The Georgia Bulldogs are fresh off another record setting performance at the NFL draft. How about we take a look at some rapid fire draft notes? The Bulldogs saw 10 players taking in the 2023 NFL draft that tied them for the most of any school in the country, that is the second most in NFL history behind only the record setting 15 players taken in the 2022 NFL draft.
Georgia’s 25 picks over the last two years, sets an NFL record for the most by any school over a two day span in the common draft era. Now, who was the previous record holder? That would be your Georgia Bulldogs and the two years before that. Now, if we include the 2021 draft, the Georgia Bulldogs have had a total of 34 players taken, which would best the previous record from Florida State, which had 29 players taken over a three year period.
Even if you start with the first draft after the Bulldogs National title in 2021. That previous three year record is in serious jeopardy. And talk about proof of concept. The Georgia Bulldogs have had 19 defensive players taken over the last three drafts, including every starter from that 2021 National championship defense.
Kirby Smart has had 55 players drafted in his first seven years at the University of Georgia. Including 15 first round draft picks. That’s more first round draft picks than the rest of the S E C East combined in that time period. That’s more first round picks than the Tennessee Vols have had since the Clinton administration and more first round draft picks than the legendary Bear Bryant had in 25 years as the head coach at the University of Alabama. That’s more overall draft picks in that timeframe than Nick Saban. Dabo Swinney, Pete Carroll, Lincoln Riley, Mark Richt, Steve Spurrier, Urban Meyer, and Mack Brown. Huge hat tip to Chris Marler for those gems. But wait. There’s more. From 2013 to 2021, the University of Georgia did not have a single defensive lineman taken in the NFL draft with Jalen Carter being taken number nine, overall, the Bulldogs now have had four defensive linemen taken in the first round in the last two years.
This is a fun one. Georgia is the only university to have a tied in drafted in each of the last five NFL drafts. The Pittsburgh Steelers made Broderick Jones the fourth Georgia offensive lineman to be taken in the first round and the 10th. Overall, since 2017, from 2003 to 2016, Georgia had 10 offensive linemen drafted, and only one of those was a first rounder.
You don’t have to be a football expert to know that what the Georgia Bulldogs are doing as far as turning out talent for the NFL draft is special. But when you have experts in the field out there saying things like this, It becomes simply a fact that no one can deny. The bottom line on the situation in Athens is this, there has been a loss of talent, there has been turnover on the coaching staff, yet all the George Bulldogs did is go out and replace 15 NFL draft picks four assistant coaches and go back to back winning their second consecutive national championship going away.
The simple fact is that no one has been as dominant. As the Georgia Bulldogs over the last two seasons going 29 and one in their last 30 games. If you think this was a fluke, if you think the process that made this success possible is going to change. If you believe that Kirby Smart has not built Georgia football to sustain success, you are simply in denial.
Go Dawgs!