For Mykel Williams to lead the Georgia defense to a title, the production in 2024 needs to match the measurables

Since Kirby Smart took over as the head coach of his alma mater in 2016, the Georgia Bulldogs have produced 17 first-round NFL draft picks. With stars like Roquan Smith and Jalen Carter spread across the league, somehow Travon Walker, with just 9.0 career sacks over three seasons at Georgia and only 65 total tackles, was the only No. 1 overall pick of Smart’s tenure. 

At 6-foot-5 and 272 pounds with 35.5-inch arms, Walker’s 4.51 40-yard dash, 35.5-inch vertical, and 4.32 shuttle drill, Walker’s elite measurables, not his on-field production, blew the Jacksonville Jaguars away in the 2022 NFL Draft process. Now, junior edge rusher Mykel Williams enters 2024 with top prospect buzz, but unlike Walker in 2021, for Georgia to win a national championship and Williams to be the first selection next spring, Williams needs to be dominant in his final college football season, not just in workouts. 

Already an elite run-defender, Williams will be relied upon by the Georgia defense to disrupt the opposing passing game in a way that Walker never was. In 2021, Walker led the Bulldogs with 34 pressures and his five sacks were fifth on the team, but his pass-rush win rate of 7.4% was 519th in the country among players with at least 100 pass-rushing snaps, and of the 154 players in the country with over 300 pass rush snaps, he ranked 116th. For all his impressive physical traits, Walker was never a reliably dominant pass-rusher in Athens, but Williams needs to be. 

In a lot of ways, Williams and Walker are similar, with Williams checking in at 6-foot-5 265 pounds with ridiculous athleticism and splitting snaps between the interior of Georgia’s defensive line and the edge. Williams’s ability in the run game has allowed Georgia to move him inside, where he is still a disruptive player, but with more experienced run-stuffers on the interior than pass-rushers on the edge, the biggest impact Williams can have is pinning his ears back and using his physical gifts to get after the quarterback. 

That supporting cast is the biggest difference between Walker and Williams. In 2021, Walker was flanked by Jalen Carter, Devonte Wyatt, Jordan Davis, and Nolan Smith, all eventual first-rounders. Williams on the other hand is entering this season with just three other players on the roster who have produced at least 20 pressures in a season, linebackers Jalon Walker and Smael Mondon Jr. and defensive tackle Warren Brinson, without a word of first-round NFL draft buzz between them. 

Walker was never the top name on the opposing offense’s scouting report, he rarely ever drew double-teams, so he didn’t make life easier for the other members of the Georgia defensive line. Williams will be, and for Georgia to have an effective pass rush in 2024, he’ll need to succeed despite the extra attention. 

Last season, as a true sophomore, Williams racked up 26 total pressures, six fewer than his true freshman season in 2022, but he equaled his mark of 4.5 sacks from the previous year. In 2022, Georgia ranked 40th in sacks per game at 2.4, and over its final three games, the Georiga defense averaged an impressive 4.3. In 2023 however, following the departures of Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith for the NFL, the Dawgs fell to 60th in the country at 2.2 with no late-season surge. 

While Williams, like Walker in his final season at Georgia, led the Bulldogs in pressures last year, six came in the Orange Bowl against a heavily depleted Florida State roster, and Walker’s pass-rush win rate of 11.5% ranked 209th in the country among players with at least 100 pass-rushing snaps and among the 340 players who matched Williams’ 236 pass rush reps last year, he ranked 97th. Jalon Walker led the Bulldogs at a 21.5% win rate which was 11th best in the country. 

Walker, who only played 151 snaps at edge rusher and only 244 total snaps, is one of five returning SEC players who ranked in the top 15 for pass-rush win rate last season, joining Ole Miss’s Princely Umanmielen (14th, Florida transfer), Texas A&M’s Nic Scourton (12th, Purdue transfer) and Cashius Howell (6th, Bowling Green transfer), and James Pearce Jr. from Tennessee (7th). 

Georgia is playing arguably the toughest schedule in the country, facing elite offenses in Texas, Ole Miss, and Alabama all on the road, and with a mostly revamped secondary after losing Tykee Smith, Javon Bullard, and Kamari Lassiter to the NFL. For the first time in his head coaching career, Kirby Smart’s team can confidently survive a loss or even two with the expanded 12-team playoff, but to win the national championship, getting after those great quarterbacks will be as crucial as ever. 

Georgia has the top returning quarterback in the country with Carson Beck, who will give the Bulldogs an element in the passing game they haven't had under Kirby Smart, even in Stetson Bennett's final collegiate season. However, the dominance of the Georgia program has been established on the defensive side of the ball with elite defensive linemen. Without the depth of talent that the 2021 and 2022 teams boasted, this year's unit will be led by star power with Mykel Williams up front and Malaki Starks in the secondary. If those two stars shine bright enough, a tough schedule won't be an issue.

Williams’ unearthly measurables will continue to keep him in the conversation at the top of 2025 NFL draft boards, maybe even ahead of Carson Beck, but, if he doesn’t have the production to match, then unless Jacksonville general manager Trent Balke, who has an unwavering belief in drafting for physical traits, somehow stumbles into the No. 1 overall pick again and miraculously keeps his job throughout the process, Williams won’t follow him Walker’s footsteps as the No. 1 overall pick. More importantly than sliding down draft boards, if Williams isn’t a dominant force in the SEC, then winning a third title in four seasons, may not be in the cards.