He’s a national champion who played the toughest competition.
The Ravens have been on the cusp of the Super Bowl. Starks won it all at Georgia as a freshman in 2022.
Beyond the title, Georgia has had one of college football’s best defenses for years and Starks was the leader of that unit on the back end.
DeCosta said he learned from his predecessor, Ozzie Newsome, about the value of drafting big-time players from big-time programs. Newsome was known for his love of Alabama players. DeCosta’s first-round defensive draft picks have been from LSU (Patrick Queen), Odafe Oweh (Penn State), Notre Dame (Hamilton), Clemson (Nate Wiggins) and now Georgia.
“That’s a big deal. That’s something that we definitely look for,” DeCosta said. “Let’s face it; the SEC is, if not one – I mean probably one, but one or two in terms of the best football conferences in the country – and this is a guy that’s won national championships and played at a very high level. That’s important.”