Georgia football's season has come to an unfortunate end after losing to Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl 23-10. Now that UGA is in the offseason, there are a lot of big decisions that Georgia's players need to make now.
Some of those decisions will be centered around if certain players want to enter the transfer portal or not. That will be something to pay extremely close attention to as David Pollack predicts a large amount will choose to enter the portal.
But there are other decisions some players will have to make as well, and that is if they want to declare for the 2025 NFL Draft or not. QB Carson Beck is someone who has already decided to give up his final year of eligibility for the draft, but others are yet to make that decision. And one of those players is defensive back Malaki Starks.
Starks was asked after the Sugar Bowl if this was his last game at Georgia, and the only thing clear about his response is that he has no clue what he is going to do.
“If it is, bittersweet. If it is not, it is going to be a hell of a year next year.”
Was this his last game at UGA?
— DawgNation (@DawgNation) January 4, 2025
“I don’t know if it is.”
“If it is, bittersweet. If it is not, it is going to be a hell of a year next year.” https://t.co/owXCGa4YGm
What will Malaki Starks do?
There are always a handful of players each year where it's pretty clear that they are going to declare for the NFL Draft early. That was the case with Beck, who could have returned for one more year but made the obvious choice to declare for the Draft. But that decision doesn't seem as obvious for Starks.
Starks most certainly has the ability to turn pro. He is coming off a season with a career high 77 tackles and one interception, which brings his career total to six. Starks was also named a First Team All American by a few publications as well as being named to the Second Team by the Associated Press.
While Georgia fans obviously would love to have Starks back next season, it does seem more likely that he will go pro. There are a large amount of 2025 NFL mock drafts out there, and almost all of them project Starks to be a first round pick. Some even have him going in the top 10. So if that many people are this high on Starks, then it would probably be wise for him to go pro.
This decision from Starks will likely come soon, and whatever he decides to do the Georgia fanbase will be very excited for him and will cheer him on no matter what the next step in his journey is.