College Football
New Path
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
McKenzie Milton has decided to officially hang up the cleats, announcing his retirement from football on Thursday.
The former UCF star returned from a catastrophic leg injury to play for Florida State in 2021, providing one great story last season.
But now that the 2022 NFL Draft has come and gone, Milton explained on Instagram that “my days of playing football have come to an end.”
Milton had a 27-6 record as a starter for UCF, after starting 4-6 his freshman season, he led the Knights to 23 consecutive wins. He contributed to two American Athletic Conference Championship teams, but that fateful injury in the regular season finale back in 2018 cost him the 2019 and 2020 seasons.
Milton graduated from UCF and transferred to Florida State, where he was able to get on the field for six games with four starts during the 2021 season.
After participating in a pro day at Florida State and UCF this spring and not getting drafted, Milton can celebrate his recovery and still know he gave the NFL his best run.
In his announcement on social media, Milton made reference to the “what if” questions that might include whether his NFL Draft outcome might have been different without the injury. But he says his outlook is focused on his growing family, as he and his wife are expecting a boy this summer.
“A lot of people will wonder what if he never got hurt, what if this what if that? I asked myself those same questions for a while too,” Milton wrote in his announcement on social media. “It wasn’t until November 23, 2021 (three year anniversary of my injury) where I saw my son for the first time on ultrasound and then understood why I went through what I went through. It took three years to put it all in perspective. I get goosebumps thinking about how divine it is that three years to the day I get hurt, is the same day I see my baby boy for the first time.”
While Milton was working out with NFL aspirations, he simultaneously got active in the name, image and likeness business.
Dreamfield was founded in the summer of 2021 by two then-active college quarterbacks, McKenzie Milton and D’Eriq King. At the time, both had transferred to Florida schools after great AAC careers. Both said they wanted to take advantage of the new opportunity that was NIL.
Through their Dreamfield platform, they did things like releasing NFTs or non-fungible tokens, which are blockchain-based assets that allow college athletes to easily monetize their NIL, build their brand, and authentically connect with their fans in new and unique ways.
They also brought in other student-athletes, who wanted to use the platform to help find NIL deals.
Today, they offer numerous resources for the athletes who they’ve partnered with, including help with taxes, compliance, and brand building. Meanwhile, they help brands identify the right athletes for them and track the success of their campaigns.
They also exist to help boosters in the NIL era, as they try to begin crowdfunding and things of that nature.
Dreamfield works to bring student-athletes and brands together for the purposes of NIL. They do so without pairing up directly. Instead, they team up with the athletes themselves.
Among those athletes who they have teamed up with are Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson, Louisville quarterback Malik Cunningham and Washington quarterback Michael Penix.
Now, with these new brands, they will be able to help those brands partner with more student-athletes in deals moving forward.
We may have seen the last of Milton on the gridiron, but he made his impact in college athletics.
Winning
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
It is June and SEC football is less than one hundred days away.
My random thoughts relate to SEC Football. When Nick Saban arrived at Alabama in 2007 the entire landscape changed in the SEC.
Alabama became a dynasty. Beginning in 2008 Alabama has run things in the college football world. Here is a snapshot of the current SEC membership since the beginning of this great Alabama run.
Ten-win seasons since 2008:
Alabama – 14: Alabama has won 10 or more games for 14 straight seasons.
The worst record during that time was a 10-3 mark in 2010.
I do not know if college football has ever seen a more dominant run than the current one the Crimson Tide is on.
In the same window Alabama has won six national championships. Many have Alabama as the favorite to win number seven this fall under the Nick Saban watch. Saban is the greatest coach in the history of college football.
Georgia – 9: Georgia has been a consistent winner since 2008 and finally broke a long championship drought in 2021 by winning the national championship.
Losses to Alabama in the SEC title game in 2012, and a loss in the national title game in 2017 have kept UGA from having three national titles in the past decade.
Kirby Smart has Georgia built for the long haul. UGA seems to be here to stay. Kirby is getting ready to sign a long-term contract that could make him the highest paid head coach in college football.
Florida, LSU – 6: Florida won a national title in 2008, then lost the SEC title game to Alabama in 2009. Florida went off the grid for a few years then bounced back with a nice 2020 season then Dan Mullen made the famous recruiting comments after the UGA loss in 2021 then was run out of Gainesville.
