ATHENS — Georgia wide receiver and punt returner Anthony Evans is the new owner of a Durango Hellcat, a fact the world knows because the dealership in Morrow, Ga., publicized it on its Instagram page. It might have just been an ordinary name, image and likeness deal, not worth the public’s notice, had it not come in the heat of the transfer portal window.
Evans never entered his name in the portal, but it seemed every Georgia receiver was a candidate, given the state of the position, how many high school receivers the Bulldogs just signed and how aggressively they’re pursuing more. The fact Evans, a Texas native, was acquiring a car a short drive from Georgia’s campus could be taken as a sign of … something.
It illustrates what an awkward dynamic it is right now: A team is playing for a chance at a national title while having to make tangible moves about next year. And it’s not just players in the bottom part of the roster: Evans, to name just one, could be involved in the game plan for the Sugar Bowl as the punt returner.
It’s a distraction for players and coaches. But it’s a necessary distraction created by the calendar in a big-business sport still clinging to academics: The portal window opens in time for players to be able to enroll at new schools for the spring semester and theoretically closes in time (Dec. 28) for coaches to know who remains for the spring. But players on teams that make the College Football Playoff have five more days to enter after the final game. (Players can sign with their new school at any time, and there’s also a spring window from April 16 to 25).
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Kirby Smart, speaking the day Georgia was selected as the No. 2 seed in the CFP, said transfer portal players “will move to the forefront, like right now, in terms of what we do. But then we’ll start back practice, and we’ll continue to get better with the guys that want to be here.”
Sugar Bowl practice began this past weekend, mainly working on self-improvement while the team waits to find out whether it will play Notre Dame or Indiana. It also is building a new game plan around quarterback Gunner Stockton, with Carson Beck increasingly unlikely to make it back from his UCL injury. (He is not officially ruled out.)
But even with practice going on, the portal remains open, and it goes both ways. Georgia is hosting potential additions, who are watching practice, and the current Georgia players are fully aware they’re there. But this is fairly normal by now: Two years ago Georgia took receiver Dominic Lovett and Rara Thomas in between the SEC Championship Game and the CFP, which it went on to win.
Here’s a look, based on reports and sources around the program, at where things stand:
Who’s leaving?
Seven players from this year’s Georgia team have entered the portal as of Sunday. The first was cornerback Julian Humphrey, who started the first nine games, then was benched and announced his decision the week of the SEC championship, which Georgia safety Malaki Starks termed “crazy timing.”
Humphrey has found his new home, opting to join Texas A&M, which in keeping with SEC tradition is not on Georgia’s regular-season schedule in 2025.
The other six players who were in the portal include four who were second-year recruits and two who just transferred in this year:
• Edge Samuel M’Pemba and linebacker Troy Bowles, each a top-100 recruit in 2023 who had not seen significant action yet and faced more competition next year.
• Defensive tackle Jah Jarrett and defensive back Justyn Rhett, four-star recruits in 2023 who had not seen significant playing time yet.
• Safety Jake Pope, who came from Alabama, and receiver Michael Jackson II, who came from USC. Jackson caught one pass this season, and Pope’s most notable moment was being caught celebrating with an Ole Miss friend after Georgia lost the game, causing Smart to call him an “idiot.” Smart said he regretted the comment, and Pope apologized to the team, but a heartwarming finish to the story won’t happen in Athens.
M’Pemba, Bowles and Jarrett eventually might have become starters, but in terms of next season, they don’t appear to be season-changing losses. So far, Georgia’s losses speak more to how hard is for elite programs to hoard talent and build depth. Georgia hopes to build some of that back via the portal and will try to add some difference-makers.
Who might be coming?
Wide receiver is a huge emphasis. Dane Key, who was Kentucky’s leading receiver with 715 yards this season, is a major target. Ole Miss is also in pursuit and hosted Key on a visit, but Georgia will keep trying, enamored of what the 6-foot-3 Key can offer at the outside “X” receiver spot.
Georgia needs and wants to add playmakers. But it wants to retain its players: junior Dillon Bell, sophomore London Humphreys, Evans and a host of freshmen, including Nitro Tuggle, who announced he would transfer but changed his mind. (Arian Smith, the team’s leader in receiving yards, does have another year of eligibility, and despite all his drops, he offers speed and character.)
The team signed five high school receivers, including Talyn Taylor and CJ Wiley, top-100 recruits.
Quarterback is an intriguing situation. Georgia is hosting Dylan Lonergan, who left Alabama after sitting two years, and has hosted Deshawn Purdie, who passed for 1,802 yards at Charlotte as a freshman this year. The Bulldogs almost certainly would take Fernando Mendoza, who passed for 3,004 yards as a sophomore this season at Cal.
What happens if Stockton has a star turn in the Playoff? It’s not clear if prospects will wait that long to see: Jackson Arnold (from Oklahoma to Auburn) and Michael Van Buren (from Mississippi State to LSU) already have moved. Georgia’s position is it feels good about the five quarterbacks projected (for now) to return next year, but it’s much different from last year when Beck was the clear returning starter.
Defensive back is another spot Georgia has targeted, looking for veterans to mix in with next year’s projected group, which is set to lose Starks, fellow safety Dan Jackson and perhaps cornerback Daylen Everette, who had a strong finish to the regular season. Cornerback Ethan O’Connor (Washington State) and safety Zecharian Poyser (Jacksonville State) are two on the radar.
Finally, a spot that doesn’t appear a huge need but might get an addition: tailback, where Georgia has seven scholarship players eligible set to return. But sophomore Justice Haynes is leaving Alabama after being the team’s third-leading rusher this season, and he was a top target of Georgia two years ago. If he wants to play where his father, Verron, played, all indications are the Bulldogs will oblige.
That probably would lead to some portal moves for the seven tailbacks. But it’s the nature of the business and still fairly early in this process for the team. Potential additions will come, and more transfers out will happen.
“There’s not going to be a team in the country that doesn’t have somebody leave, probably somebody they don’t expect,” Smart said. “But I almost feel like that’s become the norm, and it is what it is. We’re going to coach the ones that want to be here.”
(Top photo of Kirby Smart: Todd Kirkland / Getty Images)
