The Georgia football hate is astonishing in Top SEC player ranking
Since 2000, Georgia football has been a talent powerhouse. While it may not have always shown in the records or number of national titles, the Dawgs still have had some of the best talents in the SEC, or so at least we thought they did.
FanSided crafted this ranking discussing who the top 50 SEC players were since 2000, and while the writer did a great job finding some of the best players to come through this league, he didn’t do the Dawgs justice.
Among the 50 players, 11 of the 14 teams are represented, including the two newest teams in Texas A&M and Missouri. Alabama comes in with the most on the list with 17 names, LSU is second with nine and the Aggies are the third with six.
Georgia has four names on this list. Yes, only four and ties with Florida for the fourth-most. Ole Miss, Tennessee and Arkansas each have two players. Auburn, Missouri, South Carolina and Mississippi State each have one.
Sure it had to be hard breaking down the Top 50 SEC players, but the Dawgs got snubbed, and I’m not playing into any bias.
Georgia football deserved more than four players on the Top 50 SEC Players this century list.
To start this off, Alabama should have the most on this list because they have won the most national titles this century and continue to produce some of the best talent in the league.
Georgia just won a national title, but there have been a ton of players come through those doors since the year 2000 that should be on this list.
The Dawgs saw Roquan Smith land at the No. 43 spot, Todd Gurley at No. 20, Jarvis Jones at No.19, and David Pollack at No.8. Sure, those are four of the top players to come through Georgia since 2000, but quite a few are missing. Not only did four make the cut, but their rankings, outside of Pollack’s were a bit low.
Smith, Gurley and Jones should all be inside the Top 15 — I’m being nice about that too. There are a handful of other guys deserving of this list, and instead they get left off.
I’ll touch more on that later in this article.
One thing that makes me scratch my head about this list is the six Texas A&M players.
Some of these guys played for the Aggies before they joined the SEC. Neither team was in the SEC in 2000, so between then and 2012, those players shouldn’t be a consideration. So how could players who didn’t play an SEC schedule be considered for this list?
In our opinion, they shouldn’t.
Both programs joined in 2012, so why is Von Miller, who played from 2007-10, on this list? He is incredibly talented but did not play in the SEC — he played in the Big 12.
Of the six Aggies, outside Myles Garrett, they all played a part of their careers in the Big 12. Garrett was the only one to play an all-SEC schedule.
The rest of them made the transition, and I’ll give the writer credit for including some of these names because they were good, but Miller shouldn’t be an option because he didn’t play in the SEC.
Missouri’s one player on this list is Michael Sam, and he was a stud in college football, but again he only played a part of his career in the SEC. He was at Missouri 2009-2013, so his final two years were in the SEC, but still. Sam deserves a spot on this list, but I would have him ranked lower than No. 40.
Now to look at Alabama and their 17 players on this list.
Bryce Young makes this list and is the only player currently playing college ball. If we’re going to include that, why didn’t Georgia players like Nakobe Dean or Jordan Davis get included? Or even Brock Bowers, who shocked the world — he shouldn’t be on this list, but if a quarterback with only one full year of play under his belt is on here, why can’t Bowers?
Young should be on this list because he is a stud, but to be at No. 26 when his career isn’t over yet? Bold move, but hey, I respect it.
There are at least three Alabama running backs on this list, and yes, they all should be, but Georgia only gets Todd Gurley.
Do people forget about Nick Chubb? Chubb hung right in there with Gurley in 2014. He amassed 4,769 total yards, scored 44 touchdowns, and averaged 6.3 yards a carry, missing half of a year due to that horrific knee injury.
Or his counterpart Sony Michel who finished his career at Georgia with 3,613 yards, averaging 6.1 yards a touch and scoring 33 times.
Leonard Floyd is a defensive guy who isn’t on this list but should be. He was tremendous during his three years at Georgia. He finished college with 26.5 tackles for loss and 17 sacks.
Probably the name I’m most shocked to not see on this list is A.J. Green, who was right there with Julio Jones. He was a stud at Georgia from 2008-2010, where he finished with 166 catches, 2,619 yards, 23 touchdowns and averaged 15.8 yards a catch.
How can we forget Matthew Stafford, a former No.1 overall pick? He threw for 7,731 yards and 51 touchdowns in three seasons. Stafford doesn’t make this list, and I don’t know why he doesn’t.
Some other names that should have gotten included or at least considered are, and mind you — this isn’t all of them, but these are just guys I thought of off the top of my head.
- Azeez Ojulari
- Alec Ogletree
- Greg Blue
- Justin Houston
- Mecole Hardman
- David Andrews
- Ben Jones
- Rodrigo Blankenship
Sure, Georgia can’t have all of the names on this list, and while I could come up with the top 50 Georgia football players since the turn of the century, the Dawgs still got disrespected in this ranking.
Also, Tim Tebow isn’t the best football player since 2000. He is top 5 for sure, but not No.1 overall. Joe Burrow should be, and we all know that.
LSU and Alabama should have the most on this list because they consistently produce some of the best talents, but Texas A&M should not be No.3. The Dawgs should be.
Georgia football should have at least six or seven names on this list, and it would be hard to change our mind. Check out the article over on FanSided, then come back and debate how you would rank them.