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2025 NFL Draft: Georgia WR Arian Smith picked in 4th round by New York Jets

On3 imageby:Jake Rowe•04/26/25•

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Arian Smith Georgia
Georgia wide receiver Arian Smith (11) during Georgia’s game against Texas in the 2024 SEC Championship at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ga., on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (Conor Dillon/UGAAA)

After giving five years of his football career to Georgia, Arian Smith is going to get a shot to play in the NFL. The Bulldog wideout and standout special teamer was selected by the New York Jets in the fourth round of the 2025 NFL Draft.

Smith signed with Georgia as a four-star prospect out of Lakeland, Fla. in the 2020 class. According to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average of all four websites that publish recruiting rankings, Smith was the No. 80 overall prospect, No. 15 wide receiver, and the No. 14 player in the Sunshine State.

His first few years on campus were seriously hampered by injuries. Smith arrived at Georgia with a knee issue that required surgery. That kept him out for most of the year but he caught his first career pass in UGA’s eighth game of the season at South Carolina. It went for a 31-yard touchdown. His second catch came in the Bulldogs come-from-behind win over Cincinnati in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl. It went for 55 yards.

Smith quickly asserted himself as a big-play threat but it was apparent early on that he was prone to drops. After starting the 2021 season healthy, Smith suffered another knee injury that knocked him out for a few weeks. He came back for two games before suffering a broken leg that ended his redshirt freshman campaign. Smith caught just three passes in four games that year but he tallied 102 receiving yards and two touchdowns.

When the 2022 season began, Smith was once again battling injury. He missed the first four games of that season and it took him four more to get into the flow of the offense. When then-No. 1 ranked Tennessee came to town in November, Smith caught a 52-yard pass in the first half as the Bulldogs rolled to a 27-13 victory inside Sanford Stadium.

That was Smith’s second biggest catch of that season. The biggest was a 76-yard touchdown that sparked Georgia’s fourth-quarter comeback over Ohio State in the Peach Bowl. He had three grabs for 129 yards and a score in that game as the Bulldogs won 42-41 to reach the National Championship game.

Smith was finally able to stay healthy in 2023 but battled drops throughout the year. He hauled in eight passes for 153 yards and two touchdowns but he also dropped over 20 percent of his catchable passes according to Pro Football Focus.

Those drops didn’t go away in his fifth and final season at Georgia but Smith improved a great deal as a receiver. He dropped 15 percent of his catchable targets but he caught 67 percent of his overall targets. With 48 grabs for 817 yards and four touchdowns, Smith became the first Georgia wideout to reach 800 yards receiving in the Kirby Smart era.

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