Smael Mondon circled as name to know for 2025 NFL Draft
Georgia had eight players picked in the 2024 NFL Draft. Veteran linebacker Smael Mondon – and several of his teammates – could’ve made that number higher. Instead, the senior out of Paulding County is back for another year in red and black and is immediately on the radar of professional scouts for the 2025 draft.
Pro Football Focus included Mondon as one of their 10 linebackers to know ahead of next spring’s draft. Others included LSU’s Harold Perkins, Clemson’s Barrett Carter and Georgia transfer to Kentucky Jamon Dumas-Johnson, among others. It’s certainly a talented crew, but Mondon fits the part.
As a freshman in 2021, Mondon played in all 15 games on special teams. By 2022, he was a starter at inside linebacker, helping Georgia replace its talented trio of Nakobe Dean, Quay Walker and Channing Tindall on the way to a second straight national title.
Mondon played in 13 games that season – starting all 13 – and led the team in tackles with 76 stops. That came despite the fact he missed a pair due to injury, only furthering the fact that he was the Bulldogs’ best linebacker that season and one of the team’s best defensive players in general. With that came expectations for 2023, ones that Mondon couldn’t quite live up to. Once again, injuries set Mondon back some. He dealt with a lingering foot issue and ended up missing one outing – being limited in another two – because of it. Still, his numbers were impressive with 68 tackles, good for second on the team and more on a per/start basis than the year before. He earned Second-Team All-SEC honors according to the league’s 14 head coaches.
Should Mondon be completely healthy in 2024, he could be a candidate to win the Butkus Award as the nation’s top linebacker. That remains the biggest question for him however, taking time away from the field this spring to try and completely recover. Mondon underwent an offseason surgery and was sidelined for Georgia’s practices and scrimmages as a result.
PFF Assessment
Mondon’s athletic gifts pop on tape. According to our player-tracking data, he hit a top speed of 22.4 miles per hour last year, fifth among all FBS linebackers. That speed allows him to chase down players in an open field. Since 2022, his 16 coverage stops rank first among all SEC linebackers. Mondon needs to get stronger and has yet to earn a season-long grade above 65.0. However, he has the raw athletic traits that are worth betting on.