LSU went 15-0 in 2019 and won the national title. That team was the first SEC team ever to go 15-0 in a single season.
LSU lost to Alabama in the BCS National Title game in 2011. LSU has had two straight losing seasons in 2020 and 2021. That is unacceptable in Baton Rouge.
Missouri – 4: Mizzou joined the SEC in 2012 and had 10-win seasons in 2013 and 2014 and won the SEC East in the process.
Mizzou also had a couple of other ten-win seasons since 2008. Never in a million years did would I have believed that Missouri would have more 10-win seasons than Auburn since 2008.
Auburn, South Carolina – 3: Auburn is either great or mediocre as evidenced by the 2010 national title with Cam Newton and the 2013 season in which they lost to FSU in the title game.
All of South Carolina’s success came when Steve Spurrier roamed the sidelines in Columbia. The Ball Coach retired in 2015.
Arkansas, Kentucky, Ole Miss – 2: Kentucky has played football since 1892, and in that time has four ten-win seasons.
Mark Stoops has two of those in the past four years. Arkansas and Ole Miss are proud football programs that are on the rebound with good head coaches.
Mississippi State, Texas A&M – 1: MSU is a historical doormat in the SEC, and Texas A&M went 11-2 in 2012, which is their only 10-win season this century.
Jimbo Fisher is getting paid big bucks by The Aggies to be an 8-4 type football program. Now he calls out Saban recently on NIL comments the GOAT made.
Tennessee, Vanderbilt – 0: Vandy is Vandy we know they are not going to compete consistently in football, but Tennessee being a dumpster fire for the last 14 years blows your mind. No ten-win seasons, no championships, 15 year losing streak to Alabama. How the proud have fallen.
2022 should be another banner year for SEC football.
The New Look SEC
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
For the next several days, the SEC will take over Destin, Fla., as the league’s leaders and coaches meet to discuss name, image and likeness, future scheduling, playoff expansion, transfer portal windows and more.
There’s undoubtedly going to be grumblings about collectives and college football free agency, but after commissioner Greg Sankey told Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher to zip-it recently, the spiciest of soundbites may have already happened.
Still, even if we don’t get Fisher vs. Saban Round 2, these SEC spring meetings could carry as much importance as they have in many years.
With Oklahoma and Texas set to join the league in 2025, the future of the conference could be hammered out at the Hilton Sandestin this week.
Here’s primer on the various topics expected to dominate the conversations:
Which scheduling model will the SEC choose? Heading into the SEC spring meetings, the conference is split on a couple different potential scheduling options starting in 2025 when new members Oklahoma and Texas join the league.
Pods (think NFL-like divisions) have been eliminated from the proposals.
The league is now considering two main formats: An eight-game (1-7) schedule where schools would have just a single permanent opponent (think Alabama–Auburn) and seven rotating opponents. This would allow every team and fan base to see the entire league every other year.
On the flip-side, it would eliminate a bunch of annual, storied rivalries.
There’s also a nine-game format proposal, where every school would have three permanent opponents, thus preserving more rivalries, and six rotating league games.
For now, divisions seem unlikely but haven’t totally been ruled out.
Expect plenty of horse-trading with whatever format the league chooses. The powerbrokers (i.e., Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Florida, etc.) are in favor of the nine-game format, understanding that it would generate the league even more revenue (i.e., more TV inventory, more butts in the seats) and produce better games. Again, it bears repeating, but it would also save important rivalries like Auburn-Georgia or Tennessee–Kentucky.
Notably, Sankey prefers a nine-game conference slate.
The bottom half of the league currently favors the eight-game format, wanting that extra non-conference game as a potential boost for their overall win-total.
Determining team’s permanent opponents will lead to some contentious debates. What’s equitable? And to whom? Is it fair if Auburn has to play Alabama, Georgia and Florida every year plus a rotating set of opponents? No. And other schools will make similar cases.
How serious is the league about an All-SEC playoff? Four Means More to the SEC than any other conference, so don’t expect Sankey or the league’s ADs to cave on any future eight-team playoff.
