BREAKING: Jaxon Smith-Njigba Declares for NFL, Will Not Play vs Georgia

One of Ohio State's best receivers, Jaxon Smith-Njigba has declared for the 2023 NFL Draft and will not be playing in the Chic Fil A Peach Bowl vs Georgia.

Brooks Austin | Dec 5, 2022

The No. 1 ranked Georgia Bulldogs are set to kick off their College Football Playoff run on December 31st against the No. 4 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes and according to the latest from their star wide receiver's social media feeds, they will be doing so without Jaxon Smith-Njibga.

Arguably the No. 1 ranked receiver leading up to the season and the NFL Draft, Smith-Njigba has been battling a hamstring injury and there were wonders if he would play again this season. Now, we have our answer. Though don't feel too bad for head coach Ryan Day and the Buckeyes, Marvin Harrison Jr has arguably been the best receiver in college football this season.

Coach Ryan Day met with the media following the announcement of the matchup between Georgia and Ohio State.

On the chance to play Michigan in the College Football Playoff National Championship if they can upset Georgia:

“We have to go down to Georgia and play the defending national champions in Atlanta. If someone said that at the beginning of the year, “You get to go play the defending national champs, in Georgia.”, let’s go do it.” said Day.

“You gotta play [Georgia] in order to play for a national championship. That’s where our focus is going to go, and then we’ll go from there.”

On the job Kirby Smart has done at Georgia:

They’re a very good team. Kirby’s obviously done a great job; especially, breaking that threshold, last year, in the national championship. That’s something that I've got a lot of respect for; he did that. That’s a long time coming [for Georgia], and he did it. Hats off to him.

Ryan Day's initial thoughts on Georgia:

They came back this year really playing well; went through the whole season undefeated. Played really good in the SEC Championship Game, and they have a lot of weapons that are really well coached. So, big challenge for everyone across the board, but going into the season, we knew we were going to be in this situation; to play for it all, Georgia’s going to be in the way.

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