Georgia Football: Georgia’s Top Breakout Candidates for 2023

As Georgia football attempts to make it three national titles in a row, they will have to replace a lot of talent that went to the NFL (ten players selected in the 2023 NFL Draft). With all that talent heading out, the Dawgs will need some guys to step up and become big-time contributors in 2023 after being reserves the previous two seasons. With that being said, here are my top three candidates for breakout players in 2023 for the Georgia Bulldogs.

Who are Georgia football’s potential breakout candidates in 2023?

OT Amarius Mims

Convincing Amarius Mims to stay in Athens after he entered the transfer portal following his freshman season in 2021 has been one of Kirby’s biggest “recruiting” wins at Georgia in my opinion. After not playing much as a freshman, Mims tested the portal, but Kirby convinced him to stay. Mims then played in every game (and played a lot) as a reserve swing-tackle behind Broderick Jones and Warren McClendon in the regular season in 2022, before starting in the College Football Playoff.

Mims was a five-star in the class of 2021, and was one of the better O-Line prospects in recent years. Many around the nation expected him to start early, but he has only those two starts through his first two years for Georgia (mainly due to how good Georgia’s O-Line has been). That number of starts will increase a lot in 2023 however as he is expected to step into a role as the team’s starting right tackle.

Mims was named preseason All-SEC heading into this year, and it would not surprise me if he does emerge as one of the SEC’s top tackles. Some might not consider Mims to be a “breakout” candidate because he is a former five-star, has played well when he’s gotten on the field, and he started a national title game, but again he only has two career starts. I consider a player potentially being one of the SEC’s best in his first year as a full-time starter to be a breakout candidate. It also would not surprise me if Mims plays well enough this season for him to head to the NFL after just one year as a starter (although he could always return).

TE Oscar Delp

Delp seems ready to step up from the #3 TE role to the #2 TE role vacated by 2023 3rd round pick Darnell Washington. While Delp won’t be “the guy” at TE this year (because of a guy you might have heard of named Brock Bowers), I expect Delp to be a key part of the Georgia football offense.

While one might not think that a #2 TE in an offense would be a breakout candidate, Georgia loves to use a lot of #2 TE sets and are not afraid to get multiple TE’s involved in the passing game. Just remember that Georgia featured BOTH the First Team and Second Team All-SEC tight ends last season in Bowers and Washington.

Delp played well last year as a freshman in the PT that he did get, and I believe that he is ready to step into a larger role in the offense this season. I predict a stat-line in the realm of 30-35 catches, 400-ish yards, and a couple of TD’s this season for Delp as he becomes an important piece in Georgia’s offense.

Delp would then likely be primed to step into the role of #1 TE in 2024 after Bowers heads off to the NFL.

LB Jalon Walker

The question for Walker won’t be if he’ll play in 2023, it’ll be where he plays. That’s a good thing. Walker has the versatility to play both on the inside at the MAC or MONEY linebacker spots, or to play on the outside as an EDGE rusher.

Walker flashed his potential late in the season as a freshman (totaled 9 tackles, 2 TFL, and 1 sack), but I expect that he’ll step those numbers up in 2023 as he moves up the depth chart.

Walker was a five-star in the 2022 class according to 247 and was a consensus top 100 recruit. He is very talented, and appears to be one of the more talented youngsters on what should be another great Georgia defense. With Nolan Smith and Bobby Beal Jr. off to the NFL, Walker could be slotted in high up the depth chart as a pass-rusher on the outside. Or he could play on the inside, rotating with the likes of Jamon Dumas-Johnson, Smael Mondon, and Xavian Sorey at middle linebacker.

While what his stat-line will look like exactly will depend on where he plays, it would not surprise me if Walker has 30-35 tackles, 5-7 TFL, and 4-5 sacks this season. If Walker plays on the outside, I believe Walker will be one of Georgia’s top 2-3 sack total guys. However, with Smael Mondon nursing an injury throughout camp and heading into the seaosn, Walker could have a chance to breakthrough in the rotation on the inside. If he plays on the inside then his tackle numbers could be elevated some. It would not surprise me either if Walker plays some mixture of on the inside and the outside.

Either way, I believe Walker is primed for a breakout sophomore season in 2023.