How Malaki Starks Can Make Bulldogs History in the 2025 NFL Draft

Malaki Starks is already a Georgia great, but he could become an NFL Draft great after the 2024 season.

Oct 7, 2023; Athens, Georgia, USA; Kentucky Wildcats tight end Josh Kattus (84) catches a touchdown / Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

Malaki Starks is already a Georgia great, but he could become an NFL Draft great after the 2024 season.

Throughout the Kirby Smart era, the Georgia Bulldogs have become extremely familiar with the NFL Draft, especially on the defensive side of the football. And with the amount of talent in the Bulldogs’ roster heading into the 2024 season, we likely see the Bulldog’s streak of dominance continue. But one Bulldog defender might have a chance to make Bulldog history during next year’s draft.

Malaki Starks, arguably the best safety in the nation, has been on NFL radars since his first appearance as a true freshman back in 2022. Since then, the safety has continuously climbed up mock draft boards to the point where some have tabbed him as a potential top-15 pick in the upcoming NFL Draft.

While Starks is far from the only Bulldog with first-round potential, he is the only Bulldog in his position to hold such a title. Starks’ NFL Draft prestige is somewhat of a rarity amongst Bulldog safeties. In the modern NFL Draft history, the Bulldogs have had just two players at the safety position taken in the first round. Ben Smith was taken 22nd overall in the 1990 NFL Draft and Lewis Cine was most recently selected as the 32nd overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.  

Should Starks continue to play at the high standard he has upheld for the previous two seasons, we likely see the Georgia safety taken somewhere in the top 20 selections of the 2025 NFL Draft. This would, of course, make him the highest-selected Bulldog safety of all time and cement his legacy as one of the greatest Georgia players at the safety position of all time.

Georgia Bulldogs 2024 Football Schedule

• Aug. 31 - vs Clemson (Atlanta, Ga.)
• Sept. 7 - vs Tennessee Tech
• Sept. 14 - @ Kentucky
• Sept. 21 - BYE
• Sept. 28 @ Alabama
• Oct. 5 - vs Auburn
• Oct. 12 - vs Mississippi State
• Oct. 19 - @ Texas
• Oct. 26 - BYE
• Nov. 2 - vs Florida (Jacksonville, Fl.)
• Nov. 9 - @ Ole Miss
• Nov. 16 - vs Tennessee
• Nov. 23 vs UMass
• Nov. 30 vs Georgia Tech

Other Georgia News:

• Will Georgia Have a 1,000-yard Rusher in 2024?
• Georgia Football Practice Notes From Day 2 of Spring Ball
• Has Wide Receiver Ladd McConkey Done Enough to Become a First-Round Selection in the 2024 NFL Draft?

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