Georgia trio makes Feldman's freaks for 2022

Bruce Feldman of The Athletic put out his “Feldman’s Freaks” list on Wednesday, ranking the top 100 players in the country that stand out athletically. As he explains, the premised is “to spotlight the players who generate buzz inside their programs by displaying the unique physical abilities that wow even those who observe gifted athletes every day. The Freaks list is compiled with the help of many coaches, players and sports information directors, as well as NFL scouts from all over the nation.” Georgia had three players listed including two stars from the National Championship team and one with big potential to break out in 2022.

Kelee Ringo – No. 6 overall, No. 1 CB

Feldman writes: In 2021, he made the freshman All-SEC team, which he punctuated with a terrific showing on the biggest stage, making six tackles and a game-sealing 79-yard interception return for touchdown in the College Football Playoff Championship Game against Alabama. Ringo’s combination of size and freakish explosiveness is reminiscent of another SEC Freak DB, Patrick Peterson. The 6-2, 215-pound Ringo, a World Class junior sprinter from Arizona who ran a 10.43 100- and 21.18 200-meter time, is a legitimate 4.3 40 guy and consistently clocks in the high-22 mph range on the GPS.

A former five-star out from Tacoma, Wash., Kelee Ringo played his high school football at Saguaro in Arizona. He was the No. 1 cornerback in the Class of 2020 before being forced to sit out all of his first season on campus due to a torn labrum. He returned to action the following season by playing in all 15 games for Georgia, starting the last 12, and earning a spot on the coaches’ Freshman All-SEC Team. Ringo finished with 34 total stops, eight pass breakups (second-best on the team) and two interceptions.

Entering 2022, expectations are high for Ringo. There’s a reason he was a five-star and the top-ranked player at his position after all. That kind of talent has many believing that he could be off to the NFL after this coming season. Mel Kiper has Ringo No. 21 on his first big board – No. 3 among cornerbacks behind Alabama’s Eli Ricks and South Carolina’s Cam Smith – for the 2023 NFL Draft and most mock drafts have him coming off the board in the first round. Smith was the top-ranked cornerback in the On3 Impact 300 while Antonio Johnson of Texas A&M was No. 2, just ahead of Ringo.

Arian Smith – No. 39 overall, No. 6 WR

Feldman writes: The fastest guy on a team full of Freaks, the 6-0, 185-pound redshirt sophomore consistently hit 23 mph on the GPS and was an All-American sprinter for the track team. Smith ran leadoff on the Bulldogs’ school record-setting 4×100-meter relay team that went 39.02 at the SEC championships before it ran 38.54 at the NCAA outdoor meet, where it finished second. Smith’s blazing speed has produced a spectacular 37.6 yards per catch. He’s had five receptions in two seasons in Athens, and three have gone for touchdowns.

When it comes to Georgia players with high ceilings, Arian Smith might be among the highest. But he also has a pretty low floor. Smith has played in just eight games over the course of his first two seasons on campus. He’s been hurt for all the others. But, when he’s been on the field, he’s been incredibly productive. His first career catch went for a 31-yard touchdown against South Carolina. He also had a 55-yard reception in the Bulldogs’ Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl win over Cincinnati. Smith then caught three passes in 2021, two of which went for 35+ yards and a touchdown.

Smith gives Georgia track speed at the wide receiver position to stretch the field and put pressure on the defense. He’s a threat to get behind defenders and score anytime he’s out there. However, as is said pretty much anytime he gets brought up, he’s got to stay healthy and be on the field in order to make that kind of impact for the Bulldogs this fall.

Brock Bowers – No. 45 overall, No. 3 TE

Feldman writes: The 2021 SEC Freshman of the Year represents the Freakiest tight end room in college football with 6-7, 285-pound Darnell Washington, who can run the 40 in the high 4.6s, and Arik Gilbert, who is almost as big as Washington and moves even better, but it’s the 6-4, 245-pound Bowers who is the marquee Freak after leading all Georgia receivers with 56 catches for 882 yards (a 15.8-yard average) and 13 touchdowns. Bowers’ speed shocks defenses. Word is, Bowers, whose mom was an All-American softball player at Utah State and whose dad was a two-time All-Big West center for the USU football squad, has run the 40 in 4.49 seconds and is expected to only get even Freakier with more time in the Georgia strength program.

Brock Bowers broke almost every record in the book last season for Georgia as a freshman. Hauling in 56 passes for 882 yards and 13 touchdowns, he now holds the single-season records for a tight end in all three of those categories. His 13 touchdowns is the most of any single-season pass catcher in program history. He caught a career-high 10 passes in the SEC Championship Game, establishing a new record for tight ends on the conference’s biggest stage. Other strong single game performances included a career-high 150 yards against UAB, including a career-long 89 yard reception for a touchdown, a trio of other 100+ yard days against Kentucky, Georgia Tech and Alabama, scoring twice in two of those games, and a three touchdown day versus Vanderbilt with two receiving and one rushing. He was named SEC Freshman of the Week after that game, the first of two times that he took home the weekly award – other was against Kentucky – and his second of five multi-touchdown games on the season.

But that’s not all. Bowers was named to the AP and Coaches All-SEC First Team and won the SEC Freshman of the Year award by both groups too. He was named a First-Team All-American by USA Today, a Second-Team All-American by the Associated Press, a True Freshman All-American by ESPN and the national Freshman of the Year by both the Football Writers Association of America and the Maxwell Football Club.