Three Georgia players among PFF's offensive prospects to watch
Georgia is the reigning back-to-back National Champions and there are several reasons why. Big-time talent is one of the biggest reasons why Kirby Smart and company have finished atop the College Football heap the past two seasons.
The Bulldogs lost some key players on offense after the 2022 season but according to Pro Football Focus, they bring some great ones back, too. PFF has three Georgia players amongst the top 10 prospects to know at their positions.
Two are on the offensive line — Sedrick Van Pran and Amarius Mims. The other is the nation’s top tight end, by a wide margin, Brock Bowers.
“As a true freshman in 2021, Bowers was the highest-graded Power Five tight end and the most valuable player at the position in college football, according to PFF’s wins above-average metric. He was, once again, the most valuable tight end in the nation this past season and led the position in receiving yards (942), yards after the catch (479) and receiving yards after contact (274). Bowers’ 73.8 run-blocking grade in 2022 was also seventh among Power Five tight ends. He could push Kyle Pitts for the best tight end prospect in the PFF College era.”
In addition to piling up yardage for the Bulldogs the past two seasons, both as a pass catcher and a rusher, Bowers has also scored a ton. He has 24 total touchdowns over the past two seasons.
Mims is entering his first season as a full-time starter but that didn’t stop PFF from listing him among the top tackle prospects. Mims does have a body of work thus far — albeit small. He started two games last season, both in the College Football Playoff, and saw action as part of a rotation throughout the season.
“So far, Mims has had a very similar career arc to Broderick Jones, who was just taken with the 14th overall pick in the 2023 draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Both were top-10 recruits in their respective classes and spent their first two seasons as backup tackles. They each impressed in that role as sophomores before becoming the starting left tackle as a junior. In 2022, Mims earned a 77.5 grade and didn’t allow a sack or hit on 184 pass-blocking snaps. He has the physical tools to become one of the top tackles in the class if he takes the next step as a starter as Jones did.”
Then there is two-year starting center Sedrick Van Pran, who is viewed by Athlon Sports as a preseason All-SEC player. Van Pran was a high-four-star prospect coming out of high school and has played like it since cracking the starting lineup in game one of the 2021 season.
“Van Pran has started at center the last two years for Georgia. On 887 pass-blocking snaps in that span, SVP has only allowed one sack and one hit. He needs to improve as a run-blocker but looks like one of the early top centers in the class.”
The New Orleans native was also named as one of three permanent captains after the 2022 season.
