Kirby Smart Raves About Impressive UGA Football Playmaker

Kirby Smart gives the latest update on a major playmaker at wide receivers

Jeremy Bell | Dawg Post

ATHENS - Georgia's most explosive play in week one came from an unlikely player. Well, two players. In the second half of Georgia's dominant 63-3 win over Tennessee State, backup quarterback Ryan Puglisi launched a beautiful pass down the field that hit walk-on receiver Jeremy Bell in stride. 54 yards. Touchdown.

Out of high school Bell dominated both on the gridiron and on the hardwood for Clinch County. As a senior he totaled 1,357 yards of offense with 20 touchdowns. He also had two return touchdowns on special teams. He was without a doubt one of the best high school prospects in the Single-A classification and saw an opportunity to play for the home-state school in Athens.

He held multiple D1 offers, but when it was time to make a decision, the speedy South Georgia wideout chose to walk on at Georgia. Now, not only is he impressing behind the scenes at practice, but he's making explosive plays in front of thousands in Sanford Stadium.

Here's what Georgia Bulldog head coach Kirby Smart had to say this week...

"He's a kid that's from our state," Smart told reporters. "We comb the state for good football players and he was a tremendous athlete. He’s from a very rural area, and we've had several players from his school, and we have relationships there with coaches, so they reached out to us and we pursued it. He took advantage of an opportunity, and he continues to get better."

He's worked really hard," Smart added. He's had some really good springs. He’s getting better with each and every week. Sometimes when you come from those areas, you're not as polished as a receiver as a kid that played in some kind of system in high school. He was not fortunate enough to play in some elaborate passing scheme offense. He worked really hard at what he did, and he's continued to hone his skills since being here."

That long touchdown reception was Bell's only target of the game during Georgia's blowout win. He took advantage of a big opportunity and could see more and more targets come his way over time. He currently brings quality depth and speed to a room that really impressed in week one. There's a lot of young, talented wideouts on the rise in Athens and the 6-foot-0 180-pounder from Homerville, Georgia is certainly one of them.