Georgia junior receiver Mecole Hardman had a 32-yard catch during last Saturday night's 27-10 home win over Auburn, but his biggest play was a 41-yard kickoff return after the Tigers had taken a 10-6 lead midway through the second quarter.ATHENS, Ga. - This season's Georgia Bulldogs have averaged 462.2 yards per game and allowed an average of just 303.3 yards, reflecting an offense and a defense that are clicking heading into Saturday afternoon's contest against the University of Massachusetts, a 44-point underdog.
Don't sell Georgia's special teams short, either.
Last weekend's 27-10 win over Auburn was the latest example of how the Bulldogs have been feasting in football's third phase. Junior receiver Mecole Hardman returned a kickoff 41 yards midway through the second quarter after the Tigers had taken a 10-6 lead, with his run igniting an eight-play, 59-yard touchdown drive that put the Bulldogs ahead to stay.
"We work on that in practice and try to translate that to the game," Hardman said Saturday night. "When I'm out there, I just want to give our offense great field position so we can go down the field and score. I'm doing good right now, and I'm going to try and continue that the rest of the season."
Hardman also downed teammate Jake Camarda's punt at Auburn's 1-yard line late in the third quarter.
Special teams played a sizable role last season, when Georgia won its first Southeastern Conference championship in 12 years, and the Bulldogs again are flexing their muscles in the various categories known for their hidden yardage.
The Bulldogs have accumulated 312 yards in punt returns this season, which ranks third nationally, and they have surrendered just 28 yards, which ranks 12th. Hardman has 11 punt returns for 267 yards and a 24.3-yard average, which would lead the Football Bowl Subdivision had he enough attempts to qualify.
Georgia's average of 19.5 yards on punt returns ranks fourth nationally, while its average of 24.6 yards on kickoff returns ranks 16th.
"We work really hard on it," head coach Kirby Smart said this week in a news conference. "Our kids are committed to special teams. I try to make it the most important thing in the game, because I think it's a selfless part of the game and that people don't get a lot of credit. Mecole gets credit, but the guys who are doing a lot of the work are not getting a lot of credit.
"It's not for yourself but for others when it comes to special teams, and they've bought into that."
Hardman is only the second-most prominent figure when it comes to Georgia special teams, trailing kicker Rodrigo Blankenship. The redshirt junior, a former walk-on, continues to dazzle, having amassed 64 touchbacks to rank second nationally and pull within three of the single-season program standard he set a season ago.
Blankenship is 17-of-19 on field-goal attempts this year (89.5 percent), and he has yet to miss in 132 extra-point tries in college.
"We definitely have confidence every week that with the amount of talent and ability we have on all our special teams that we have an advantage no matter who we play," Blankenship said. "That only comes with hard work. Week in and week out, we grind."
Odds and ends
Georgia senior cornerback Deandre Baker is among the 15 semifinalists for the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award. Smart on Georgia's recent goal-line struggles: "To be honest, it's no longer just a physical thing. It's a mental thing." After former Georgia-committed running back John Emery committed Tuesday night to LSU, the Bulldogs on Wednesday received a nonbinding pledge from Kenny McIntosh of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The 6-foot-1, 218-pound McIntosh is rated the nation's No. 10 running back and No. 185 overall prospect by 247Sports.com.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.