They were willing to sacrifice for 12, but when talks collapsed, the league began tinkering with ideas about its own postseason tournament.
The early details include an eight-team playoff tournament, likely starting around the same date (early December) as the current SEC Championship.
The question at hand is this merely a leverage play by Sankey and the ADs to essentially threaten the rest of the sport that if they don’t meet back in the middle on College Football Playoffs expansion then the league will be ready to do its own thing, or are they serious about exploring potential additional expansion (think poaching ACC schools like FSU and Va. Tech, among others), building a super conference and holding their own tournament?
The league would obviously benefit greatly financially from an intra-SEC postseason, and could still plot a path to playing someone from The Alliance (Big Ten, ACC, Pac-12 or Big 12) for “national championship.”
SEC QB1
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
1.Bryce Young, Alabama – Young is the 2021 Heisman Trophy winner who accounted for 47 touchdowns last season. The redshirt sophomore will have Alabama once again in contention for a National Championship. Young is without a doubt the top quarterback in the SEC and the entire country going into the 2022 season. Young could be the first name called in the 2023 NFL draft for a team that needs a franchise quarterback.
2.Stetson Bennett, Georgia – When you lead a team trailing with 8 minutes left to victory in the National Championship game, you land high on any QB ranking list. Bennett is a winner that folks not associated with UGA like to dismiss. He won the national title game with his arm with two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter to lead UGA to that win over Alabama. The QB that is ranked higher on this list than Bennett, ended his 2021 season with a 79-yard pick six to Kelee Ringo. The Mailman will deliver once again this fall for the Georgia Bulldogs.
3.KJ Jefferson, Arkansas – Jefferson is an exceptionally large man. The Razorbacks’ 6-3, 250-pound dual-threat talent led a resurgence for Razorback football in 2021. Jefferson has Arkansas believing that they can supplant Alabama in the SEC West. If Jefferson plays well in 2022 then Arkansas should make some noise in the SEC West. I hope I am not over-hyping Jefferson.
4.Will Rogers, Mississippi State – Rogers can sling the football in Mike Leach’s Air Raid attack. He led the league in passing yards per game in 2021. He passed for 4,700 yards and completed almost 74% of his throws. This kid is good. You never know what you are going to get when you play against a Mike Leach team, but this QB makes State a dangerous team to go up against in 2022. Can you imagine Rogers leading a Texas A&M team in search of a topflight quarterback?
5.Hendon Hooker, Tennessee – Is Hooker that good or is it Josh Heupel’s system. Hooker passed for 31 TDs in 2021. Year 2 in the new system should reap comparable results. Tennessee should be able to put up a lot of points this fall. Game with the Vols could turn into shoot-outs in 2022 with Hooker under center. The Florida game will be huge for Hooker and Tennessee early in the season. Win that one and look out SEC. Tennessee has been down for a decade, but they will not be down much longer. The SEC is much better when Tennessee is relevant.
Just Missing the Top 5: Spencer Rattler, South Carolina – Rattler will have to make the adjustment to the SEC where much better team defense is played from the Big 12. South Carolina feels like Rattler can get them near the top of the SEC East. The Gamecocks host UGA in September. UGA fans are not laughing because there have been some tough trips to Columbia is last 20 years.
Will Levis, Kentucky – Quietly Levis has become one of the top tier QB’s in the conference. Kentucky is a sleeper team in 2022. He is tough and can use his legs. He makes all the throws needed.
Jaxon Dart, Ole Miss – Dart will be under the guidance of Lane Kiffin. Enough said there. Ole Miss QB’s will put up enormous numbers.
Save The Receipts
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The recent verbal jousting over NIL between two of college football’s heavyweight head coaches, Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher has garnered a ton of national media attention and headlines in the past few days.
The minute Alabama coach Nick Saban’s comments regarding Texas A&M and NIL showed up on social media Wednesday night, the college football world stopped to watch what happened next.
Saban further opened up about what he said during an event in Birmingham. He said Texas A&M “bought every player on their roster,” which led to a fiery press conference from Aggies coach Jimbo Fisher on Thursday.
Saban reiterated his stance on NIL and how it’s a good thing for players, but continued to call for “guardrails” to help create “parity.”
