ATHENS, Ga. - The Georgia Bulldogs have faced several different assignments in recent weeks when it comes to defending opposing receivers.
Tennessee provided the 1-2 punch of Marquez Callaway and Jauan Jennings, with each producing a 100-yard game. Bryan Edwards helped South Carolina to its upset of Georgia with an early 46-yard touchdown catch, but the Bulldogs kept Kentucky's physical Ahmad Wagner from inflicting any damage during a rainy night at Sanford Stadium.
This weekend in Jacksonville, the No. 8 Bulldogs (6-1, 3-1 Southeastern Conference) will challenge No. 6 Florida (7-1, 4-1) and its deep receiver contingent of Van Jefferson, Freddie Swain, Trevon Grimes, Josh Hammond, Tyrie Cleveland, Jacob Copeland and Kadarius Toney, who returns after missing nearly two months with a shoulder injury.
"We've got to play really well in the secondary, because we know the ball can go to anybody at any time," Georgia senior safety J.R. Reed said. "They don't just have one guy that we can key on. Everybody has to do their job, because we haven't seen a group like this all year."
Florida has eight players with at least 150 receiving yards this season, marking a first for the Gators since 1992, when Steve Spurrier was in his third year as head coach at his alma mater. The Gators and pass-happy Washington State are the only Power Five programs entering November with four players who have at least 20 catches, 275 yards and two touchdowns.
When the Gators bottomed out to a 4-7 record two years ago and Jim McElwain was fired the day after a 42-7 loss to Georgia, they averaged just 179.6 passing yards a game. Florida improved that average to 213.5 last season in Dan Mullen's inaugural year as coach and has taken that clip to 277.2 this year despite having to make a quarterback transition from Feleipe Franks, who dislocated his ankle in the third game against Kentucky, to Kyle Trask.
"Dan has got as good of a wideout group as he's ever had that I can remember," Georgia coach Kirby Smart said, "and he's using the skill sets of those guys. He highlights those wideouts he has because he has so many. I don't know how to better say it other than he has a complete offensive package right now with what he has, so he has the ability to use all those guys."
Jefferson leads Florida's wide receivers with 27 catches, while Swain tops the position with 339 receiving yards, but neither one is the team's top receiver overall.
That would be 6-foot-6, 239-pound sophomore tight end Kyle Pitts, who has 35 catches for 391 yards and four touchdowns, with most of that total - 30 receptions for 355 yards and four scores - occurring in the past six games. In Florida's 42-28 setback at LSU on Oct. 12, Pitts had 108 yards on five catches, each of which went for at least 15 yards.
"He's as talented as I've seen, and we knew that when he was coming out of high school," Smart said. "I don't know that the SEC has seen a tight end like him. He's 50% wideout and 50% tight end."
Said Reed: "He's a true 6-6 with a lot of range, and his catch radius is out of this world. We've got to play him really physical and be tight in coverage."
Notre Dame tight end Cole Kmet had success against Georgia in late September, amassing nine receptions for 108 yards and a touchdown.
The Bulldogs had their pass defense totals greatly enhanced by the Kentucky game, as the Wildcats threw for just 17 yards. They are expected to have sophomore cornerback Tyson Campbell (turf toe) back for the first time since mid-September, so Florida's receivers and Georgia's defensive backs should both be at full strength for this all-hands-on-deck matchup, which kicks off at 3:30 p.m. Saturday and will be televised by CBS.
"We feel like we're an elite defense," said Bulldogs redshirt sophomore cornerback Eric Stokes, who has yet to allow a touchdown catch this season. "We just have to prove it week in and week out. We know they've got a great group of wide receivers and that each and every one of them can do something different.
"It's going to be a real challenge for us as a unit, because they can rotate, rotate, rotate and keep them moving."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.