Georgia coach Kirby Smart dipped into the transfer portal for another wide receiver Saturday, adding Miami’s Colbie Young.
Young, a junior from Binghamton, New York, will have one season of eligibility left with the Bulldogs. He had 79 receptions for 939 yards with 10 touchdowns the past two seasons at Miami. Young also considered Penn State and Wisconsin as transfer destinations.
“Thank you Miami coaches and teammates for everything,” Young wrote on Instagram. “Y’all made the experience amazing and I’m extremely grateful. Thank you to my agent, family, friends, etc. for supporting me through this decision. With that being said, I have decided to transfer and am committing to the University of Georgia.”
Young, 6-foot-5 and 215 pounds, is the second wide receiver to announce his intentions to transfer to Georgia. Vanderbilt’s London Humphreys, who had 22 receptions for 439 yards in 2023, is also joining the Bulldogs.
South Carolina defensive lineman Xzavier McLeod announced Friday that he’s transferring to Georgia. The former four-star recruit was the No. 134th-ranked prospect in the 2023 ESPN 300.
It’s the second year in a row the Bulldogs have shored up their receiver depth through the transfer portal. Last year, Georgia added Mississippi State’s Rara Thomas and Missouri’s Dominic Lovett.
The Bulldogs are expected to lose senior Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint (who has one season of eligibility left) and possibly junior Ladd McConkey, who hasn’t yet announced whether he’ll return to school or enter the 2024 NFL draft.
NEW ORLEANS Kalen DeBoer has been here before. Not in the same way Nick Saban has. But on the eve of the College Football Playoff semifinal, two wins away from a national title, Washington’s second-year head coach is very much in his element.
DeBoer’s first trip to a semifinal as a head coach was 18 years ago. The accommodations were a bit different then. Coaches shared rooms on the road. There wasn’t an army of volunteers catering to the team’s every need. And Carroll College’s 4,000-seat Nelson Stadium in Helena, Montana — the site of 2005 NAIA semifinal — wasn’t exactly the storied Superdome.
From the outside, there’s a world of difference between the stakes then and now — with tens of millions of people who will be paying attention — but the internal desire to win hasn’t changed. All-in is all-in, regardless of how many other people care.
“We understand what’s at stake here,” DeBoer said. “We win, we get to move on, we get to have the next biggest game of our life. But for right now, this is that one.”
In five seasons as coach at the tiny University of Sioux Falls (South Dakota), DeBoer built his alma mater into a bona fide NAIA powerhouse. DeBoer won as many national titles and had as many undefeated seasons as he had losses (three), amassing a 67-3 overall record with a 17-2 mark in the playoffs.
It was during those years when Washington’s current brain trust — including offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb and co-defensive coordinator Chuck Morrell — developed a remarkable level of trust and understanding that made this season’s undefeated run to the Pac-12 title possible.
Lengthy bus rides. Laundry duty. Meager salaries. VHS film sessions. It was all part of the process that Washington is benefitting from. Other small-school coaches hope DeBoer’s success might lead to more opportunities. It’s also a process Washington’s coaches didn’t even consider had the potential to take them to the doorstep of college football’s premier stage.
“We were consumed literally by chasing national championships at that level,” Morrell said. “I think we all thought maybe other opportunities could come, but it wasn’t a daily thing where we were talking about trying to face something bigger.”
In the 14 years since DeBoer moved on from Sioux Falls in search of a different challenge, nothing compares with the enormity of what awaits Monday, as Washington takes on No. 3 Texas in the Allstate Sugar Bowl (8:45 p.m. ET on ESPN) for the right to play for the national title.
