Georgia football: 5 great Bulldogs who didn’t quite live up to the NFL hype
Georgia football has had many great players, but some of them are viewed in hindsight as overrated Georgia football players after being NFL busts.
No one can argue the fact that Georgia football is among the blue blood programs in the sport. The Bulldogs, especially since head coach Kirby Smart took over, have been among the hottest talent pools in college football for many years and are almost always found in the Top 25 poll, and recently, usually in the top 5-10.
At the same time, there are many people who will routinely call the Bulldogs overrated. That largely stems from the fact that Georgia football hasn’t won a National Championship since 1980. Another part of it may be the fact that many of the greats in the history of the Bulldogs haven’t gone on to enjoy the best careers in the NFL.
That could apply to many college football programs, sure. And there are also plenty of greats out of Georgia that have lived up to what they were for the Bulldogs. These five players, however, are not among that group after being NFL busts.
Aaron Murray rewrote the record book for the Bulldogs throughout his four years in Athens. He arrived after Matthew Stafford left and had a ton of hype behind him for what he might become. Again, in the record books, he lived up to that. Murray is the career leader in passing yards (13,166) and touchdowns (121) at Georgia, both by a wide margin, while also holding the single-season records in both of those categories as well. He’s definitely deserving of a spot on Georgia’s modern-era Mount Rushmore.
Even if you wanted to dock Murray some points for writing the record book in Athens simply because he was a four-year starter, there are plenty of players in prestigious programs who don’t accomplish that. However, despite all of the numbers, the Dawgs simply weren’t always on top when he was filling up the box score.
Georgia went just 6-7 in Murray’s first season at the helm. Though they rebounded and went 10-4 the following season and then 12-2 the year after, their success dipped in Murray’s final season with the Bulldogs as the team went just 8-5 on the year. Perhaps even more than that, UGA won just one bowl game in four appearances with Murray as the starter.
The statistical dominance never amounted to much in the NFL. Selected in the fifth round of the 2014 draft by the Kansas City Chiefs. He was released by them prior to the 2016 season and bounced around the league but never saw an NFL snap in the regular season. Murray had stints in both the short-lived AAF and XFL but his pro career never came close to his one at Georgia.