Georgia had six players taken through the first 100 picks of the 2026 NFL Draft on Friday in Pittsburgh, but Colbie Young was still waiting for his name to be called as the draft moved toward its final day.
The Bulldogs added Monroe Freeling at No. 19 to the Carolina Panthers, Christen Miller at No. 42 to the New Orleans Saints, CJ Allen at No. 53 to the Indianapolis Colts, Oscar Delp at No. 73 to the New Orleans Saints, Zachariah Branch at No. 79 to the Atlanta Falcons and Daylen Everette at No. 85 to the Pittsburgh Steelers. That left Young, Dillon Bell, Brett Thorson and Micah Morris among the Georgia players who had earned combine invites and had not been drafted yet, though Noah Thomas, Cash Jones, Beau Gardner and JaCorey Thomas could also hear their names called.
Georgia was second among SEC teams in draft picks through the first 100 selections, behind Texas A&M with seven. The Bulldogs had 13 picks in the 2025 NFL draft and set the all-time record for most players taken in a single draft with 15 in 2022, but they were unlikely to top last year’s total. Brock Bowers went No. 13 in 2024, a reminder of how often Georgia players have been valued early.
The day also brought a familiar reaction from NFL evaluators. Ian Cunningham said, “What they’ve done and what they continue to do at Georgia, they’re always going to have really good football players.” He added, “It’s cool that it’s right in our backyard, so we’re going to continue to build those relationships and foster those relationships there and look forward to scouting future Bulldogs in the future.”
Georgia was trying to add enough selections on Saturday to get into double digits for the fourth time in five years, with rounds four through seven scheduled to finish the draft at noon ET. For Young, the next step was simpler: wait for Saturday and see whether one more Bulldogs call finally came.
