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Tommy Bush: Working Hard To Carve Out A Role At Georgia

Kirby Smart and the Georgia staff were very high on Tommy Bush coming out of high school. Bush is working hard to overcome a challenging start to his Georgia career.
Blayne Gilmer 2|
Tommy Bush: Working Hard To Carve Out A Role At Georgia
Tommy Bush: Working Hard To Carve Out A Role At Georgia

There are not many human beings who are 6'5" 195 pounds and run a 4.4 laser timed forty-yard dash. Tommy Bush does.

These attributes are part of the many reasons that Kirby Smart and company were very excited about Bush signing with Georgia out of high school. The departure of Javon Wims from the heralded 2017 College Football Playoff team left a need for a big-bodied receiver with tremendous athleticism, and Bush seemed like someone that could fill that role.

Bush was not able to see the field much as a true freshman. Despite being a 4-Star prospect out of Samuel Clemens High School in Schertz, Texas, Tommy was not utilized as much as most Power-5 receivers are in high school. The size and the speed were there, but the refinement in the receiver position was still lacking.

As a junior in high school, before many of his offers came, Tommy Bush began working with former Mountain West Conference All-Conference receiver for BYU, Margin Hooks. Hooks produced nearly 3000 yards receiving in his career for the Cougars from 1996 to 2000 and has been doing skills training for about 12 years now via Sky's The Limit Elite Training. Hooks has receivers that sprinkled throughout the college and pro football landscape including Lil' Jordan Humphrey (Texas/New Orleans Saints), Charleston Rambo (Oklahoma), and Marvin Mims (Oklahoma). He was even brought in by Sean Payton of the New Orleans Saints a couple of years ago to do some work with their receiving core.

On March 9th, Hooks posted videos on Twitter of Tommy Bush working to hone his skills. These clips should be encouraging to the Bulldog faithful as Bush finally seems to be healthy and is moving quite well.

I was able to connect with Hooks for an interview and during it, he talked about the development of Tommy Bush, what specific part of his game they've been working on, and the nature of competition in major college football.

When asked about the mindset of Bush after having a disappointing first two seasons at Georgia, Hooks gave great insight.

"He understands. I've talked to him. It's a business. You're on scholarship and your business is to produce on the field. However, injury has not allowed him to do so. Also, he didn't have the reps that a lot of other guys do coming in (to Georgia out of high school). He didn't have a lot of passes thrown to him, not a lot of touchdowns. He had some hype because of his athletic ability, but he wasn't used like many people thought he could have been and should have been. So that was a disadvantage to him. Now, he's a great kid! He always has a positive outlook on things." - Margin Hooks on Tommy Bush

I brought up the 2020 receiving core and the 5 freshmen that were brought in along with the lack of performance in the Georgia passing game last year. With all of that in consideration and Bush at the time being basically out of sight and out of mind, so to speak, for many people in Bulldog community. I asked Hooks does that serve as extra motivation for Tommy? Hooks said, "It does motivate him, and you know that is the case, out of sight out of mind. One thing that people have to realize is when people blame receivers, they come there as high school prospects and it's up to the coaches to develop them."

The long-time trainer went on to explain there is a difference between mechanics and drivers in the coaching world. Drivers just take what is there and navigate the course set before them, while mechanics make the fine-tuned adjustments and get the vehicle (a.k.a. the player) in peak condition to compete. With Bush, the fine-tuning that Hooks and the redshirt sophomore for Georgia have worked on are fluidity, lateral movement, and cutting.

The videos in the Tweets shown earlier definitely show a receiver that is moving well and looks primed for spring ball, when and if it does arrive. Of course, Bush may have any more time to do some independent work before returning to campus and competing for Georgia in spring ball with the uncertainty surrounding the Coronavirus. Winter and Spring sports championships have already been canceled altogether by the NCAA and Georgia AD Greg McGarity has now said that Georgia's spring practices have been postponed.

Regardless of when the chance to prove himself occurs for Bush, it would be a welcome addition to the receiving core to have a healthy Tommy Bush realize his full potential in year three as a Bulldog and produce in the retooled passing game for Georgia. Hooks indicated that Bush was excited about Todd Monken coming in and that the new offense would be, "much more receiver friendly and that it's a new start for everybody."

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Blayne Gilmer 2
BLAYNE GILMER 2

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