Chad Bumphis is only a junior, but he is very much the senior leader of a Bulldog receiving core that will be arguably as deep as any in school history.
“We are at last three deep at every position,” Bumphis said. “When it comes to the season, our game plan will have a lot of packages. You just don’t know right now, but they’ll be a way to get all of us on the field for sure.”
Bumphis – along with fellow juniors Arceto Clark, Chris Smith and Brandon Heavens – will headline a receiving core that might be as deep as 11 players according to new wide receivers coach Angelo Mirando.
“They’re ready for football,” Mirando said. “Coach Balis does a heck of a job getting them in shape. If you look at my guys’ bodies, Bump looks yoked up, Ricco is ripped. Sam Williams tweeted some pic, I’m like ‘Geez, oh man. What the hell is that?'”
Mirando worked with the group last year as a graduate assistant and stepped into the position coach role after Mark Hudspeth left to be head coach at Louisiana-Lafayette. He’s been with Dan Mullen since the head coach’s final year at Florida, so he knows the type of offense Mullen is trying to build and the skills his receivers will need to run it.
“The great thing is he’s very tough on our players,” Mullen said. “They’ll tell you that but he can also relate to them. I think that’s a very important fact for those guys.”
Mirando has seen his core group of juniors grow into leaders over the last three years.
“The best thing that happened was all those guys, as freshmen, had to play,” Mirando said. “It hurt us. It hurt us then, it hurt our passing game our first year, we were 5-7. But Bumphis and Heavens have been playing for three years. Chris Smith has been playing for three years. Arceto switched over, but he played last year. So those guys know what to expect and know the intensity that we expect at practice.”
The result is not only increased depth, but also increased competition.
“There’s really no set depth chart,” Mirando said. “Every job is up for grabs. There are  guys who are ones going into day one of camp, but that’s always subject to change.”
But Bumphis, easily the most productive of the group last season with 44 catches for 634 yards and five touchdowns, isn’t scared of the competition  depth brings. In fact, he is thankful for it.
“You don’t have to worry about doing so much,” Bumphis said. “When you’ve got teammates who can do just as much, it’s a lot easier.”
Still, with his incredible speed and strength, Bumphis has to continue to develop for the passing game to be effective.
“He has to be our Percy Harvin when we were at Florida,” Mirando said. “I hate making that comparison at all, because (Harvin’s) just a freak of all freaks. He needs to be a leader though, and he needs to develop other aspects of his game. He can’t be all buddy-buddy with guys at times. When it’s time to work, it’s time to work. He needs to take that leadership role.”
Bumphis said he’s settling into that role. He’s coaching up the younger guys at practice; he’s teaching them the offense. He  said he now takes pride in their success as part of his own.
“The thing I think the most is if we have team success, then my success will come,” Bumphis said. “Now the main focus is getting to Atlanta and winning an SEC championship.”