Georgia Bulldogs: Who is playing in the Senior Bowl?
By John Buhler
The Georgia Bulldogs will have strong representation from their 2015 Senior Class as four of Athens’ finest will play in Saturday’s Senior Bowl in Mobile.
On Saturday, the Georgia Bulldogs will have four of its seniors from its 10-3 (5-3) 2015 football team playing in the Senior Bowl down in Mobile, Alabama. The game is at Ladd-Peebles Stadium and the game will air on the NFL Network at 2:30 PM ET. The coaching staffs of the Dallas Cowboys and the Jacksonville Jaguars will coach the seniors in this important exhibition.
The four seniors that will represent the Georgia Bulldogs are offensive tackle John Theus, outside linebacker Jordan Jenkins, wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell, and most recently inside linebacker Jake Ganus, who will now play in the Senior Bowl as of this past weekend.
It seems that Ganus’ inclusion will only help with his draft stock, as he looks to pursue his football career in the NFL. Theus, Jenkins, and Mitchell all played well enough at Georgia to ensure being drafted even before their final season Between the Hedges.
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Theus was a top 25 recruit in the country in the 2012 recruiting class out of Jacksonville and will likely go in high second round of the 2016 NFL Draft. Scouts seem to love his footwork and hand placement, as he can start in the NFL as a swing tackle within a year or so of being drafted.
Jenkins is a polished outside linebacker that rarely makes a bad decision defensively. He was an every-down outside linebacker at the JACK in former defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt’s defense. He’s not the flashiest of pass rushers, but Jenkins should go off the board sometime before the end of the fourth round.
Mitchell is a bit of a wild card. While he can make all the catches as both a vertical receiving threat and an improved possession receiver, he does have a lengthy list of injuries suffered while with the Georgia Bulldogs. He easily has second round talent, but will probably go in the third round like former UGA standout wideout Chris Conley did in the 2015 NFL Draft to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Including Ganus in the Senior Bowl probably means that he will end up getting drafted in the 2016 NFL Draft. He was paramount up the middle for the Dawgs in his lone season in Athens. Ganus became the most high-profile player that had to relocate because of the ceased operations of the UAB football program. The former leading tackler for the Blazers dominated on the inside for the Georgia Bulldogs his senior season.
Ganus has a great feel for the game and seems to have the necessary vision to play inside linebacker at the next level. He can let the game come to him like former UGA great inside linebackers Amarlo Herrera and Ramik Wilson, but Ganus can also instigate in the manner that Los Angeles Rams standout and former Georgia star Alec Ogletree did only a few years ago.
Next: Georgia Bulldogs football: 2016 recruiting update, Jan. 23
Strong showings in the Senior Bowl along with solid performances at either Senior Day in Athens or in the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis will help these four Georgia seniors climb up some draft boards. Being able to work with two NFL coaching staffs in Dallas and Jacksonville could aid in any of these four Dawgs being drafted by either of those teams. Good luck in the Senior Bowl, guys and Go Dawgs!