Rookie Georgia Bulldogs Set NFL Receiving Records During 2025 Season

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ATHENS - Remember the whole “Georgia can’t produce wide receivers” narrative?

It was a fairly popular one that even college coaches used against Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs on the recruiting trail.

Sure, the Bulldogs have only one receiver ever go over the 1,000-yard mark, but numbers don’t tell the entire story. In reality, numbers barely tell part of the story.

Elite pass-catchers have come through Georgia several times over the years and have gone on to do big things at the professional level. Now, you can add two more to the list.

After helping lead the Bulldogs to two consecutive national championships in 2021 and 2022, tight end Brock Bowers and wide receiver Ladd McConkey turned in record-breaking rookie seasons this past fall.

Bowers, the greatest college football tight end of all time, was named an All-Pro in his very first season with the Las Vegas Raiders, catching a rookie-record 112 passes, most by a tight end in any season, for 1,194 yards and five touchdowns. He had to carry the entire Raiders offense on his back and was the best overall tight end in the NFL this past season as a rookie. Year after year, Bowers continues to dominate every time he hits the field. He’s a quiet assassin headed towards a possible Hall-of-Fame career. 

Then there’s Ladd McConkey. The do-it-all athlete from Chatsworth earned a Bulldog offer after dominating on the hardwood for his Murray County basketball team in January of 2020 in front of Smart and the staff. The dynamic pass-catcher chose the Bulldogs over Kennesaw State and other smaller programs after not receiving an offer from his childhood favorite Tennessee Volunteers late in the process.

McConkey signed with Georgia, and the rest is history. The low three-star was developed by the Georgia staff over time and went on to have a championship career in Athens. He fell into the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft and was selected by Jim Harbaugh and the Los Angeles Chargers. One of the steals of the draft, McConkey is clearly the best offense player on the Chargers roster right now outside of offensive tackle, Rashawn Slater. He hauled in 91 passes as a rookie this fall for 1,346 yards and eight touchdowns.

In the Charger’s first-round loss to the Houston Texans, McConkey set the record for the most receiving yards (188) by a rookie in a playoff game.