Colbie Young making most of his second chances at Georgia

ATHENS, Ga. — As Georgia dealt with the disappointment of a snapped 29-game win streak and missing the playoff in December of 2023, it signed former Miami wideout Colbie Young out of the transfer portal. The 6-foot-5, 220-pound pass catcher who has an aptitude for catching touchdowns was supposed to bring some things to the Bulldog offense that it was missing. But that lasted just a few games.

Now Young, after pushing through some legal issues and getting a favorable ruling from the NCAA to allow ex-junior college players and extra year of eligibility, is headed into his second season with the Bulldogs. He’s a different player and person than he was a year ago—for the better.

“I’ve been extremely impressed with Colbie,” Offensive coordinator Mike Bobo said on Monday. “Colbie, one he’s grateful to be here. It’s an opportunity to be at Georgia and when he got to come back for an extra year and was dealing with a little nagging injury in the spring, but wanted to go through spring and fought through all 15 practices. And since he’s been back every day, he doesn’t take a play off.”

Young was on the receiving end of Georgia’s first touchdown of the 2024 season. Carson Beck hit him for a touchdown in the third quarter of the Bulldogs 31-3 shellacking of Clemson in week one.

He reached the end zone again in a week two win over Tennessee Tech, but was nursing a couple of nagging injuries sustained in camp. After hauling in five passes for 41 yards in the first three games, Young started to take off in games four and five.

The New York native snagged six passes for 108 yards in the Alabama and Auburn games combined, appearing to hit his stride. Then a domestic incident with his pregnant ex-girlfriend, threw a wrench into everything.

Young was investigated by UGA’s office of equal opportunity and cleared within weeks, but the legal process didn’t reach resolution until the end of January. The final two months of the 2024 season saw him practice with the team, but he played zero snaps after game five. Ultimately, he pled guilty to a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct and was fully reinstated to the team in plenty of time for spring drills.

That season, however, was set to be Young’s last. He couldn’t take a red shirt because he appeared in the first five games and, in every year prior to 2025, Young’s career would have been over. The NCAA, however, ruled in favor of Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia, who sought to gain an extra season of eligibility due to the time spent at junior college. That gave Young another second chance.

Georgia stuck with Young through his legal situation and he responded in kind, hanging around for one more season with the Bulldogs. He was nothing short of impressive on the practice field last spring and fall, but things are different now.

Young has completed six practices this preseason. He has been one of the overall standouts from Georgia’s camp thus far. But there’s more to him than just the ability to haul in catches and bite off chunks of yardage. Young is doing everything he can to make a difference in his second and final season as a Bulldog.

“He is probably the leader in that room,” Bobo said. “He sets the standard of how to work. And I’m not just talking about whether it’s route running or catching balls, it’s blocking, it’s his effort. And that’s kind of contagious because we’ve got some talented receivers in that room and some of them are young and they need to know what it means to wear the Georgia uniform. And he represents that every day.”