How Georgia football 2024 NFL Draft success sells in recruiting

By Mike Griffith, DawgNation

April 29, 2024 at 10:43 am EDT

Brock Bowers, Javon Bullard (UGA Sports Comm) Georgia tight end Brock Bowers (19), Georgia defensive back Javon Bullard (22) during Georgia's NFL Pro Day at the William Porter Payne and Porter Otis Payne Indoor Athletic Facility in Athens, Ga., on Wednesday, March 13, 2024. (Tony Walsh/UGAAA) (Tony Walsh/Tony Walsh/UGAAA)

By Mike Griffith, DawgNation

April 29, 2024 at 10:43 am EDT

ATHENS — Georgia football continued to cash in on player development like no other program via the 2024 NFL Draft.

“The NFL knows what they are getting from those (Georgia) guys,” former NFL scout and Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy said.

Indeed, two of the Bulldogs’ eight players selected in this draft were first-round picks – Brock Bowers and Amarius Mims – giving Kirby Smart a statistic that will travel well in any recruiting circle.

Smart, in his eight years leading the program, now has more first-round picks (17) than losses (16). Five of those losses came in Smart’s first season leading the program, back in 2016.

More recently, Georgia has established itself as the most elite program when it comes to producing NFL Draft picks.