Recounting careers of Georgia Bulldogs in Super Bowl LVII
Super Bowl LVII has the attention of the entire football world on Sunday, putting an end to an exciting 2022-23 football season at every level. Georgia fans had plenty to be excited about with the Bulldogs taking home the title, their second straight, and on Sunday, two Dawgs will be on the winning side of the big game regardless of who wins.
Mecole Hardman and Malik Herring represent Georgia on the Kansas City Chiefs side of things. Neither is expected to play a huge role in the game with Hardman out due to injury and Herring not having only played in seven games this season, but they’ll get a ring should the Chiefs win. Same goes for the Philadelphia Eagles with a pair of Georgia rookies on the roster: Jordan Davis and Nakobe Dean. Davis was Philadelphia’s first-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft at No. 13 overall while Dean slipped into the third round, still going in the top-100. Davis played about 25% of defensive snaps for the Eagles with a small role on special teams as well while Dean saw the majority of his snaps on the special teams units. Together they’ve combined to play in 20 games with 37 tackles between the two of them.
Despite the limited impact expected from the Bulldogs on Sunday, we take a look back at their collegiate careers ahead of their teams being in the Super Bowl, a 22nd straight to feature at least one former Georgia player.
Mecole Hardman (2016-18)
Hardman appeared in 40 career games at Georgia including all of them each of his final two seasons. Making the move from cornerback to wide receiver as a freshman, he grew into a bigger role during the 2017 season, helping the Bulldogs to an SEC Championship title and National Championship Game appearance. Hardman hauled in 25 passes for 418 yards and four touchdowns including an 80-yarder in the College Football Playoff Championship Game. He also added 61 yards and two touchdowns on eight rushes with one of the scores on the ground coming in the championship game as well. Hardman built on his sophomore season in 2018 with 34 catches for 532 yards and seven touchdowns. He also returned a punt for a score, taking it back 70 yards for the score against Middle Tennessee.
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Malik Herring (2017-20)
The Forsyth, Ga. native played in 52 career games, 10+ in each of his four seasons, and totaled 76 career tackles. Herring had 3.5 tackles for loss in 2018, five in 2019 and 4.5 in a 10-game COVID-shortened senior season in 2020. That included a career-high two sacks. A couple of Herring’s most memorable moments include a career-high five tackles versus Georgia Tech drawing praise from Kirby Smart afterwards plus solo sacks against Alabama and Cincinnati during the 2020 season. Herring tied his career-high for tackles in the 2020 Sugar Bowl victory over Baylor. Herring also had particularly impressive games versus Missouri and Florida that season with two tackles for loss in a win over the Tigers and five quarterback pressures in a loss to the Gators.
Jordan Davis (2018-21)
Davis didn’t necessarily fill the stat sheet during his time in Athens but was one of the most impactful defensive linemen in all of College Football. Appearing in 47 career games, Davis had his best season as a senior, taking home the Outland Trophy and the Bednarik Award becoming just one of three players to take home both awards as he joined Ndamukong Suh and Aaron Donald. Davis totaled 32 tackles including 5.5 for loss with two sacks as a senior and was named a First-Team All-American by numerous outlets and one of four permanent team captains for the National Championship winning Bulldogs in 2021.
Nakobe Dean (2019-21)
Dean arrived at Georgia as a five-star and the nation’s No. 1 linebacker according to some out of Horn Lake, Miss. He more than lived up to the expectations being named the top linebacker in the entire country in 2021, winning the Butkus Award. Dean had 72 tackles as a junior to follow up a sophomore season where he had 71 in just 10 games. However, his 10.5 tackles for loss and six sacks was particularly impressive, earning him First-Team All-American status like Davis. He too was a permanent team captain and clearly one of the largest leaders for the National Championship winning Bulldogs.
