Georgia WR Ladd McConkey selected by Chargers in second round of 2024 NFL Draft
After helping Georgia win two National Championships and 42 of 44 games the past three seasons, Ladd McConkey will continue his football career in Los Angeles. The Chargers traded up to take the Georgia wideout with the second pick of the second round in the 2024 NFL Draft.
McConkey is the third Bulldog to be selected thus far after Brock Bowers (Las Vegas Raiders) and Amarius Mims (Cincinnati Bengals) went in the first round. He’s the highest-drafted UGA wideout since A.J. Green in 2011.
The Chatsworth, Ga. native was a key contributor in Athens for the past three seasons. As a redshirt freshman in 2021, McConkey caught 31 passes for 447 yards and five touchdowns in 2021. He had the best season of his Georgia career in 2022 when he hauled in 58 passes for 762 yards and seven touchdowns.
His final season in Athens was a bit disappointing because of injuries, He had a back injury that held him out of the first four games. Once he got back into the flow of the offense in October, McConkey had three straight games against Florida, Missouri, and Ole Miss where he had at least 80 yards receiving in each contest. He sustained an ankle injury in the win over Ole Miss, one that slowed him until the Capital One Orange Bowl win over Florida State.
McConkey finished the season with 30 catches for 476 yards and two scores on the season, giving him 119 catches for 1,687 yards and 14 receiving touchdowns in his Georgia career. He also had four rushing touchdowns.
As a prospect, McConkey had a three-star rating in the 2020 class. He was the nation’s No. 1,147 overall prospect in that class according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average of all four websites that publish recruiting rankings. He was the No. 188 wideout and the No. 124 prospect in Georgia. Georgia made the late decision to sign McConkey in the 2020 recruiting cycle after a strong senior season.
