ESPN Lists 3 UGA Football Players in Top 100 Transfer Portal Rankings
ATHENS - The transfer portal continues to grow as a bigger element in college football, and it has now become a bigger element for the Georgia Bulldogs.
Kirby Smart and his staff attacked the transfer portal and brought in more players through that avenue than it ever has before. The Dawgs will have 10 new transfer portal players on its roster that were brought in via both the winter and spring windows.
ESPN ranked its top-100 transfer portal players for this offseason, and three of those 10 Bulldogs made the list, and one of them even made the top-10.
Smart and ther staff saw that there were clear positions of need after losing 80% of its offensive line starters, its starting running back, multiple starting receivers, over 75% of the sack production and over 50% of the defensive production and snap from a season ago. The starting lineup for this roster has largely been overhauled and it should see a handful of these current transfers make an immediate impact as rotation players, if not as full time starters.
Wide receiver was a hole that needed to be filled for multiple reasons this offseason. Georgia famously led the country in dropped passes in 2024. Arian Smith and Dominic Lovett left for the NFL.
Those reasons are the main ones behind why Smart went after former USC wide receiver Zachariah Branch, who was ranked the eighth overall transfer player on ESPN’s list, and the highest out of the new Bulldogs. Branch will bring an element of explosive playmaking that Georgia was extremely inconsistent in showing a season ago. He will also double as one of the better special teams players in college football. He returned both a kickoff and a punt return for a touchdown in 2023 on his way to becoming a freshman All-American.
The next Dawg on the list is the Army transfer Elo Modozie. He was ranked No. 34 by ESPN. Modozie, like Branch, has a real chance to be an immediate starter for Georgia.
Arguably Georgia’s biggest position of concern heading into 2025 is the edge rusher spot. Jalon Walker, Mykel Williams and Chaz Chambliss leave big shoes to fill. Damon Wilson unexpectedly left for Missouri through the transfer portal, and he was projected to be Georgia’s top edge rusher.
Modozie led Army in tackles for loss and sacked the quarterback 6.5 times in 2024. He will compete for a starting job in fall camp.
Like it was mentioned before, problem is a word to describe Georgia’s wide receiver position over the last 12 months. Branch was not the only one that the Dawgs recruited out of the portal. Noah Thomas, Texas A&M’s leading receiver from 2024, will be a Georgia Bulldog for his senior season, and he was ranked No. 53 on ESPN’s list.
Thomas is almost 6’6” and will provide a bug outside presence that Georgia lacked in 2024 due to off-field issues that kept Rara Thomas and Colbie Young from being available.