Georgia's Darnell Washington ready to be a towering mismatch at tight end

Georgia photo by Tony Walsh / Georgia's Darnell Washington, a 6-foot-7, 275-pound tight end who has a way of making a regulation football look like a Nerf football, goes through a drill during Thursday's first preseason practice.
Georgia photo by Tony Walsh / Georgia's Darnell Washington, a 6-foot-7, 275-pound tight end who has a way of making a regulation football look like a Nerf football, goes through a drill during Thursday's first preseason practice.

"Mismatch."

That was the response Darnell Washington quickly provided this past week when asked by reporters what single word best describes Georgia's incomprehensibly loaded tight end position. The Bulldogs are not only bringing back the 6-foot-7, 275-pound junior from Las Vegas but also sophomore Brock Bowers, a first-team ESPN and USA Today All-American last season, and redshirt sophomore Arik Gilbert, the star of this spring's G-Day game.

Could the Bulldogs routinely employ two tight ends under seventh-year coach Kirby Smart and third-year offensive coordinator Todd Monken? What about three?

"I'm not really sure how we'll use it, but we're all unique," Washington said. "Brock has his speed, and I'm oversized. There is no linebacker who can jump with me. Then you've got Arik, who is a hybrid and can do everything.

"You just keep rotating us and break down the defense by creating mismatches on the field."

Bowers, a 6-4, 230-pounder from Napa, California, led last season's national champions in receptions, amassing 56 for 882 yards (15.8 yards per catch) and 13 touchdowns. No tight end in Georgia history - and the Bulldogs have developed some impressive ones with Troy Sadowski, Ben Watson, Leonard Pope and Orson Charles - had ever assembled such productivity in a single season.

The biggest highlight of Georgia's 45-0 thrashing of rival Georgia Tech last November was Bowers outracing the secondary for a 77-yard score.

Gilbert was an LSU five-star signee in 2020 who earned Freshman All-Southeastern Conference honors for the Tigers before entering the transfer portal. The 6-5, 255-pounder from the Atlanta suburb of Marietta selected Georgia but sat out last season for personal reasons.

In April's G-Day contest, Gilbert had three catches for 49 yards and two touchdowns and drew two more gains via pass interference penalties.

Gilbert and Washington were widely viewed as the top two tight ends in the 2020 signing cycle, and Washington wound up starting seven of Georgia's 10 games as a freshman and collected seven catches for 166 yards. Washington was unable to flourish last year due to a broken foot in preseason camp that sidelined him for the first four games.

By the time he returned and was getting adjusted, Bowers was off and running, and Washington would suffer another foot injury earlier this year.

"I give Darnell a lot of credit," Smart said Thursday before the Bulldogs opened preseason camp. "He's worked tremendously hard putting himself in the best health possible. When he got injured over spring break going into spring practice, we thought he was in the best shape he had been in since being here - body fat composition, body weight and conditioning level.

"He's really in a good spot again. He's a guy who I walked in on last weekend, and he's out there running on his own on a day that was off. He's got a purpose. He's practicing to be driven, and I'm excited to see what he can do."

Washington's only touchdown reception last year was a leaping snag of a 5-yard score in the SEC championship game loss to Alabama, a highlight that Georgia opponents are certain to display on film during the weeks and months ahead despite the likelihood they will be helpless in those situations.

"I expect a lot from us," Washington said. "We've got guys who have been here, and we all have our different abilities."

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.

Upcoming Events