How Georgia's London Humphreys Grew On The Field And Off After Transfer From Vanderbilt

London Humphreys’ home southwest of downtown Nashville is about a 20-minute drive to Vanderbilt’s campus.

He grew up making trips there for track practices and meets when his father Clark was an assistant coach for the Commodores from 2005-2021. He went to football tailgates and basketball games at Memorial Gymnasium.

The 3-star prospect from Christ Presbyterian Academy chose to play football at Vanderbilt and had an All-SEC freshman season in 2023 that included a 49-yard touchdown catch against Georgia in a 37-20 Bulldogs win.

Three years later, Humphreys will play against his former team Saturday when the No. 2 Bulldogs play Vanderbilt for the first time since Humphreys wore the black and gold.

A lot has changed for Humphreys and the Commodores.

Quarterback Diego Pavia transferred in when Humphreys and 17 other scholarship players were on the way out. The Commodores went from 2-10 when Humphreys was a freshman to 7-6 and 10-3.

“If those were his freshman and sophomore years, I don’t know if he would have left,” Clark Humphreys, London’s father, said.

Part of the reason Humphreys transferred is he wanted to get away from home.

“One of the things he always said is he never felt he went away to college,” his father, a Nashville native, said. “His real growth in college has been the past two and a half years leading into this third year. …He’s taken leaps and bounds in his growth as a football player and just a young man.”

Humphreys won two SEC championships, got engaged on July 4 to UGA student Maddie Patton from Jefferson, and is set to graduate from UGA's Terry College of Business in December.

The 6-foot-2, 200-pounder's fourth-and-7 over-the-shoulder 28-yard touchdown catch in the final minutes of regulation last season helped Georgia win at Tennessee in overtime.

“I’ve seen consistency, a high level of character and toughness and just his overall character and moral aptitude,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “He is a great human being that loves this place, loves football, sets a tremendous example. Never too high, never too low. And he's fast. He's a weapon. And I'm very proud of him.”

Humphreys, 21, is now the most experienced player in the Georgia receiver room whose biggest playmakers so far this season are sophomore Talyn Taylor and freshman Craig Dandridge.

"London does everything he's asked with elite effort," center Drew Bobo said. "He brings juice to the whole team, no matter if he's blocking, running around, whatever he's asked to do."

Humphreys has 37 catches for 543 yards and six touchdowns as a Bulldog including this season four catches for 23 yards and a TD.

“It feels good just to see that on the stat sheet every once in a while,” he said.

His value to the team goes beyond those numbers through his improved blocking and on special teams.

“You can become a whole receiver at Georgia,” he said last year. “There’s a lot required of you.”

He blocked a punt in the 45-17 win at Arkansas.

“He cares so much,” Smart said. “He’s the highest character kid on the team. He’ll do whatever he can to help the team. He never complains about anything. He’s one of the best blockers.”

Smart said Humphreys “has got a deal in his NIL incentive, the more special teams he plays, the more money he gets. So he wants to be on special teams. He wants to play every snap on special teams. I keep trying to take him off to save money and it’s not working.”

Humphreys, whose sister Cailey is a freshman at Tennessee, also played baseball, basketball and ran track in high school.

Humphreys' speed is the first thing that stood out to Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea. He set a regional record in the 200-meter dash of 21.73, breaking a mark held by Jalen Ramsey who went on to become a three-time NFL All-Pro cornerback.

His parents were track All-Americans: Mother Erin in the heptathlon at South Carolina where she was twice an SEC outdoor champion and Clark at Auburn in the pole vault where he was NCAA champion in 1997.

Clark and Erin were both on staff at Auburn. London was born in nearby Opelika.

He didn’t play varsity football until his junior year and got a scholarship offer the following spring.

He won state long jump titles in 2021, 2022 and 2023 and four state titles in 2022 including the 100, 200 and 4X100 in 2022.

“We kind of saw that in the first year, kind of a receiver emerge,” Lea said of a freshman season when he was second on the team with 439 receiving yards on 22 catches with four touchdowns. “There were parts of his game as a freshman, obviously you need to work on. I think he’s done a great job at Georgia. I’ve been pulling for him and I’ve been excited to see his progress. And it’ll be fun to see him and get to connect when we’re in Athens.”

Smart said Humphreys can continue to get more opportunities in the passing game, particularly down the field.

“There's all kinds of things he could probably tell you he could improve on, but it's not his attitude,” Smart said.

Humphreys could be in his final college season and is eyeing making an NFL roster, but would have a chance to play another college season under the new eligibility rules.

He has further plans in Athens in June with his wedding to Maddie. The rehearsal dinner is planned for the Sanford Stadium recruiting lounge.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: How Georgia's London Humphreys grew on the field and off after transfer from Vanderbilt