The 2021 national champion Georgia Bulldogs ate up 7 of the 100 spots on ESPN’s list of the top 100 college football players for 2022. Here’s the representatives for the Dawgs that appear in the first half.
#6: DT Jalen Carter
Carter is the Dawgs’ highest-ranking player who in his sophomore season in 2021 racked up 17 solo tackles with 20 assisted, 8.5 tackles for loss, and 3 total sacks. Carter played in 14 of the 15 games for Georgia last year as well, a major upgrade from his mere 8 starts his freshman year in 2020. His tackle for loss total led Georgia in 2021 and he averaged at least 1 individual tackle on 11.7% of snaps.
#8: TE Brock Bowers
Next down the line is sophomore tight end Brock Bowers, whose late TD in the 2021 title game essentially put the icing on the championship cake for the Dawgs. Like Carter, Bowers played in 14 of 15 games for Georgia, with 882 receiving yards from 56 catches, totaling 13 touchdowns and an average yard gain of 15.8 per catch. He also managed 56 rushing yards from 4 carries and added another TD in that statistic. Bowers had a 14-yard average on his 4 carries.
#14: Georgia Ringmaster Kelee Ringo
The national title game hero himself, Ringo’s pick-6 delivered UGA’s first national crown in 41 years. He played in 14 games and made 26 solo tackles, 8 assisted, and only 1 for a loss, but still totaling 34 tackles in 2021. Ringo also added a sack, 8 batted balls, 2 interceptions for 79 total return yards and a 39.5 average, and a TD. And you know what the context of that is if you’re a Georgia fan.
#40: Nolan Smith
Senior outside linebacker Nolan Smith is next on the list for Georgia. He played in 12 contests in 2021, with 29 solo tackles, 24 assisted takedowns, and 8 tackles for loss in addition to an impressive 4.5 sacks. Of Georgia’s reps, that’s the highest for the team total and 6th overall, behind Adam Anderson and 2022 draftees Channing Tindall, Trayvon Walker, Nakobe Dean, plus retuning 5th-year senior Robert Beal. (Side note: Anderson is no longer with the team due to a serious legal trouble.)
#44: Georgia Starting QB Stetson Bennett
Rounding out the top 50 for the Dawgs is last year’s top QB for the Dawgs, good ol’ Stetson Bennett. Like most guys on this list, Bennett played in 14 games in 2021, with 2862 passing yards, 29 TDs, and only 7 INTs. Especially impressive when you consider Bennett had to compete with 4 OTHER GUYS for the #1 slot. And yet some people still didn’t think he was a good fit for the offense. I’d say most of those folks ate their own words. Bennett logged 185 completions on 287 pass attempts for an accuracy percentage of 64.5%. Funny enough, backup JT Daniels did much better at 72.3% despite playing in only 5 games. Even RB Kenny McIntosh, who played in 13 games last season, threw a pass, but he only did it once and in 1 game. It was a complete one, though.
You may think that’s not enough for 1 team to represent a 100 players list, but if you think about it, Georgia makes up nearly a full 10% of said list. That’s not easy to do. But I guess you would expect such an achievement from the defending national champions.