Georgia coach Kirby Smart hugged Xavier Truss at the Bulldogs’ final home game last season, unsure if the offensive lineman would return for another year.
However, Truss came back for a fifth season — and the chance to help the program win a third straight national championship — so any festivities or gestures at Saturday night’s home finale against Ole Miss might not be a clear sign of who won’t be back for Georgia in 2024.
“This class has been great,” said Smart, who is in his eighth season leading his alma mater. “This group of leaders has been very impactful. I think it speaks for itself what they’ve been able to accomplish thus far, and they still have goals ahead they want to achieve.”
The latest round of mock NFL drafts for 2024 indicate Smart might have more time to reload after having 34 players chosen over the past three years. The same opportunity might be available for his fellow Southeastern Conference coaches.
One mock draft projects the SEC could have just five players taken in the first round next April. That would be the fewest first-rounders in 15 years for a conference that has either led or tied for the most first-round draft picks 12 of the past 13 years. Five would also match the number of SEC teams with at least one player drafted in the first round alone last April.
Josh Heupel dismissed such projections with so much football left and the actual NFL draft months away. The coach of the Tennessee Volunteers expects the SEC will wind up with lots of players selected, just like the past 17 when the SEC led all conferences.
In April, the SEC had 62 players drafted, three short of the record it set in 2022, and of the SEC’s 14 member schools, 13 had at least one player picked.
Why is Heupel so confident in just his third SEC season? The video footage he watches every week in preparation for game day.
“This league is littered with talent,” Heupel said.
The SEC could wind up with nine or fewer players taken in the first round, which would be the seventh time in a stretch of 15 drafts that has happened. Speculation about the SEC’s top pick ranges from Alabama edge rusher Dallas Turner or offensive tackle JC Latham to Georgia right tackle Amarius Mims.
Another mock draft has Alabama cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry as the SEC’s first pick overall at No. 9. That’s a big drop from No. 1, where Alabama quarterback Bryce Young was selected in April by the Carolina Panthers as the third top pick overall from the SEC in the past four drafts alone.
Georgia’s Brock Bowers, the 2022 John Mackey Award winner as the nation’s top tight end, is projected as high as No. 8, though he could return for his senior season instead of going pro. He is recovering from ankle surgery that has cost him two games so far this fall, but he is working hard to return as fast as possible.
Yet Bowers, who still leads Georgia with 41 catches for 567 yards and four touchdowns, might see the NFL payoff as the easiest move with two national championship rings already in hand.
Mims, Bowers’ teammate, has been out since undergoing surgery for the left ankle he sprained in a Sept. 16 win over South Carolina. He has been practicing for his own return.
“He’s much closer to being able to play like he wants to be able to play and go out there and compete,” Smart said.
Other SEC players projected as first-round selections: Florida edge rusher Princely Umanmielen, LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels and one of his receivers, Malik Nabers, Texas A&M linebacker Edgerrin Cooper, Georgia cornerback Kamari Lassiter.
The Bulldogs tied Alabama with 10 players apiece drafted in April. That was the fifth time in six years either Alabama or Georgia had the most players taken.
McCallan Castles, a 6-foot-5, 252-pound tight end, wanted one final college season to improve his own NFL draft stock. He chose Tennessee, transferring after three seasons at the University of California, Davis.
Castles is coming off his best performance as one of several Vols who put up impressive numbers in last week’s 59-3 nonconference win against Connecticut. He had a team-high four catches for 56 yards and his third touchdown this season.
Castles said he has improved greatly thanks to Tennessee’s support staff, strength coaches and his position coach, Alec Abeln.
“I took a leap of faith coming here,” Castles said. “I didn’t know if I was going to get to play or not, so to come in and just be a part of the offense the way I am is amazing.”
In a few months, he’ll find out just how much playing in the SEC pays off.