No. 2 Georgia faces pleasant dilemma of finding room for its deep and talented group of tight ends

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Elyiss Williams showed star potential in No. 2 Georgia's dominant season-opening win over Tennessee State.

The 6-foot-7, 255-pound Williams displayed his athleticism by diving over a tackler on a 17-yard scoring catch in the 63-3 victory. He also had a 19-yard catch.

This came only days after Georgia coach Kirby Smart proclaimed Williams "is as physical a blocker as maybe I’ve seen in my career coaching, for a tight end.”

Perhaps the only criticism for Williams was the way he landed — upside down and helmet-first — after vaulting a tackler on his touchdown catch. It looked like a painful and dangerous landing but Williams insisted on Tuesday he didn’t feel a thing.

“I had a lot of adrenaline going on that play, so I was not really feeling it,” Williams said. “Next day I was fine, surprisingly. Yeah, I do need to work on that.”

But there's a problem. Even with his size, big-play potential and physical blocking, it may be easy for Williams to get lost in Georgia's crowd at tight end.

The pleasant dilemma for Georgia (1-0) as it prepares for Saturday's visit from Western Kentucky is finding room for senior starter Lawson Luckie, Jaden Reddell, Ethan Barbour, Kaiden Prothro, Williams and others to play.

“That tight end room, they have to learn to share,” Smart said. "And they have so much respect for each other. They’re such good weapons that it can’t be about individuals in that room. It has to be about the production of a unit, and a unit can grow that.”

The lopsided opening win helped Georgia move up one spot in Tuesday's first Associated Press Top 25 college football poll of the regular season.

Tight ends combined for six catches for 100 yards and three touchdowns in the opener even though Luckie, who was expected to be the leader at the position, didn't have a catch. Williams, Reddell and Prothro, a freshman, caught touchdown passes of 17, 14 and 16 yards, respectively.

Reddell ran over a tackler on his touchdown catch, added a powerful 29-yard run and bounced off defenders on an apparent 58-yard touchdown catch before the play was wiped out by a facemask penalty.

“The one that got called back was insane,” quarterback Gunner Stockton said. “But now just seeing all the work he’s put in as well, it’s really neat to see all of the payoff. It definitely is a great start.”

The strong showing by the tight ends helped Stockton complete 15 of 16 passes for 202 yards and three touchdowns before leaving the game after one possession in the second quarter of the runaway win.

The big targets at tight end are especially valuable after Georgia lost six of its top seven receivers from 2025.

“They did a great job today and they’re physical and can run great routes and they can do everything, so I thought they did great job,” Stockton said.

Williams inspires comparisons to Darnell Washington (6-7, 265), who now plays for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Reddell, meanwhile, ran over and away from defenders like former Georgia star Brock Bowers, now with Las Vegas.

Reddell was a top recruit who had a combined three catches in his first two seasons.

“He wasn’t ready to block,” Smart said. "He would tell you he wasn’t physically ready. He wasn’t mentally ready. ... But he never pouted, he never whined. He had opportunities to leave and go places. Everybody does. He didn’t choose to. His mom stood firm. Mom said, ’You’re going to stay there, you’re going to outwork average, you’re going to compete.'

“And man, has he flourished, flourished. When it comes to development, this guy is the embodiment of development. And he’s still getting better.”

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