Following their pro day, Georgia’s NFL draft prospects meet with the media.

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Following their pro day, Georgia’s NFL draft prospects meet with the media.

Every season, Georgia’s pro day tends to mark the end of an era and the beginning of a new one for its participants.

This year, 16 players worked out in the House of Payne for the final time as Bulldogs, as they aimed to impress the bevy of NFL scouts in attendance. All 32 teams were represented, with nearly the entire Atlanta Falcons coaching staff present in addition to Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin and the Miami Dolphins’ Mike McDaniel.

Following workouts, several players were made available to speak with the media.

First round feeling

As has become commonplace within the program, Georgia is expected to have multiple players in the running to be first-round picks come April. Edge Mykel Williams, linebacker Jalon Walker and safety Malaki Starks have emerged as the most likely prospects to hear their name called on night one.

Williams, who could very well be the first Bulldog off the board, attended the NFL Scouting Combine a few weeks ago but did not participate in any on-field drills due to injury. He ran the 40-yard dash at Georgia’s pro day, clocking an unofficial 4.74-second time.

“It wasn’t necessarily to prove to [NFL teams],” Williams said. “[I wanted to] prove to myself that I can run at a high speed and I’m capable of running fast times.”

Williams, along with linebacker Jalon Walker, will hold a private workout in Athens on April 17 one week before the draft. Walker was held out of both combine and pro day workouts due to some discomfort in his right quad. Despite not working out, he was surrounded by reporters as much as any player there, and talked about his versatility on the field.

“A lot of people are versatile,” Walker said. “But a lot of people can’t do it well. I feel like I have the range and the confidence in myself to do each position at a great deal. If I play inside backer, I’d be a great inside backer. If I play just outside backer, I’d be a great outside backer. But together, there’s a lot of people who just can’t do both.”

Georgia had two players picked in the first round last year in Brock Bowers and Amarius Mims, and this year the Bulldogs appear likely to add to their 48 total first round draft picks all-time.

“Everybody wants to be a first-round pick. But it doesn’t matter what number you get picked,” Starks said. “When you get to a team, it doesn’t say second round, whatever pick. It says the team and your name on the back. We’re all going to have different journeys. Somebody’s gonna get picked early. Somebody’s gonna get picked late, it doesn’t matter. When you get there, how do you stay there?”

Another extremely versatile player, this time in the defensive backfield, Starks talked about how his multi-use role at Georgia will prepare him for the NFL, and the things he’s still excited to learn at the next level.

“I was playing so many different spots, I was able to really see football from a different perspective, and help guys as well,” Starks said. “I think the biggest thing I want to learn is also the same thing, like the landmarks and the hashes and the rules are different than they are in college. So just relearning and documenting the whole process again is what I’m really excited about.”

Combine snubs put on a show

Safety Dan Jackson and linebacker Chaz Chambliss had as much to prove as anybody in the building Wednesday. After not being invited to the NFL Combine, both had an opportunity to impress NFL scouts and make a name for themselves— and they didn’t squander it.

Jackson ran an unofficial 4.46 yard 40-yard dash, and recorded a 10-foot-3 broad jump along with a 34-inch vertical leap. The former walk-on put his athletic ability on display, and sought to leave NFL scouts with another, more intangible impression as well.

“I just want them to realize how much that I love the game,” Jackson said. “Sometimes you can tell by watching on film, but I feel like once they get to know me, I think they’ll realize that I don’t just like football. I love it.”

Starks talked about Jackson’s leadership qualities and how they helped impact his own trajectory as a player.

“When I got here as a freshman, me and Dan were competing for the same spot and he helped me,” Starks said. “There was no bad blood, no nothing, like I called Dan at 11:00 at night and he answered the phone and we’d just talk about plays.”

Arian Smith also gave Jackson props for his work ethic.

“He comes in every day, never complains,’ Smith said. “That’s one person that had to get it out of the mud. He deserves everything that’s coming for him.”

Chambliss, another player snubbed from the combine, also turned heads. He led all participants with 30 reps on the bench press and recorded a 32-inch vertical. He said it was important to show NFL scouts his ability to drop into coverage in addition to his more widely-known prowess as a pass rusher.

“I didn’t take it too personal,” Chambliss said on not receiving a combine invite. “I just was able to take advantage of the opportunity that I had and make the most of it.”

Chambliss said that he and Jackson talked about being snubbed from the combine together, but that ultimately the pair decided to focus on the opportunity ahead of them. Jackson was reflective of his time at Georgia and noted his appreciation for his teammates.

“Hearing my teammates have my back, that just means the world to me,” Jackson said. “Sticking around this year and being voted as a captain, that was the biggest honor I could achieve, and then having all the guys have my back, it just shows the brotherhood that we’ve got.”

Molded for this

The Bulldogs have been one of the NFL’s premier talent factories over the past five years, with a nation-leading 49 NFL draft picks in that span. Just recently, the Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl thanks in no small part to a defense that included former Bulldogs Nolan Smith, Jordan Davis, Nakobe Dean, Kelee Ringo, Lewis Cine and Jalen Carter.

“Look at the Eagles,” defensive lineman Warren Brinson said. “How do you beat Pat Mahomes? Go get some Georgia players.”

Defensive lineman Nazir Stackhouse talked about how the grind of playing at Georgia prepares players for the NFL.

“We’ve always carried the word ‘hard’ and the definition, ‘Solid, firm, resistant to pressure, not easily bent, broken or pierced,’” Stackhouse said. “So we carry that word and we carry that meaning with us. And so being at Georgia showed us that even playing here and being out in the world is hard. So once you leave here, there probably isn’t anything that you haven’t been through that you’ll go through at the next level that you haven’t already been through at Georgia.”

Center Jared Wilson reflected on when he first arrived at Georgia and realized it took a different kind of person to succeed there.

“Off the field, on the field, the meeting rooms, the weight room, the mental toughness that they instill into you, very, very fast when you get in here,” Wilson said of how Georgia has prepared him for the pro level. “I remember coming in here as a young puppy. Didn’t know anything, [I was] soft, and I quickly realized that you will have to toughen up real fast.”

Guard Dylan Fairchild talked about how facing future first-round picks every day in practice like Davis and Carter has helped his own development.

“I think coming in as a freshman, sophomore, that was super, super impactful to my career, getting being able to go against guys of that caliber, especially at a young age,” Fairchild said. “To see it and feel it, what it’s going to be like in any facility. So just having that experience, going into the next level, makes me confident.”

Future dirty birds?

Nearly all of the Atlanta Falcons’ brass was present at pro day, with head coach Raheem Morris, defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich and general manager Terry Fontenot among several Falcons figures spotted. Several Georgia players were asked about the possibility of suiting up for the local team.

“It would be great,” Walker said about the possibility of playing for the Falcons. “The relationship I’ve built with them from the combine and the conversations that we had, not just only on the football side of it, I’d love to stay in contact with those coaches and their staff.”

Williams was also enthusiastic about the prospect of staying in the state of Georgia.

“Man, that would be nice,” Williams said. “It would be a blessing to be back home in the state of Georgia. It would be great to play for the Atlanta Falcons.”

However, it’s worth noting that the Falcons have drafted just 12 Georgia players since their inception in 1966. They picked Zion Logue in 2024 and John FitzPatrick and Justin Shaffer in 2022, all in the sixth round.

“I don’t know what’s going on with the Falcons, man,” Brinson said. “I don’t think they take Georgia players.”

Time will tell if Brinson’s observation will remain true. The Falcons are set to pick at No. 15 overall in the first round when the draft begins on April 26.

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