“It was not my intention to really criticize anyone,” Saban said. “I was just trying to make a point about the state of college football and college athletics right now. I think we have some unintended consequences of name, image and likeness in some of the circumstances that we’re in right now. The spirit of competition is what has made sports popular, created a lot of fan interest….But we’ve always had guardrails on rules that govern competitive sports to create parity, and I think the situation that we’re in now in college football, we don’t have that. There’s a lot of Division I schools that aren’t going to be able to do the same things that other Division I schools can do to create opportunities for players in some kind of way. I’m all for the opportunities for the players, but some way, we’ve got to create a balance in all that.”
Saban also said he worries about programs losing players to other programs because of NIL opportunities — and he called for “guardrails” to prevent that.
“I don’t want to go down that road of bidding for players out of high school. I don’t,” Saban said. “But if we go through this recruiting class this year and we lose all the players, because Jimbo Fisher has been saving the receipts.”
Texas A&M’s head coach went scorched earth Thursday during an impromptu press conference responding to comments by Alabama head coach Nick Saban, who accused Fisher and the Aggies of “buying every player on their team” through NIL deals this offseason.
Texas A&M inked the greatest recruiting class in modern history this spring, and Fisher, who has already issued multiple public statements denouncing accusations of cheating, once again doubled-down that the Aggies did nothing outside of the NCAA rules (i.e., pay for play) to land their historic class.
“It’s a shame that we have to do this,” Fisher said. “It’s really despicable. It’s despicable that somebody can say things about somebody, an organization, and more importantly 17-year-old kids. You’re taking shots at 17-year-old kids and their families. That they broke state laws, that they’re all money, that we bought every player in this group. We never bought anybody. No rules were broken. Nothing was done wrong.”
Thou doth protest too much? Too much performance art? Absolutely, but under the new NIL rules, Texas A&M could’ve totally provided six-figure deals to players. While inducements are prohibited, there’s a lot of gray area in-between.
But the mere suggestion that the Aggies’ recruiting was not above board sent Fisher into such a tizzy that he unleashed the greatest diss track since 2Pac’s Hit ‘Em Up.
The man emptied the clip on a man many considered his mentor, someone Fisher worked under for five seasons at LSU. During his opening salvo, Fisher referred to Saban as “despicable” multiple times, and called him a narcissist.
Jimbo Fisher has been saving the receipts, and his clapback is just relentless. No mercy. Who else cannot wait to be a fly on the wall when Fisher and Saban sit at the same table at the SEC Spring Meeting.
Welcome To The Party
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Gus Malzahn can’t wait for UCF to join the Big 12.
The football coach for the Knights believes the AAC has a lot to offer, and wants to show the college football world its teams can compete on a Power 5 level.
With UCF, Cincinnati, Houston set to join the Big 12 — alongside BYU — in 2023, they will finally get their chance. Malzahn discussed how he believes the new additions will fit in with the rest of the league.
“As of right now, it looks like this will be the last year,” the coach said. “You’re absolutely right that Cincinnati had a great team. You’re talking about Houston, SMU, Memphis — there’re some really good teams in this league. It looks like we’ll be going to the Big 12 in 2023. We’re really looking forward to that. That’s a big step. It’s really helped us in the recruiting world, so we’re looking forward to it.”
Currently, members of the Big 12 receive $37 million per year from the Big 12’s media deals. UCF currently averages about $7 million per year in The American.
While the departure of Texas and Oklahoma are definitely a blow to the remaining Big 12 schools’ budgets, according to CBS’ Dennis Dodd, the addition of the above four schools does help them preserve a considerable portion of their value:
That’s at least a 3x increase over what UCF is currently making from their media deal.
Figures may vary in the final analysis with the contract renewals coming up, but that means UCF could be jumping from a $7-8 million annual payout from media and the CFP to some $25-30 million per year just by virtue of existing in the Big 12.
The Big 12’s media contract with Fox and ESPN comes to an end in 2025.
Fox could also end up renewing with them, with games on Fox and FS1, but keep in mind that the Big Ten is Fox’s priority, so the Big 12 may prefer another network if they don’t get what they want from Fox.
