Offensive lineman Amarius Mims staying at Georgia amid Florida State rumors

All signs pointed to Georgia offensive lineman Amarius Mims leaving the Bulldogs for Florida State via the transfer portal. However, Mims surprised the college football world on Monday, as the 6-foot-7, 330-pound lineman is returning to Georgia, according to DawgsHQ.

“According to sources close to the situation, DawgsHQ has learned that Amarius Mims is expected to stay at Georgia and remove his name from the transfer portal,” wrote Palmer Thombs of DawgsHQ. “The former five-star offensive tackle entered his name into the portal last Sunday after going through 10 spring practices with the Bulldogs. He visited Florida State this past weekend, all the while remaining enrolled in classes at Georgia. Mims is expected to return to activities with the football team soon.”

Amarius Mims joined Georgia as a five-star recruiting prospect in 2021 according to the On3 Consensus Rankings — a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. Mims was ranked third among all offensive linemen in the nation, and 12th overall among recruits.

Kirby Smart addresses identity of 2022 Georgia football team

Evidently, Amarius Mims couldn’t quit Kirby Smart and Georgia. With the offensive lineman back in the picture, Smart is doing his best to hit reset after Georgia won the national championship, making it clear that the new unit must find an identity to compete again in 2022. Part of the spring practice goals he laid out early this year involved creating a new identity that speaks to the new players and their strengths.

During his spring game press conference following G-Day, Kirby Smart talked about the identity the 2022 Georgia football team is building and how that will be independent from the 2021 team.

CLICK HERE to get 30% OFF your Georgia Bulldogs National Championship apparel

“We’re creeping on it,” said Smart. “There was some really good accountability in terms of holding each other accountable this spring that I was shocked by, that I was like, man, there’s going to be a void in leadership, how can we create leadership opportunities. And from the day one they were pushing each other, they were cheering each other on the sideline.

“I’m like, man, it’s almost like they wanted to emulate those other guys. I’m talking about from a leadership standpoint now. They can’t emulate what some of those guys do on the field. They can emulate the standard, though, and I thought they really did that for 14 of the 15 practices. Man, I was like, dude, they had a great attitude, they worked really hard today and we made it tough, and they did it. We’re going to have to have a little different personality. We’re going to have some grit, some toughness because it won’t just be talent. We were really talented last year, and not that we’re not talented now, but we’re going to have to win in different ways.”