff format. Having the No. 1 recruiting class of 2024 will be a tremendous assist, but there were other significant portal players that may make a difference and potentially help lead Georgia to play in their home state for next year’s national title game, which takes place in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Georgia football’s 2024 portal class, ranked No. 13, comprises seven new players and 20 outgoing players. What’s most impressive about those seven is that five of them are four-star transfers from Power Five teams, with three coming from the SEC.
However, one of the most noteworthy and sneakiest transfers does not come from the SEC. Colbie Young, wide receiver for the Miami Hurricanes, hails from the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Colbie Young, a wide receiver, moves to Georgia football.
As strong as Georgia football has been, the program has only had one 1,000-yard receiver in its history: Terrence Edwards in 2002, who had 1,004 yards, according to Dawgs Daily. Not even AJ Green or Brock Bowers have accomplished that feat.
Bowers, a tight end, was the Bulldogs’ highest receiver in 2023 with 56 receptions, 714 yards, and six touchdowns, despite missing five games due to an ankle ailment. Bowers may have topped his 2022 season totals of 63 receptions, 942 yards, and seven touchdowns if not for the injury.
Dominic Lovett was the next closest receiver to him, with 51 grabs for 575 yards and three touchdowns. With Bowers headed to the NFL, someone will have to step up, which is why Colbie Young’s transfer is so significant.
According to 247sports, Young moves to Georgia as a four-star transfer and is ranked No. 48 overall and No. 8 wide receiver.
This will be Young’s second transfer as a three-star juco talent, having previously attended Lackawanna College in Scranton, Pennsylvania. There, he grabbed 24 receptions for 472 yards and nine touchdowns. Then, over his two years at Miami, he had 79 receptions for 930 yards at 11.8 yards per catch and 10 touchdowns. Despite the Hurricanes’ passing game being spotty in the second part of last season due to quarterback injuries and other concerns, Young caught 47 catches for 563 yards, an improvement over his rookie season in Coral Gables.
Young should get along well with Georgia quarterback Carson Beck, who had a quiet season in 2023 as a starter. While Young may not achieve 1,000 yards, he should be a key addition to the wide receiver corps and help Athens strengthen its passing game in 2024.
