Why George Pickens may be the key to a successful Georgia season

Sophomore wide receiver George Pickens could be the key to Georgia’s continued success in 2020.

Georgia Bulldogs wide receiver George Pickens had a freshman season with a few ups and downs. He caught some important passes, he dropped a few, and he had his share of freshman-esque dumb mistakes, including the scuffle with Georgia Tech defensive back Tre Swilling.

But the most telling thing you could see in George Pickens during the 2019 season is that he was learning. He was learning from veteran teammates, he was learning from Jake Fromm, and he was learning from his mistakes.

By the end of the year, Pickens showed exactly why he was one of the most highly-recruited wide receivers in the country, tallying 49 receptions for 727 yards and eight touchdowns, including 12 catches for 175 yards and a touchdown in the season finale against Baylor in the Sugar Bowl.

Georgia has themselves a stud in Pickens, and in 2020, his contributions will be a huge key to unlocking possible SEC championships and College Football Playoff trips for the Bulldogs.

George Pickens will need to become the go-to guy for Georgia’s starting QB

Pickens has the skills, and he certainly has the speed. What he needs to unlock in 2020 is the mental game. If he’s able to do that, Georgia fans could be in for a huge offensive treat every time he’s on the field.

One of the biggest questions in Athens right now is who will be the new starting quarterback. With a stable full of 5-star talent at the position, head coach Kirby Smart and his staff have their work cut out for them picking a starter.

But whether it’s Jamie Newman, JT Daniels, or one of the other fine young arms in the UGA quarterback room, George Pickens needs to become best buddies with the new starting QB and have that kind of ethereal cosmic connection where one knows exactly what the other is going to do.

We saw a little of that ability last year on plays like this.

https://twitter.com/BR_CFB/status/1172956664753836032?s=20

Last year, en route to a national championship, LSU wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase led the SEC in receiving with 1,780 yards and 20 touchdowns. George Pickens is absolutely capable of putting up similar numbers (obviously modified for a shortened season) something we haven’t seen from a UGA wide receiver since the days of Terrence Edwards, who was the last Georgia receiver to break the 1,000-yard mark in a season.

And if Pickens starts the season hot and begins drawing double-teams, the Georgia offense now has a solid roster of receivers and backs that can find the open holes and make defenses pay. It’s all going to revolve around the Georgia sophomore and what he brings on a weekly basis.

If Pickens takes that next step and moves into the elite wide receiver category in the SEC, the Georgia offense will put up numbers that resemble some of the high-powered units that were fielded during the Mike Bobo offensive coordinator years.

That would be bad news for the rest of the SEC.