With the NFL Draft less than a week away, we’ve assembled our second installment of this year’s mock draft tracker for Georgia players. From more than two months ago, our initial tracker can be found HERE.
UGASports discovered five recognized/reputable sites, each presenting a seven-round mock draft: Drafttek, Lines (formerly Draft Site), and Walter Football, each of which was featured in our first version; and CBS Sports and Sporting News, a couple of new additions.
(Notably, unlike the first version, we have excluded Jamie Newman. Whereas Newman was solely identified as being from Georgia back in February, there are a couple of mocks which now associate the quarterback with Wake Forest.)
Sheer Numbers: Based on the table below, it could be an unprecedented NFL Draft for Georgia. Three of the five mock drafts project nine Bulldog players to be chosen in the seven rounds, whereas the other two mocks forecast 10 to be selected. Entering this year, the most Georgia players ever chosen in a single NFL Draft were eight, resulting twice—2002 and 2013.
What’s more, all five mocks have at least six Bulldogs selected in the first five rounds of the draft, including Walter Football, which projects eight in the initial five rounds. Entering this year, the most Bulldog players ever chosen in the first five rounds of a single NFL Draft were six, resulting four times—2001, 2002, 2005, and 2013.
Discrepancies: Besides the sheer number of Bulldogs projected to be drafted, something else which grabbed our attention were the discrepancies in the mock drafts for several players, especially Tyson Campbell and Trey Hill. Campbell, who will seemingly be the second former Georgia player selected in the draft, is forecasted to be chosen as high as No. 16 overall (Drafttek), yet as low as nearly a fourth-round pick (Sporting News). Hill is projected to go in the fifth or sixth round by the majority of the mocks. Still, the former Bulldog lineman is forecasted to be selected as high as in the second round (Walter Football), but as low as not being drafted at all (CBS Sports).
(Each player is followed by projected round, overall pick in parenthesis, and selecting NFL team):
Stock Rising? For the initial draft tracker, Tre’ McKitty was not forecasted to be selected by any of the five mocks. A couple of months later, the former Georgia tight end is projected to be chosen in four of the five mock drafts, with an average forecast at No. 131 overall (late fourth round).
Stock Dropping? For mocks featuring at least five rounds in the initial draft tracker, Richard LeCounte’s average projection was a solid No. 105 overall (late third round). However, for draft tracker 2.0, the Bulldog defensive back currently averages a forecast 50 spots lower at No. 155 (mid-fifth round).
Star Value: Finally, and out of interest, we took a look back at the 11 former Georgia players featured in the table for their Rivals star ranking coming out of high school and discovered one five-star (Campbell), seven four-stars (Hill, LeCounte, Azeez Ojulari, Ben Cleveland, DJ Daniel, Mark Webb, and Malik Herring), and three three-star prospects (McKitty, Eric Stokes, and Monty Rice).
