Five Georgia players on Athlon Sports Preseason All-American teams

Athlon Sports released its All-American teams on Monday just a matter of weeks away from the start of the 2022 season. Georgia had 13 players on the previously released Athlon All-SEC teams, and now the Bulldogs have claim to five on the All-American teams.

Brock Bowers was the lone offensive player to receive the All-American nod from Athlon. After a stellar freshman campaign, Bowers finds himself on the First-Team heading into his sophomore season at Georgia. The Napa, Calif. native caught 56 passes for 882 yards and 13 touchdowns, all team-highs in 2021. He also added 56 yards rushing and another score on the ground. Four times in a single game did Bowers top the 100-yard mark receiving which doesn’t even include two of his four games with multiple touchdowns. At the end of the season, Bowers took home awards for SEC Freshman of the Year, national Freshman of the Year and was named an All-American by multiple outlets.

Meanwhile, on the defensive side of the ball where all the talk is about what Georgia’s loses, the Bulldogs have an impressive four Preseason All-Americans. Jalen Carter and Kelee Ringo both earned First-Team honors while Nolan Smith was named to the Second-Team and Christopher Smith made the Fourth-Team.

Carter is considered to be the leader of the defensive line in 2022 after the unit saw three players drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft this past spring. He is expected to be in that same category next spring when the 2023 draft comes around having put up 51 tackles, including 11.5 for loss, in 25 games so far in his career. While he only has 3.0 sacks, all of which came in 2021, his 33 quarterback pressures was good for second on the team. Carter’s best game came against Kentucky when he had a career-high six tackles, including 2.5 for loss and a sack, and a blocked kick, one of two that he had on the season.

Just behind Carter at the second level of the defense is Nolan Smith, who finished in the top five on the team in tackles last season. Smith also finished second on the team in tackles for loss with 9.0 as he started all 14 games in which he played. One of his best games came in the College Football Playoffs as Smith posted a career-high-tying eight tackles against Michigan to go along with 7.0 quarterback pressures, four more than he had in any other game during the season, and a forced fumble. He also had a strong showing against Florida with a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and an interception.

Ringo and Christopher Smith both return in the secondary giving Georgia a returning starter at cornerback and safety. Both players came up with clutch interceptions during the course of the 2021 season, Smith’s against Clemson in the season-opener, returned 74 yards for the game’s only touchdown, and Ringo’s in the National Championship Game to seal the deal on the Bulldogs’ win with his 79-yard pick six. Ringo played in every outing and started the final 12 games of the season while Smith played in 12, starting 11, as he battled through injuries late in the season, still playing every defensive snap against Clemson, Tennessee and Alabama.

Georgia’s five All-Americans is fourth-best in the country behind Ohio State (nine), Alabama (eight) and Clemson (six). The SEC led the way among conferences with 29 selections, three ahead of the Big Ten.

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