Georgia tight end Arik Gilbert is one of the most intriguing prospects in the 2023 NFL draft class. How will his scouting report evolve between now and April? We’ll track his progress — and any missteps — right here, on his player hub. Consider it a one-stop shop for keeping tabs on Gilbert during the draft process.
2022 season updates
Oct. 15 (Georgia 55, Vanderbilt 0)
Playing in his first game in more than a month, Gilbert found the end zone late during Georgia’s romp over Vanderbilt.
.@carsonbeck01 ➡️ Arik Gilbert 🙌#GoDawgs pic.twitter.com/ayukT1MrXg
— Georgia Football (@GeorgiaFootball) October 15, 2022
It was Gilbert’s first touchdown catch of the season and just his second grab overall (he’d had zero entering Saturday). We’ll see what his role looks like down the stretch for the Bulldogs.
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Sept. 17
Gilbert’s frustrating September continues. According to The Athletic’s Seth Emerson, Gilbert did not travel with the team to its road game at South Carolina on Saturday. After the game, head coach Kirby Smart chalked up the absence to “personal reasons” — the same, broad explanation was given for why Gilbert sat out the entire 2021 season. Smart added that “we’re hoping he can get back with us.”
As Emerson noted, Smart had this to say earlier in the week when asked about Gilbert: “We play the guys that can play winning football and can communicate and execute. … That’s all based on how he practices and how he carries over the game plan.”
"We play the guys that can play winning football and can communicate and execute…"
Arik Gilbert is a special talent, but it won't matter if he can't get on the field. https://t.co/J4R9i7j5uK
— Dane Brugler (@dpbrugler) September 17, 2022
Sept. 3 (Georgia 49, Oregon 3)
The Bulldogs threw for 439 yards — and hung nearly 600 total yards of offense on Oregon — but Gilbert never really got in on the fun. More, from The Athletic’s Seth Emerson: “Gilbert didn’t play until the second half, when he had 12 snaps. (Delp had 11.) You could see it coming, based on Smart’s answer early in the week to a question about where Gilbert is headed into the season: ‘It is hard to measure because I think the sky is the limit in terms of his talent and things. The consistency and performance he has to have — he has to have consistency in practice. That is something he needs to work on and strive on. Nobody wants it more than he does.’
“Essentially, it seems Gilbert isn’t clicking on the field the way he did on G-Day (Georgia’s spring game), so it might take a bit before he’s getting starter-type snaps.”
Key upcoming games
Oct. 29 vs. Florida (in Jacksonville)
Nov. 5 vs. Tennessee
Nov. 12 at Mississippi State
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Dane Brugler’s preseason ranking: No. 19 overall
Positional ranking: No. 2
What you need to know
A former five-star recruit, Gilbert ranked as the No. 5 player in the country and the No. 1 recruit in the state of Georgia in the 2020 recruiting class, ahead of pass rusher Will Anderson Jr.
He signed with LSU out of high school and immediately showed off his freaky skills in Baton Rouge with 35 catches over eight games in 2020. But that stay was short-lived, as he subsequently entered the transfer portal and briefly committed to Florida before returning to his home state Bulldogs last summer. Georgia had a special 2021 season and won the national championship but did so without Gilbert in the lineup. — Dane Brugler
Preseason scouting report
Kyle Pitts is on a level by himself in terms of his athletic profile at tight end, but Gilbert is in the next tier of freaks at the position. In studying Gilbert’s 2020 film at LSU (before his transfer to Georgia), scouts will notice that his routes were raw and his blocking was a work in progress. But he also was an immediate-mismatch weapon as a pass catcher. Given the “Megatron” nickname by former LSU head coach Ed Orgeron, Gilbert has the speed and fluidity of a wide receiver and the size of a tight end. He is a three-level target with the ball skills to win downfield and the toughness to break tackles underneath. — Brugler
More
• (An early) 2023 NFL mock draft: Gilbert becomes Justin Herbert’s new weapon in L.A.
• 2023 NFL Draft roundtable: Who’s too high (or too low) in the preseason top 50?
• Georgia truth or myths: Offense vs. defense, 1,000-yard WR, Kenny McIntosh’s target
• Georgia’s offense, tight ends could be unlike anything college football has ever seen
(Top photo: Dale Zanine / USA Today)
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