Mykel Williams hype continues to heat up for Georgia freshman star

The hype is heating up around Mykel Williams. The highest-rated signee in Georgia’s Class of 2022, Williams is being lauded by his teammates and coaches alike as the Bulldogs prepare to take on No. 11 Oregon this Saturday in the season-opener.

“He’s going to play the role of Travon Walker. Just to me, from seeing him, he’s a spitting image of Travon Walker,” Georgia senior linebacker Nolan Smith said. “I tell people that all the time. His arms are long, he moves just as fast. He’s a great athlete. I think as far as people worrying about him doing both (learning hand-in-the-dirt defensive end as well as standup outside linebacker), I think that’s what he likes to do. He can play linebacker and stand up. He can play also hand down.”

“I think he flys around, plays great football and he’s just a great kid,” Smith added. “He’s ready to learn, comes through ready to learn every day, and I’m excited for all of our young players. They get an opportunity to showcase what they’ve been doing in camp. Mykel Williams and a lot of new freshmen, they’re going to see ’em.”

Walker went No. 1 overall in the 2022 NFL Draft to the Jacksonville Jaguars, leaving big shoes to fill for Georgia on the edge. He started all 15 games for the Bulldogs on the defensive line, finishing with 37 total tackles (second among defensive linemen) including 7.5 tackles for loss, 6.0 sacks and a team-high 36 quarterback hurries.

Listed at 6-foot-5, 265 pounds, Williams is 10 pounds lighter than what Walker was this past season, but keep in mind, Williams is just a freshman. He’s got plenty of time to develop and grow before trying to do the same thing as Walker – go off to the NFL in the first round of the draft. Georgia offensive lineman Sedrick Van Pran isn’t one to forget that as he’s seen how Williams is taking the coaching from some of the Bulldogs’ older players.

“Because he’s so young, I don’t think I want to put him in that box yet. I don’t think I want to put him in a box and compare him to anyone,” Van Pran said. “I want him to be comfortable and feel like he can be Mykel. I think he’s really comfortable, and that comes from playing around older players. I can remember vividly there was one time in two-minute situation I kind of got him in the package that we had, and remember him saying, ‘How smart? I can’t believe you did that.’ So I think going against older players like Warren McClendon, Xavier Truss, Broderick Jones, that’ll really help him out a lot in growing.”

Two more of those players that Williams has gone up against throughout the course of fall camp have been offensive lineman Tate Ratledge and tight end Ryland Goede. Ratledge and Goede, hosts of the ‘Real Talk’ podcast, mentioned Williams in their intro episode.

“Mykel is Travon Walker Jr. right now. Kid’s a freak,” Goede said. “I get to block him every day. He is not 17 or 18.”

“He long-armed me today, and I chopped it,” Ratledge added. “He’s like, ‘Why you gotta do that to me?’ I said, ‘Cause that arm is long, Mykel.’ He was like, ‘You’ve got a point.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, you’re literally scratching your knees standing straight up.’ Like, the kid’s wingspan is stupid.”

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart isn’t concerned that the hype is going to go to his head though. At SEC Media Days, Smart praised Williams for being a harder worker, always putting in extra time on the field. Georgia running backs coach Dell McGee, who’s known Williams’ family for quite some time being from the same area, reiterated those comments. Now, Smart is saying that the best thing about Williams is the way he handles success.

“I think since he got here he’s been a nontraditional freshmen. He’s never been really impacted by accolades, hype, even intimidation by being here in terms of drills and knowing what to do,” Smart said. “He’s fit in really naturally. I think being from where he’s from, Columbus, he got up here to so many practices it was just a very steady climb, and he’s continued to do climb. He’s not had up and downs and lack of effort and tired and not understanding. He takes really good care of his body. He’s very intelligent. He learns the system well and he plays really hard. Those are attributes that help true freshmen get on the field.”