North Georgia pipeline
Former Calhoun receiver Cole Speer could be next unheralded star for Bulldogs
There have been recent years when the Georgia Bulldogs ventured across state lines to snag promising fivestar receivers, most notably A.J. Green out of South Carolina, Marlon Brown out of Tennessee and George Pickens out of Alabama.
Yet Georgia also has taken chances on unheralded pass-catchers from the northern part of its state, and that has worked out wonderfully as well.
Redshirt sophomore Ladd McConkey is certainly thriving for the top-seeded Bulldogs (14-0) entering Monday night’s national championship showdown against third-seeded TCU (13-1) at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. McConkey was named last month by Southeastern Conference coaches as an all-league second-team selection, and the former North Murray High School star is quick to praise the next potential standout from his area of the Peach State — freshman Cole Speer.
“He’s gotten better and better every week,” McConkey said after Georgia’s 42-41 comeback triumph over Ohio State in last Saturday night’s Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl national semifinal. “He’s fast. He’s strong. He’s going to be a heck of a player. Any time you can get out there and get on the field as a young guy, it’s awesome, and he’s been able to do that.
“He deserved it, and he’s just going to be a great player for us.”
Speer, a 5-foot-11, 185-pounder out of Calhoun High, saw action at receiver in six of Georgia’s 12 regular-season games. The consensus three-star signee made his first appearance during Georgia’s second game against Samford on Sept. 10, and he collected his one catch of his debut season, a 12-yarder, the following
“It’s been a grind every day, but playing against great competition each day has been good. The speed and physicality have just been so different. I mean, you’re playing in the SEC and you’re playing at Georgia, so it’s the top of the top in college football, and you get that every day.”
— COLE SPEER
week at South Carolina.
Not even McConkey, who has racked up 84 receptions for 1,121 yards and 10 touchdowns the past two seasons, played as a freshman in 2020.
“That was really good, getting to play so early, and then later on throughout the season I played on special teams a pretty good bit,” Speer said. “Special teams is what I’ve primarily been on, and that’s just as hard as anything else if I’m being honest.”
Before McConkey and Speer contributed to Kirby Smart’s program, the Calhoun duo of Kris Durham and Rhett McGowan produced for Mark Richt’s Bulldogs.
Durham got things going as a 2006 signee, playing in 47 games from 2006-10 and amassing 64 receptions for 1,109 yards and four touchdowns before becoming a fourth-round pick of the Seattle Seahawks in 2011. Durham and McGowan were 2010 teammates, with McGowan arriving in Athens as a walkon player before compiling 40 catches for 479 yards and three touchdowns from 2010-13.
“That kind of pushes you every day to want to be great,” Speer said of Georgia’s receiver pipeline from his area, “especially with Ladd being around here.”
Speer competes on the second-team kickoff and punt-return units, so playing time is often sparse. Positive experiences are not, however, as he continually battles far more touted defenders on the practice fields.
And like McConkey, he seems to be holding his own just fine.
“It’s been good,” said Speer, who is majoring in business. “It’s been a grind every day, but playing against great competition each day has been good. The speed and physicality have just been so different. I mean, you’re playing in the SEC and you’re playing at Georgia, so it’s the top of the top in college football, and you get that every day.
“I just love being a part of this team. We have a great chemistry as you can tell. We just came back from a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter, and that isn’t easy to do against a team like that.”