Amarius Mims speaks for first time on SEC Championship game injury
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Amarius Mims is likely to hear his name called in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft but his path to this position is different than most. The mammoth lineman started just nine games in his three years at Georgia and wasn’t able to finish a couple of those contests. When it comes to game experience, he’s significantly behind the other offensive tackles in this draft.
One of those games he didn’t finish was his last at Georgia. Mims exited the game with an ankle injury on the final play of the Bulldogs’ second driver against Alabama in the 2024 SEC Championship game, a contest UGA went on to lose 27-24, snapping an SEC-record 29-game win streak.
Saturday, on the final day of interviews at the 2024 NFL Combine, Mims had a chance to speak about that game and the injury he sustained for the first time.
“It wasn’t my proudest game, honestly,” Mims said when asked about the game in December. I went down, I want to say, play 12. I wish I could have finished the game with my guys. We fell up short, but like I said, if I could go back to that game, I wish I wouldn’t have got bumped up on my ankle again. But, like I said, if we were 100 percent healthy, it would have been a different outcome in that game, honestly.”
Mims wasn’t the only Georgia player injured in that game. Star pass catchers Brock Bowers and Ladd McConkey played but were far less than 100 percent. The same can be said for inside linebacker Smael Mondon. The Bulldogs had to play without inside linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson, now at Kentucky, and wideout Rara Thomas.
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But, as we’ve undoubtedly heard many times over the years, that’s just football. Injuries are part of the game and Alabama had their fair share when Georgia knocked it off in the 2022 National Championship game, bringing the first such title to Athens in 41 years.
The fact that Mims didn’t see a ton of game action at Georgia is probably the biggest knock on him during the pre-draft process. He’s being compared to players who racked up thousands of snaps and dozens of starts. The fact that he’s being considered a first-round pick speaks to his raw ability and size.
Mims says he plans to weigh in at around 335 to 340 pounds on Sunday when workouts begin for the offensive linemen. He’s going to measure in around 6-foot-7 as well. Teams will be enamored with his frame but it was his experience at Georgia that he believes prepares him the most to play at the next level.
“I feel like Georgia is the best college institution in the country and I feel like they prepared me and the guys, my teammates here, more than anyone else here, honestly,” Mims said on Friday. “Just the hard coaching, the coaching staff we’ve got is the best coaching staff in the country. I strongly feel that’s true. They teach you how to grow up before your time and I had to do that real quick. I’m very thankful for that.”
