Georgia's Transfers Over the Years, Where are they Now?
The NCAA transfer portal continues to impact college rosters everywhere, and Georgia had quite a few players hit the portal after winning back-to-back national titles. Some of those players have found a home already, and some even participated in spring practice for their new school. Others remain in the hunt and have not yet announced where they will be transferring to next following their exit from Georgia.
Going all the way back to 2019 to now, Georgia has had a total of 48 scholarship players enter the transfer portal. So where are all of those players now? What did some of those players amount to and how did those departures affect the Bulldogs' roster?
So let's start in 2019. The most notable name to hit the portal that year was quarterback Justin Fields. One of the biggest recruits to come out of high school and represent the Red and Black as a college football player. He of course would then go on to play for Ohio State and later become a first-round draft pick with the Chicago Bears and is now considered one of the best young quarterbacks in the professional football league. Other names in that class were tight end Luke Ford who recently went undrafted and linebacker Jaden Hunter who had a pretty successful college career at Western Kentucky, but also went undrafted.
Jumping up to the next year, 2020, there was offensive lineman Cade Mays. A whirlwind of events led to his decision to transfer to Tennessee. He started in 17 games for the Volunteers and would later become a sixth-round draft pick with the Carolina Panthers in 2022. That transfer class also consisted of defensive backs Otis Reese and Divaad Wilson who both ended up going undrafted. Defensive lineman Brenton Cox also transferred to Florida that year and after his time with the Gators, Cox signed with the Green Bay Packers as an undrafted free agent. So again, five total transfers that year, and only one of them was an NFL draft pick.
In 2021 there were a couple of notable names that transferred out of Georgia that season. Defensive back Tyrique Stevenson is one of them. He recently was a second-round draft pick in this year's class after his stint with Miami. Defensive end Jermaine Johnson was also a part of that transfer class, and he was a first-round pick with the New York Jets after heading down to Florida State for a season. There are also names like defensive back Major Burns who is still at LSU and is playing meaningful defensive snaps for the Tigers despite dealing with a couple of injuries. So again, two draft picks from that class out of nine total transfers.
It's hard to really make any judgments about the 2022 and 2023 transfer classes because a lot of those players are still playing college football, but there are a couple that are worth mentioning. Defensive back Ameer Speed recently became a sixth-round draft pick after he decided to transfer to Michigan State when it was made pretty clear to him there was not much opportunity left for him at Georgia. That was also the year that wide receiver Jermaine Burton transferred to Alabama and still remains with the Crimson Tide.
Ameer Speed #9 of the Georgia Bulldogs leads his team out on the field during the 2020 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl NCAA football game between the Georgia Bulldogs and Cincinnati Bearcats, Jan. 1, 2021, in Atlanta. (Paul Abell via Abell Images for the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl)
And then to cap things off with the 2023 transfer class, the two biggest names from this year were wide receiver Adonai Mitchell who is now at Texas, and defensive lineman Bear Alexander who recently announced his commitment to USC. Both Mitchell and Alexander were viewed as players who could have a huge impact on Georgia's upcoming season but instead will finish their careers elsewhere.
So to recap, out of the 48 players to transfer out of the University of Georgia, five players have gone on to be drafted into the NFL as of right now. Again there are still a lot of players that can be labeled as "to be determined", but all in all, the transfer portal really hasn't spurned the Bulldogs all things considered. Having as few as 48 players over that time span is an accomplishment of its own considering the number of players that are leaving other programs on an annual basis.
Roster movement is inevitable in today's era of college football and sometimes big-time names are going to jump ship. But from Georgia's perspective, the transfer portal really hasn't had too much of a negative effect on its roster based on how the last five years have gone for them.
Other Georgia News:
- Philadelphia Trades for D'Andre Swift, Adds Another Former Georgia Player
- Sammy Brown Talks Georgia, Sets Timeline for Commitment
- A Noticeable Trend With Georgia Bulldogs in the NFL Draft
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