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Georgia puts league-leading 14 on Coaches All-SEC squads

Palmber-Thombsby:Palmer Thombs•08/22/23•

palmerthombs

NCAA Football: Georgia at Tennessee
(Bryan Lynn-USA TODAY Sports)

A league-high-tying 14 Georgia Bulldogs were included on the Coaches All-SEC Team announced on Tuesday. Of those, 10 were on the first team, an outright most among schools in the conference.

Five Bulldogs found their name on the first team offense: wide receiver Ladd McConkey, tight end Brock Bowers, offensive lineman Tate Ratledge, offensive lineman Amarius Mims and center Sedrick Van Pran. They were joined by running back Kendall Milton and offensive lineman Xavier Truss on the second-team squad.

Five also made the first-team defense: defensive lineman Mykel Williams, defensive lineman Nazir Stackhouse, linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson, defensive back Malaki Starks and defensive back Javon Bullard. Linebacker Smael Mondon and defensive back Kamari Lassiter were second-team selections to round out Bulldogs chosen.

The All-SEC announcement comes on the heels of All-American teams published this week by the Associated Press where Georgia had five players selected including a nation-leading four on the first team. Bowers, Van Pran, Dumas-Johnson and Starks lead the way while Bullard was on the second team for the AP – who voted Georgia No. 1 in its preseason poll.

Georgia opens the season at home on September 2nd against UT-Martin and takes on Ball State a week later before welcoming South Carolina to Sanford Stadium for the start of SEC play on September 16th.

As you might expect, expectations are sky high for the two-time defending champs of the College Football world. According to the ESPN FPI, Georgia has the second-best projected record in the country and the highest chance to win the SEC. The Bulldogs come in with at least a 75% likelihood to win every game this season with just one game below 83% and eight above 90%.

In order to get back to the mountain top, Georgia must successfully replace its starting quarterback from the past two teams, Stetson Bennett. Head coach Kirby Smart announced fourth-year junior Carson Beck as the starter for the opener this past Saturday saying that he’s demonstrated the most control of the offense given an advantage over his competition when it comes to experience.

Good news for Beck and the Bulldogs, the weapons will be there around him. Not only does the talent around him include the All-SEC selections of Bowers, McConkey and Milton, but also the Bulldogs have the likes of Dominic Lovett, Arian Smith and Daijun Edwards.

Defensively, the seven names on the Coaches All-SEC list are just the start of the talent that’s there. Georgia is still deciding its cornerback competition and figuring out who will play at outside linebacker, but the options are solid including a trio of corners ranked inside the top-100 of their respective recruiting class and a pair of former five-star EDGEs.

Georgia is in its final week of preseason practice before game-week begins on Monday. Smart said the emphasis for the time being is on settling the remaining position battles, determining best fits for special teams and looking ahead to a couple of teams of their schedule down the line before attention is all on the first opponent.

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