Pair of Georgia transfers receive high praise from 247Sports

Kirby Smart and his staff had a lot of work to do this offseason to revamp the Georgia football team after a disappointing end to their 2024 season. And a lot of that work involved recruiting the transfer portal hard because there were obvious weaknesses to Georgia that needed to be addressed before next season.

Thankfully Smart and his staff have done just that so far as they have earned a handful of commitments from the portal that will clearly make the team a lot better. But how impactful will these transfers actually be for Georgia next season?

247Sports recently released their rankings of the most impactful transfers in the SEC, and two of Georgia's pickups made the cut.

Zachariah Branch and Noah Thomas

There's no denying that the biggest weakness for Georgia last season was at wide receiver. How could it not be after the Bulldogs' wide receiver room led the nation in drops last year?

So after witnessing their struggles and seeing some talent depart for the NFL Draft, it was quite obvious that this position needed to be addressed. Georgia is bringing in multiple elite receivers from high school this offseason, but it's hard to expect them to fix Georgia's problems as true freshman. So what did Smart do? He got two of the best wide receiver transfers in the country to pack their bags and move to Athens.

Those two receivers are USC transfer Zachariah Branch and Texas A&M transfer Noah Thomas. Both are top 10 wide receivers in the transfer portal, so it is quite clear how their arrival will greatly impact Georgia. 247Sports agrees with that sentiment as they named Branch the 10th most impactful transfer in the SEC and Thomas as the 14th most impactful transfer.

Georgia's improvement at wide receiver will help the entire offense

Branch and Thomas combined for 86 catches, 1,077 receiving yards and nine touchdowns last season. That clearly is very impressive and shows just how massive their additions to the program will be.

Both receivers will be starters for Georgia this fall, and based on how talented they are this will help Georgia's offense in so many ways. The main thing their arrival will do is help potential starting QB Gunner Stockton be more comfortable under center for the first time as a full time starter. Stockton wasn't terrible when he took over for Carson Beck at the end of the season, but his confidence seemed questionable at times. The arrival of Branch and Thomas however will help fix that.

On top of that, Georgia's run game should improve if UGA's wide receiver room is much better next year as well. An improved passing game means that opposing defenses will have to focus more on stopping the pass, meaning that it will be that much easier to run the ball.

The arrival of this elite duo will be a welcomed site. Georgia fans definitely miss having elite options at wide receiver, and by all accounts that will not be a problem next year in Athens.