Georgia Breaks Modern Era NFL Draft Record
The 2021 Georgia Bulldogs team will be memorable for many things. The first undefeated regular season since 1980, the first national championship since 1980, and breaking a National Football League record of players drafted to the NFL.
The previous record stood at 14 which was last set by Louisiana State in 2019, and originally by Ohio State in 2004. The NFL went to the modern day seven round draft in 1994, but the Texas Longhorns did have 17 players drafted back in 1984 with an older draft model.
It is yet another crowning achievement for the Bulldogs who have fought to destroy narratives left and right this year. Most notably, the narrative that Head Coach Kirby Smart cannot develop players. In only his second full senior class, Smart's Bulldogs have set a new gold standard at the Draft in Las Vegas.
Moreover, Georgia did not even need seven rounds to do it. All fifteen of Georgia's draftees were gone by pick 214 in the sixth round of the draft. This formally brings to close a resounding year for the Bulldogs.
But why have so many Bulldogs gone in the draft? What has made Georgia become a recruiting hub for a variety of NFL Teams?
Well NFL Network Insider and NFL.com writer Ian Rapoport had this to say about Georgia:
"For years, everybody loved to draft Alabama players because of how prepared, not just because of how prepared, not just how good or how athletic they are, but how pro-ready. There is now another Alabama-light, or maybe Alabama-equal in Georgia with Kirby Smart, Nick Saban's desciple. I think what teams believe they are getting are guys that can step in right away because they are schooled to play in the NFL."
Smart and Staff had turned brought Georgia to the next level over the past several years, and their hard work has begun to bear fruit. A national championship, and a record number of NFL draftees are the results of that work.
If Smart and company have proven anything over the past seven years, it is that they will not sit on this. Undoubtedly, Georgia has received yet more ammunition for their recruiting trail cannons leading into the class of 2023. Georgia has proven that players can win championships, and be ready for the NFL.
