Georgia pair placed on Freshman All-SEC squad
The final SEC awards and honors announcement for the 2023 football season was made on Thursday, and a pair of Georgia players were recognized. Offensive lineman Earnest Greene and linebacker Raylen Wilson were both named to the Freshman All-SEC team as voted on by the league’s 14 head coaches.
Greene, who is in his second season with the team but redshirted last season, started all 13 games for Georgia at left tackle on an offensive line unit that’s up for the Joe Moore Award. The Bulldogs helped pave the way for the UGA offense to allow the fewest sacks in the SEC and both move the ball and score well (No. 8 in NCAA for yards per game, No. 9 in NCAA for points per game). Georgia is on pace to record the school’s best marks in history for both yards per game (482.9) and yards per play (7.12).
Meanwhile, on the defensive side of things is Wilson, who stepped into a larger role late in the season with the absence of Jamon Dumas-Johnson at inside linebacker. Fellow freshman CJ Allen started the final four games of the 13-game campaign while Wilson regularly rotated with him, Smael Mondon and Xavian Sorey.
Wilson only played in 11 games, missing a couple early due to an injury he suffered during fall camp, but managed to finish with 13 total tackles including a half sack in Georgia’s dominant win on a national stage over a ranked Kentucky squad.
Awards season continues to wind down this week with several of the major ones being announced Friday night during The Home Depot College Football Awards show on ESPN (7:00 p.m. ET). Tight end Brock Bowers, safety Malaki Starks and center Sedrick Van Pran are all up for their respective position awards (Mackey, Thorpe, Rimington) while wide receiver Ladd McConkey could be recognized with the Wuerffel Trophy for his off-field presence. Van Pran also won the SEC’s Jacobs Blocking Trophy as the league’s top lineman.
Across the AP and Coaches All-SEC selections, 12 total Bulldogs were recognized including a league-high 11 on the Coaches squads. Honorees include: quarterback Carson Beck (Coaches – 2), defensive back Javon Bullard (AP-2), tight end Brock Bowers (AP – 1, Coaches – 1), defensive back Kamari Lassiter (Coaches – 2), linebacker Smael Mondon (Coaches – 2), offensive lineman Tate Ratledge (AP – 1, Coaches – 1), defensive back Tykee Smith (Coaches – 2), defensive lineman Nazir Stackhouse (AP – 2, Coaches – 2), defensive back Malaki Starks (AP – 1, Coaches – 1), offensive lineman Xavier Truss (Coaches – 2), offensive lineman Sedrick Van Pran (AP – 1, Coaches – 1) and defensive lineman Mykel Williams (Coaches – 2).
