Georgia players appearing on way-too-early 2024 NFL mock drafts
I know we’re not even a week removed from the 2023 NFL Draft but folks are already starting to look ahead to 2024. With a streak of two straight years having the most players picked and a great chance at extending it to three next spring, Georgia Bulldogs factor in heavily to most way-too-early projections.
Brock Bowers would have been the first tight end off the board this year in what was a loaded class for the position. Come next year, he’ll likely be a top 10 pick. Bowers has earned All-American honors in both of his seasons on campus so far, leading Georgia in receiving both years.
As a freshman, Bowers won numerous awards as the top first-year player including SEC Freshman of the Year from the coaches and SEC Newcomer of the Year from the AP. Add in a pair of national Freshman of the Year Awards from the Football Writers Association of America and the Maxwell Football Club too. Bowers finished the season with 56 catches for 882 yards and 13 touchdowns, establishing new program records for freshmen regardless of position and tight ends regardless of age. He had a career-high 10 catches for 139 yards – a total that has since been passed – in the SEC Championship Game against Alabama.
Bowers followed up his freshman campaign with an even stronger sophomore season. He was a finalist for the Rotary Lombardi Award as the nation’s top lineman. He was also up for the Biletnikoff as the country’s top receiver. Combine those together and that makes quite the tight end, easily explaining why he won the John Mackey Award and was a semifinalist for Walter Camp Player of the Year. Bowers upped the number of catches and yards he had while his trips to the end zone went down. Still with 63 catches for 942 yards and seven scores – all team highs – on top of 109 rushing yards and a trio of touchdowns on the ground, Bowers put up points ten times during his sophomore season – one that also included a career-best 154 receiving yards in a win over Florida.
ESPN’s Todd McShay has Bowers coming off the board at No. 6 in his 2024 mock draft released on Thursday – the same landing spot that Ryan Wilson of CBS Sports has – while others like Pro Football Focus and Sporting News project Bowers as high as No. 4. Dane Brugler of The Athletic is lowest on Bowers at No. 7.
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Javon Bullard is the only other Bullard to have his name appear in the first round of these mock drafts. Wilson has Bullard going No. 27 while McShay has him at No. 29. Sporting News is much higher on him, projecting Bullard at No. 13 while also including two other Bulldogs – something that the other mocks didn’t do.
According to Sporting News, Sedrick Van Pran would be the next Georgia player on the bandwagon to Philadelphia going No. 31 to the Eagles while Kamari Lassiter would round out the first round at No. 32. Bullard and Lassiter look to lead the way in what’s expected to be a strong Georgia secondary with three starters returning while Van Pran holds down the middle of the Bulldog offensive line, a group with its eyes on the Joe Moore Award after being snubbed each of the last two seasons.
Bullard earned Defensive MVP honors in both the Peach Bowl and National Championship Game coming up with a trio of turnovers with the title on the line. Like Lassiter, he took over a starting spot last season. On the other hand, Van Pran returns for his third straight season at center having started 30 games straight. He had a decision to make ahead of the 2023 NFL Draft and opted to come back to Georgia for another season, his fourth in the program. Both Bullard and Lassiter enter their third respectively.
