Including free agents, 12 Georgia Bulldogs embark on NFL careers

Georgia’s nine drafted players was a school record for both a seven-round and a 12-round draft. That brings to 346 the number of Bulldogs who have been drafted all-time. That stands 14th among all colleges and fifth among SEC schools.

Alabama, which had 10 players’ names called this year, leads SEC teams with 384 draftees. But it still has a long way to go to catch number one Notre Dame, which towers ahead of all schools with 520.

As for this year in the SEC, after Alabama and Georgia, Florida had eight players drafted, LSU 7 and Kentucky six. Tennessee, which sits ahead of the Bulldogs at 350 draftees on the all-time list, had only two players taken this year in wide receiver Josh Palmer (3rd round) and offensive lineman Trey Smith (6th).

As for Georgia’s two free agents, don’t be surprised to see them make their respected rosters eventually. Herring is, of course, still looking an an extensive rehab and likely will begin the year on injured reserve.

But Daniel has a good shot to make the roster this season. Pro Football Focus listed him as the seventh-best free-agent prospect that went undrafted. He is an exceptional cornerback with unusually long arms and ran a respectable 4.5 40-yard dash at Georgia’s pro day in March. Daniel actually started ahead of Campbell, who the Jaguars took with the first pick of the second round, for most of the 2019 season. While Campbell was hurt much of that season (turf toe), Daniel started 11 games to Campbell’s three. This year, an ankle injury limited Daniel to a backup role in eight games.

“I feel like I’m most definitely going to wake ‘em up,” Daniel said after his Pro Day. “I feel like I’m one of the best man-to-man press ‘coverers’ there is. I feel like no corner in this draft is better than me in man-to-man. So, most definitely I feel like I’m going to wake ‘em up, just like basically what I said at the Senior Bowl. I want to answer all the questions.”

One of the biggest losers in this year’s draft was one-time Bulldog quarterback Jamie Newman. Newman opted out of the 2020 season just 3-1/2 weeks before Georgia’s season opener against Arkansas, in which he was expected to start. Instead, the 6-3, 234-pound graduate transfer from Wake Forest decided to train for the draft with his Atlanta-based quarterback coach Quincy Avery. Over the weekend, Newman accepted a free-agent offer from the Philadelphia Eagles.

SEC IN NFL DRAFT

All-time selections, per DraftHistory.com:

Dawg Tags: The AJC presents a daily look at the one thing you need to know about Georgia athletics today.