Moreover, Malzahn believes that his team’s impending move to the Big 12 has already started to have a positive impact on recruiting efforts. UCF signed the No. 1 recruiting class in the AAC for 2022, as well as the 47th overall class nationally.
Malzahn said the promise of playing in a Power 5 league has opened doors for players that the Knights previously had little shot at landing.
“There’s no doubt (it means more to recruits),” he said. “The first year, we went after the top players in the country and in the state and we’d hear, ‘Hey, coach. Y’all are non-Power 5.’ Whether we liked it or not, that’s real for recruits. Since the announcement has been made that we’re going to the Big 12, it’s really opened the door to the top players in the country. We really recruited very well last year and I think we have a chance to really have a great class this year.”
As the Knights earn more legitimacy as a member of a power-5 conference, the battle on the recruiting trail between Florida State, Miami, and Florida will only continue to grow. It’ll make the competition in the state even fiercer and it could get really intriguing if the schools begin to play one another more often.
What long has been a ‘big three’ in the state of Florida is on the cusp of expanding to a ‘big four.’
I Have The Power
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Spring football is behind us now in the SEC.
All the programs have had their Spring Football games and now the pundits weigh in on typical off-season things like ranking the teams coming out of that process. Here goes mine based on my observations and things I know about the SEC in general.
Alabama: Bryce Young and Will Anderson return. Young won the Heisman in 2021, and Anderson is regarded as the best defensive player in the country.
Plus, they have Nick Saban roaming the sidelines.
Concerns for the defending SEC Champions reside along the offensive line and depth at the wide receiver position.
This is Alabama, so recruiting has not been an issue. It seems like everyone is anointing Alabama as the odds-on favorite to win the National Championship in 2022. They land at the #1 spot in my rankings.
Georgia: The National Champions (What a sweet sound coming off your lips) do not rebuild they reload now under Kirby Smart.
Stetson Bennett is back at QB, and UGA has an offense that looks like a juggernaut with Brock Bowers and company returning.
This will be an experienced unit that will score buckets of points. On the defensive side yes, they lost five first rounders to the NFL, but do not ever worry about defense while Kirby is in Athens. The unit will be elite.
Kentucky: Yes, Kentucky lands here. Laugh if you want, but Will Levis returns at QB, and Mark Stoops has quietly become one of the best head coaches in the conference.
Kentucky is becoming a serious football school. They host UGA in Lexington; this could be a classic football game.
Arkansas: Sam Pittman has the Hogs believing they are contenders.
KJ Jefferson returns at QB, and LB Bumper Pool will lead an Arkansas defense.
Alabama must travel to Fayetteville this fall, and I am putting the Tide on upset alert in May. Arkansas will have this game circled on the calendar.
Texas A&M: NIL produced on paper the best recruiting class ever. Time will tell. Who will the QB be? Many have the Aggies higher than I do, but until a QB emerges they sit at #5 for me.
Ole Miss: Yes, they lost Matt Corral and Lane Kiffin addressed that in the portal with Jaxon Dart.
This team has a swagger about them. I know they will score points. How good this team eventually becomes will depend on the defensive side of the ball. Alabama travels to Oxford on November 12th.
Tennessee: Hendon Hooker returns at QB. The Vols have some talent at WR. Will this defense perform good enough to get Tennessee to nine wins? The jury is out.
LSU: This seems low, but who should they be ranked above with the QB issues they have and a first-year head coach in Brian Kelly?
Kelly is an elite coach and LSU will always recruit well, but again tell me who the QB is?
South Carolina: Will Spencer Rattler be able to lead the Gamecocks to 8-9 wins?
Mississippi State: Will Rogers is an elite QB. State is a team that can shock the world one week and look like the worst team in the country the next.
Florida: Billy Napier will get this ship turned around and Florida will be Florida again soon.
If he can win eight games with the depth issues, he inherited in 2022 then look out for the Gators moving forward.
Auburn: Brain Harsin is the equivalent to dead man walking. The power brokers have tried to fire him this offseason and were not successful.
Talent is just not up to Auburn standards. Now watch this team win the SEC West. That is what Auburn does.
Missouri: Bowl team that just lands here due to the overall power of the SEC.
Vanderbilt: Vandy just lands here most seasons now. That is just the way things are in the SEC.
