mock draft published by ESPN\u2019s Jordan Reid.<\/a><\/p>\nPerhaps more eye-opening is the number of other SEC players projected ahead of Allen \u2014 7 \u2014 before the Bulldogs\u2019 middle linebacker is slated to go 20th overall to the Tampa Bay Bucs.<\/p>\n
Reid was plenty complimentary of Allen, a third-year starter, noting he\u2019s \u201ca patient second-level defender who quarterbacked one of the country\u2019s best defenses last season.\u201d<\/p>\n
But last year\u2019s Georgia team was quarterbacked by a first-round talent in Carson Beck, who has since transferred to greener pastures at Miami, Fla.<\/p>\n
The Bulldogs\u2019 current projected starter, fourth-year junior Gunner Stockton, is not high on the radar of any NFL team at the moment.<\/p>\n
Reid has four quarterbacks going in the top eight picks of the 2026 NFL Draft, including two from the SEC in South Carolina\u2019s La Norris Sellers (South Carolina) and LSU\u2019s Garrett Nussmeier.<\/p>\n
The SEC has seven players slated to be picked ahead of Allen, as in addition to Sellers and Nussmeier:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Alabama OT Kadyn Proctor is projected No. 2 overall,<\/p>\n
\u2022 Auburn Edge Keldric Faulk is projected No. 10 overall,<\/p>\n
\u2022 Texas\u2019 LB Anthony Hill is projected No. 11 overall,<\/p>\n
\u2022 Tennessee CB Jermod McCoy is projected No. 14 overall, and<\/p>\n
\u2022 Alabama DT LT Overton is projected No. 16 overall<\/p>\n
Smart has talked throughout the spring drills and into the offseason about the youth on this upcoming season\u2019s Georgia\u2019s Bulldogs team, and the numbers bear it out.<\/p>\n
UGA lists 10 scholarship seniors (including redshirts) on the roster, each one expected to be contributors and NFL prospects: tight end Oscar Delp, punter Brett Thorson, snapper Beau Gardner, guard Micah Morris, receivers Noah Thomas, Dillon Bell and Colbie Young, cornerback Daylen Everette, and safeties Adrian Maddox and JaCorey Thomas.<\/p>\n
Transfer safeties Zion Branch (USC), Jaden Harris (Miami), offensive tackle Earnest Greene lll, defensive tackle Christian Miller, center Drew Bobo join Stockton as the only fourth-year juniors.<\/p>\n
Georgia has a handful of true juniors who could prove NFL ready, but none \u2014 perhaps, outside of CJ Allen \u2014 jump out as having sure-fire first-round upside in the 2026 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n
Most of UGA\u2019s \u201ctrue\u201d juniors \u2014 OLB Gabe Harris, WR Zachariah Branch, WR London Humphreys, defensive tackle Jordan Hall, offensive tackle Monroe Freeling, LB Raylen Wilson, CB Daniel Harris, TE Lawson Luckie, PK Peyton Woodring and defensive back Joenel Aguero \u2014 have plenty of room left to add NFL skills.<\/p>\n
Between the youth and relative lack of star power, one early read is the 2025 season looks as challenging \u2014 if not more so \u2014 than the most recent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATHENS \u2014 Georgia football has been a fixture atop the SEC throughout Kirby Smart\u2019s tenure, but the gap…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19315,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2566,7,6,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-19314","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl-draft","8":"tag-ajc-freelancer","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-nfl-draft"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114441191851732998","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}