Where things stand with Georgia football 2023 roster as Bulldogs still await key decisions

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Where things stand with Georgia football 2023 roster as Bulldogs still await key decisions

Obviously, the state of Georgia’s future roster is far from the minds of those in the program. It seems so incredibly small in the wake of the Devin Willock and Chandler LeCroy’s tragic passing on Sunday morning.

It’s worth pointing out that none of the player moves announced on Monday were done so by the players. Brett Seither’s move to Georgia Tech, MJ Sherman landing at Nebraska and Dominick Blaylock entering the transfer portal were all announced by news outlets, as opposed to the players themselves.

Related: Georgia fan-favorite Dominick Blaylock enters the NCAA transfer portal

A major deadline passed on Monday and another approaches on Wednesday. Monday served as the date to enter the NFL draft for underclassmen, while the transfer portal window closes for the time being on Wednesday.

It’s worth noting though that a player has until Thursday at midnight to remove his name from the NFL draft, giving them more time to focus on their respective decision. There is also a second transfer portal window, opening from May 1 through May 15.

Most of the major players have already made announcements and decisions. Nine players have entered the transfer portal, while 10 players who had eligibility remaining elected to enter the 2023 NFL Draft. Twenty three players who were a part of Georgia’s scholarship roster in 2022 will not be with the team in 2023.

There are still some key players who have not publicly stated their decision.

Perhaps most important is center Sedrick Van Pran. The junior center has started every game for Georgia over the past two seasons and was selected as one of four permanent captains this past season. He spoke alongside Chris Smith and Stetson Bennett at the celebration on Saturday.

Related: Ladd McConkey shouldn’t surprise anyone after Mississippi State showing: ‘He’s a stud’

McConkey will test very well at the NFL combine whenever he gets there and he’s got the tape and performances to be drafted. Should he return to Georgia he would do so as a very talented wide receiver room, even after the departures of Kearis Jackson and Dominick Blaylock.

The Bulldogs added RaRa Thomas and Dominic Lovett out of the transfer portal and signed Tyler Williams, Anthony Evans and Yazeed Haynes in the 2023 signing class. Georgia also expects to bring back AD Mitchell, Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint, Arian Smith and Dillon Bell.

“We knew about those kids coming out of high school, think a lot of them,” Smart said of Thomas and Lovett prior to the Peach Bowl. “They performed at a high level in our conference, and I think they’ll challenge and compete with the rest of our roster and be competitive wideouts, which is important in this conference.”

McConkey coming back would be a significant boost to this offense, given how we saw Todd Monken use him last season. His presence would greatly help Carson Beck, Brock Vandagriff or Gunner Stockton next season.

This roster, no matter the decisions of the three players above, will be a young one. Georgia will have only 17 players who are in their fourth year in the program. By comparison, the 2022 team had 18 such players. And that’s with the fact that some of those veterans could elect to transfer later on.