Rising Spear
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Florida State NIL collectives Rising Spear and Warpath 850 announced Thursday they were consolidating. The move is believed to be the first “collective” merger in the Name, Image and Likeness era.
Collectives, which are independent from a university, pool funds from boosters and businesses, to help facilitate NIL deals for athletes.
They also create their own ways for athletes to monetize their brands. Every Power 5 school is expected to be affiliated with at least one collective by the end of the year.
As part of the merger, Kristi Dosh (Business of College Sports) reported athletes already working with Rising Spear will have access to the Dreamfield NIL platform. Dreamfield formed Warpath 850 in March, while Rising Spear launched last December.
Additionally, several NIL observers believe more collective mergers in the future. The experts say consolidation makes sense and helps the collectives build a larger presence for recruiting and retention efforts.
Collectives and the NIL have become a lightning rod in college athletics over the past few weeks. Coaches say NIL disguises “pay-for-play” deals choreographed by collectives. Coaches say the groups are using money to persuade recruits and target players on other college teams.
A recent poll of around 80 athletic directors in the Football Bowl Subdivision revealed an overwhelming majority are concerned collectives are using NIL payments as improper recruiting enticements, both for high school prospects and players in the transfer portal.
Bob Davis and Alan Flaumenhaft, former members of the executive board of directors of Seminole Boosters, founded Rising Spear.
There are two NIL options as part of Rising Spear. Rising Spear finds a booster-owned company and enlists an athlete as a sponsor. For Garnet Spirit, boosters donate to a charity and get a tax write-off. Athletes make charitable appearances to earn compensation.
“This exciting merger between Rising Spear and Warpath 850,” reports Matthew Quigley, CEO of Rising Spear, “It will create a strong, unified membership platform to benefit Seminole student-athletes. To our knowledge, this groundbreaking merger is the first consolidation between NIL collectives representing student-athletes from the same institution. We look forward to welcoming all Warpath 850 subscribers with a reminder that the student-athletes receive 100% of all donations collected by Rising Spear.”
Additionally, Corey Staniscia, Dreamfield’s Director of External Relations, said “It is the first time the industry is seeing two groups that were on parallel tracks in the same town now team up in a peaceful way to further benefit the athletes at the institution,”
Furthermore, Rising Spear recently partnered with MarketPryce. Who aims to create a larger number of NIL deals for FSU athletes.
Rising Spear is a third-party entity not affiliated with Florida State University. The organization provides a platform to create and develop NIL opportunities for FSU student-athletes in cooperation with businesses and sponsors.
Under current state law, Florida universities can educate athletes on NIL opportunities. But they cannot help facilitate or promote NIL deals. It follows NIL guidelines, and it is totally compliant.
Draft Dogs
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The 2021 Georgia Bulldogs already had a special spot in history, bringing home the program’s first National Championship in over four decades. Well, if there were any doubts about their all-time standing, the 2022 NFL Draft made their spot in the record books.
With 15 Bulldogs being selected, Georgia breaks the seven-round NFL Draft record for players picked in a single draft from the same school. The 2003 Ohio State Buckeyes and 2019 LSU Tigers previously held the record with 14 in the 2004 and 2020 NFL Drafts.
Things got started in a big way during the first round for the Dawgs with defensive lineman Travon Walker coming off the board to the Jacksonville Jaguars with the first overall pick.
Walker becomes the fifth Georgia player to be picked No. 1 overall, tying the NFL Draft record with Notre Dame, Oklahoma and USC. Previous No. 1 picks for the Bulldogs are Matthew Stafford (2009), Harry Babcock (1953), Charley Trippi (1945) and Frank Sinkwich (1943).
Jordan Davis (Eagles), Quay Walker (Packers), Devonte Wyatt (Packers) and Lewis Cine (Vikings) continued the run on Bulldogs in the first round, giving Georgia five players picked, all on the defensive side of the football.
In doing so, they set a new program record for first round picks in a single draft as well as a record for the most defensive players picked from the same team in the first round.
On day two of the draft (second and third rounds), Georgia added four more selections. Wide receiver George Pickens was the first offensive player from UGA off the board, going to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the second round followed soon after by running James Cook to the Buffalo Bills.
