Phil Steele sounds off on Georgia in recent release of preview magazine

It’s an age old tradition. June and July comes around on the calendar, and so too do the countless College Football preview magazines. Among those every year is Phil Steele’s College Football Preview which went to press recently and is available online already. In the 2022 magazine, Steele sounded off on the defending champion Georgia Bulldogs, their chances to repeat and much much more.

Georgia in Preseason Top 40

Steele has Georgia coming in at No. 3 in his preseason top 40 behind Alabama and Ohio State while ahead of Clemson and Michigan. It’s the same top four that Athlon Sports had in its rankings release last month. Athlon however had Texas A&M at No. 5 while Steele sees Michigan in that slot. The only difference in the top 10 – where Steele rounds things out with Utah, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Texas A&M and Oregon on top of the previously named top five – is USC. Athlon had the Trojans in over Oklahoma with a couple of the actual rankings differentiating too.

When it comes to Georgia’s opponents for 2022, Steele has the Bulldogs set to play against four top 40 teams. Oregon, the opponent in the opener, is obviously top 10, but Tennessee (No. 27), Florida (No. 32) and Kentucky (No. 35) round out the top 40. Auburn (No. 50) was included in the “Missed the Cut” category.

Steele also puts out a Power Poll where he strictly rates the team and not the toughness of their schedule and their ability to finish with a strong record, and some of the opponents come in higher. Tennessee (No. 11), Auburn (No. 19), Mississippi State (No. 20), Kentucky (No. 32) and South Carolina (No. 38) are all higher in the Power Poll according to Steele than the Top 40 preseason poll.

Bulldog All-Americans

Phil Steele also released four sets of all All-American squads with five Bulldogs making the cut. Brock Bowers and Jalen Carter were named First-Team All-Americans, Kelee Ringo and Christopher Smith were included on the Second-Team while Warren Ericson earned himself a spot as a Third-Team All-American.

Bowers had a big freshman season in 2021, leading Georgia in all receiving categories with 56 catches for 882 yards and 13 scores. All of those stats broke program single-season records for a tight end while his 13 touchdown grabs was the most by any Bulldog pass catcher regardless of position.

Carter is probably Georgia’s best draft prospect coming into 2022 after earning himself a Second-Team All-SEC spot according to the coaches last season. With defensive linemen like Jordan Davis, Travon Walker and Devonte Wyatt all off to the NFL having been first round selections in this past spring’s draft, Carter has all the opportunity in the world to up his production to even higher levels than the 37 tackles and 33 quarterback pressures he had last season.

As for the two defensive backs – Ringo and Smith – they’ll be looked to as leaders in a secondary that sees Lewis Cine and Derion Kendrick depart. Ringo returned his fourth-quarter interception in the National Championship Game for a game-sealing score while Smith’s biggest impact came early in the season when he scored the only touchdown of Georgia’s season-opener against Clemson. Meanwhile, Ericson started 14 games for Georgia on the offensive line at right guard. Despite doing so, the Suwannee, Ga. native will still have to fend off competition for his starting spot with others pushing for playing time.

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