Tale of Two Seasons for George Pickens

Wide receiver George Pickens had a quiet beginning to the season before suffering an injury. Since returning, Pickens is back to his usual self statistically.

Coming into this season it seemed as if every Georgia football fan had the name George Pickens on the tip of their tongue. 

The wide receiver lit the college football world on fire as a true freshman, becoming Georgia’s best offensive player by the end of the season. The Hoover, Ala., native finished his first year in Athens with 49 catches for 727 yards and eight touchdowns.

It was for those reasons that many thought he had a shot at the Biletnikoff Award, given each season to the nation's best receiver. However, Pickens did not show up in his usual way on the stat sheet or on tape early in the year. He then suffered an injury that sidelined him for two games.

Ever since he has returned from that injury, he has seemed to be the George Pickens of old. So that begs the question, what changed for Pickens?

For one, it seemed obvious early in the season that Pickens may have been playing through injury. His explosiveness at the line, run blocking and commitment to vital passing concepts were all lacking. In the first three games of the season, Pickens totaled 13 catches for 140 yards and found the end zone just twice.

The time off has clearly served him well. He gets to the outside on his routes much better now and has regained the explosiveness to make cuts at the top of routes that made him so dangerous a year ago. Since returning from injury, Pickens has 11 catches for 112 yards.

An element that cannot be underplayed is the emergence of quarterback JT Daniels. On the surface, this seems like an obvious point. Common logic states that a receiver will play better when the quarterback is more on point. Of course, playing quarterback goes far beyond just throwing a pass.

The Georgia offense with Daniels looks like a real offense. The offensive unit gets in and out of the huddle in a timely fashion, providing time to read the defensive scheme and move up and down the field at their own will. 

Wide receiver is one of the most emotional positions in sports. If the offense is succeeding, then a star wideout is more likely to not only play better but to be more committed. However, on stagnant offenses star receivers can tend to lose interest.

The difference with Pickens when Daniels is on the field is telling. Early in the year it appeared he was going through the motions, and there was no commitment to run blocking on the boundary. But when the tape of the South Carolina game is turned on, Pickens can be seen lead blocking for a touchdown run, similar to the efforts he displayed in the run game a year ago.

Pickens has pure receiver talent that rivals Julio Jones and Calvin Johnson. He does need to be in an offense that is electric, as almost all receivers do. If Georgia can continue to build on their offensive success, college defensive backs should be very nervous when they line up across from Pickens.