Then, in the third, it was a pair of inside linebackers getting picked with Nakobe Dean going to Philadelphia, and Channing Tindall being picked by the Miami Dolphins. That also gave Georgia the record for most defenders taken in the first three rounds in addition to their first-round record.
Zamir White was selected in the fourth round to the Las Vegas Raiders, followed by Jake Camarda to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After a quiet fifth round, the sixth round welcomed two big Bulldog offensive linemen– Justin Shaffer to the Atlanta Falcons and Jamaree Salyer to the Los Angeles Chargers.
Finally, with back-to-back picks at No. 212 and No. 213 overall, Derion Kendrick (Los Angeles Chargers) and John FitzPatrick (Atlanta Falcons) got the Dawgs to break the record.
In The 2022 NFL Draft, Georgia broke all the records, or at least it felt that way.
The Bulldogs had 15 players picked – the most in a seven-round draft in history – with eight on the defensive side of the ball, including a first-round record five and a top-three-round record seven.
UGA also became the only team to ever have tight ends taken in four straight drafts with the selection of John FitzPatrick, Georgia’s 15th and final player. Needless to say, it was an eventful draft for Georgia.
G-Day
By: Jeff Doke
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Another G-Day game has come and gone. The annual spring game, which for decades stood as a reasonable excuse for alumni & recent graduates to make an offseason return to the classic city, has grown into something larger.
For the first time, the intrasquad matchup of the red & black was broadcast live on ESPN2, making it the highest billed CFB non-game event in cable broadcast history.
The event has had its share of celebrities in the past; either in the stands or as guest coaches for one of the squads. This year there was no need for such chicanery & tomfoolery.
No sir, the citizens of Dawgnation have rewatched the national championship game dozens of times since January (and probably will watch it a dozen more between now & September), but they are ready for some new information as to what they can realistically expect out of the Dawgs this fall.
What they saw on the field invited an old friend back into their red & black hearts – Hope.
For the first time in his career, Stetson Bennett IV will start the season as the undisputed starting quarterback. His performance at G-Day showed that his enshrinement as QB1 is justified, but he still has room to grow in his final season between the hedges.
The Mailman went 15-35 for 273 yards and 3 TDs. The 2 INTs were mildly troublesome, but not blatantly bad decisions like we saw in the SEC Championship Game.
On the other hand, Carson Beck showed that he will be more than capable to step into the starting role should situations require. The redshirt sophomore from Jacksonville went 14 of 26 for 274 yards with no scores or picks.
While the RBs at RBU were understandably quiet on the day, the tight ends were the real showcase even without freshman phenom Brock Bowers.
LSU transfer Arik Gilbert and early enrollee Oscar Delp showed that the receiving corps is just fine without a 1000-yard WR, thank you very much.
Delp led all receivers on the day with 7 catches for 91 yards, while Gilbert hauled in 3 catches for 49 yards and 2 TDs, including a beaut of a 16-yarder in double coverage.
When you take an arguably all-time great defense like UGA had last year, a drop in performance has to be expected. Of last year’s contributors, eight are expected to be drafted in the NFL draft this year, with an outside chance of a record-tying six Dawgs going in the first round.
When you have that severe of a talent bleed, you would be hard pressed to expect anything but a letdown. G-Day showed us that although the lofty heights of 2021 are more than likely out of reach, the drop off in defensive production might not be as severe as feared.
While Kelee Ringo will pick up right where he left off and Jalen Carter will undoubtedly take over from Jordan Davis as the heart & soul leader of the 2022 Bulldogs, there were several names on display at G-Day that Dawg Nation would do well to remember.
For example, take Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins. Get used to the initials TID. The redshirt freshman was in the backfield almost as much as the running backs all day long.
Warren Brinson was pushing the line as well, forcing pressure on the QB and making his presence felt.
All things considered, the first-string defense did better against the first-string offense than you would expect, considering 10 out of the 11 starters from last year’s opener against Clemson have changed.
In short, the 2022 G-Day Game was more than just a spring warm up as usual. The National Championship team received their rings, and those that bleed red & black got a chance to see what to expect in the fall.
And expectations, while understandably high, may not be unrealistic after all.
