Stop me if you’ve heard this story before, but the University of Georgia is set to produce multiple first-round picks in the 2025 NFL Draft, specifically on the defensive side of the ball. Bulldogs linebacker Jalon Walker, safety Malaki Starks, and pass rusher Mykel Williams all took to social media last week to announce their declarations to enter the draft. All three players were five-star recruits in an incredible 2022 signing class for the Dawgs, with Williams ranking as the 10th highest rated signee in school history at the time.

Walker, out of Salisbury HS (NC), was 247Sports’ third-best linebacker and 26th-best overall recruit in the class. As a true freshman, Walker played sparingly on special teams and as a reserve insider linebacker. While getting slightly more time as a reserve insider linebacker in his sophomore campaign, Walker still found a way to lead the team with five sacks. Finally earning a full-time starting role as a junior, Walker set a career high in tackles (60) while leading the team with more career highs in tackles for loss (11) and sacks (6.5). Walker was awarded the Butkus Award for the nation’s best linebacker this year.

Now, Walker is almost certainly going to be a first-round draft pick, the only question remaining is: at what position? ESPN’s Mel Kiper and Field Yates and The Athletic’s Dane Brugler all view Walker as the top off-ball linebacker in the draft, with Kiper and Brugler rating him as the ninth- and seventh-best prospect, respectively, overall, touting his sideline-to-sideline capabilities with his elite pass rushing abilities adding versatility to his portfolio. ESPN’s Matt Miller and Jordan Reid, though, have Walker ranking third amongst edge rushers alongside Williams, predicting that Walker’s elite pass rushing ability will land him as an outside linebacker or defensive end in the NFL.

Williams, out of Hardaway HS (GA), was even higher ranked than Walker coming out of high school, with 247Sports listing him as the second-best defensive lineman and the seventh-best overall recruit in the nation. After an initial commitment to USC, Williams made a flip late in his senior year, deciding to go to Athens, instead.

As a true freshman, Williams led the team in sacks (4.5) despite only making two starts in 15 appearances of the team’s championship campaign. While Walker led the team in that stat each of the past two years, Williams was second on the team in both 2023 (4.5) and 2024 (5.0). Williams started 10 of 13 games as a sophomore, but after failing to take much of a step forward, Williams would only earn five starts this season, getting out-snapped by players like Chaz Chambliss, Damon Wilson Jr., and Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins.

We’ve seen plenty examples before to show that physical tools and potential can easily outweigh a lack of production in college, and that seems to be the case with Williams. Despite his inability to show more consistency and production at Georgia, Williams’ speed, power, and bend are viewed as top-tier traits that could make him a scary weapon on an NFL defense. Kiper and his colleagues and Brugler consistently have Williams ranked as the second- or third-best pass rusher in the draft behind only Penn State’s Abdul Carter and sometimes behind Tennessee’s James Pearce Jr. Kiper lists Williams as the 16th-best overall prospect, while Brugler slots him up at eighth. 

Perhaps saving the best for last, Starks was the jewel of Georgia’s recruiting class that year out of Jefferson HS (GA), ranking as the top athlete and the fourth-best overall prospect, according to 247Sports. Starks made the biggest impact of the three as a freshman, starting 14 of 15 contests. In the championship-winning campaign, Starks tied for the team-lead in passes defensed (7) while finishing second on the team with two interceptions. He finished second in both categories as a sophomore, as well, with three interceptions and seven more passes defensed. While his ball-hawking took a backseat this past season, Starks took the team-lead in another category with 77 total tackles.

While Kiper lists Starks below Walker as the 13th best overall prospect in the draft, he and his colleagues all list Starks as the top safety prospect in the class. Brugler has Starks ranked as the fourth-best overall prospect. Starks projects so highly because of his high football intelligence and his versatile ability to make plays all over the field. He has a build closer to that of a Brian Branch than a Kyle Hamilton, but he possesses the ability both pros have to make tackles in the box, close quickly in coverage, and finish plays with good hands. It may take him a moment to live up to that comparison, but the potential is absolutely there.

While there has been a large number of perceived “busts” out of Georgia in the last few years, Starks, Walker, and Williams won’t be coasting off of the boosts often applied to winners of a national championship like Travon Walker, Quay Walker, Devonte Wyatt, and Lewis Cine, who perhaps have not lived up to their relative draft stock. Regardless, Georgia is on a three-year streak of producing multiple first-round picks, and that trend will likely continue as Starks, Walker, and Williams prepare for April.