Georgia Football Freshmen Enroll: Who Makes an Immediate Impact on Offense

Kirby Smart has made it a habit to play the best players despite age at most positions on his roster, with freshman enrolling Wednesday, who will make an impact?

George Pickens, Dominick Blaylock, Nolan Smith, Tyrique Stevenson, Nakobe Dean, and Travon Walker. All true freshmen a year ago, all players who made a serious impact on the (11-2) football team. 

So, with the remainder of the freshmen from the nation's No. 1 recruiting class in 2020 arriving on campus today, we walk through the freshmen that will make an immediate impact this fall. We will start with the offensive side of the football: 

Jermaine Burton

I've had the pleasure of seeing Burton countless times training with Terrence Edwards, so albeit, this may be confirmation bias, but I just haven't seen a high school wideout that's this developed. The route running, the body control, the hands, they are all elite. Not to mention he's a 4.4 runner and an extremely explosive athlete. 

Our sources have led us to believe that Dominick Blaylock's rehab from an ACL tear in the SEC championship game is coming along flawlessly, but with Burton's arrival, there's really no rush to get Blaylock back in the lineup immediately. Marcus Rosemy is phenomenal, but it will be Burton that gets the first crack at playing time early on because the depth chart in the slot is much thinner than the depth at the X and Z receiver with players like Pickens, Landers, Tommy Bush, Trey Blount, and Makiya Tongue. 

Rosemy and Pickens will be the featured outside receivers in the very near future, but perhaps not immediately. 

Darnell Washington

Todd Monken's runs primary 11 personnel, which means one tight end is on the field at all times. Tre' McKitty is great, John Fitzpatrick is solid, but neither has the ceiling of Darnell Washington. At the very least, Washington should, and likely will be, used in redzone situations. They just don't make 6'7 targets every day. McKitty will be the every-down target at tight end, but Washington is the kind of weapon that will need to be featured early, if for no other purpose than RedZone targets. 

Not to mention Todd Monken ran 12 personnel (one back, two tight ends) 23% of the time last season in Cleveland. So, he has no fear of playing both McKitty and Washington at the same time. 

Broderick Jones

There are two positions that college coaches have a fear of playing true freshmen at, Quarterback and Left Tackle, especially in the SEC. It's just such an adjustment for a young player to make. Take Wanya Morris at Tennessee for example. He was the nation's No. 1 tackle in 2019, and he got put in a spin cycle for the better part of the season last year. Heck, 2.0 of Azeez Ojulari's 5.5 sacks last season came against Tennesse. 

That being said, Broderick Jones is a different type of athlete than Morris, in my opinion. Morris is a technique based tackle that had to adjust athletically whereas Jones is athletically capable of playing with just about anybody in the SEC right now. He's not going to be comfortable playing right tackle. He's never done it, and as someone who's seen him work out at both, it's just not natural yet. 

He's going to push Xavier Truss for that left tackle spot very early on this coming season because he's everything Truss isn't. Truss is a massive people mover at tackle and is made to run block. If Georgia still had Sam Pittman and James Coley calling the shots, this wouldn't be a discussion, Truss would play. But we are now talking about a passing offense with a counter and power run scheme that Matt Luke and Todd Monken are implementing. That kind of scheme screams athletic linemen, which is exactly what Jones is.  

Other names to watch: 

• Kendall Milton: By midseason, Milton will likely have made his way up the running back depth chart. It's just so deep at RB and without spring ball, he's still got ground to make up. 
• Tate Ratledge: There's likely going to be an injury along the offensive line, it's just the way of football, and he's technically sound enough to be ready soon. 
• Sedrick Van Pran: Yes, Trey Hill is the only returning starter and Clay Webb was a five-star, but SVP is just different. That's all that needs to be said. 

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