Five former Georgia high school players were first-round NFL Draft picks last week, and 25 went overall, both exceeding state averages, but the most remarkable story came out of Gwinnett County, which claimed nine picks by itself.
That’s more than the totals of 42 states that include Ohio (eight), Pennsylvania (six), Alabama (four), Oklahoma (four) and Tennessee (two).
The Gwinnett nine were D.J. Turner and Josh Downs of North Gwinnett, Wanya Morris and Owen Pappoe of Grayson, Colby Wooden of Archer, Terrell Smith of South Gwinnett, Payne Durham of Peachtree Ridge, Kendall Williamson of Brookwood and Robert Beal of Norcross.
Turner, the first of the Gwinnett players taken in the second round to the Bengals, played his senior season at IMG Academy after making the AJC all-state team as a 2017 junior.
Beal, the former Georgia player taken in the fifth round, spent time at IMG after playing at Norcross and graduated from another Gwinnett school, Peachtree Ridge, where he didn’t play football.
The most celebrated of the Gwinnett group in high school were Grayson teammates. Pappoe and Morris were five-star recruits. Pappoe went to Auburn, Morris to Tennessee, then Texas.
Georgia’s five first-round picks are tied for second-most all-time for the state. There were six in 2021 and five in 2005. This year’s five were Dutchtown’s Will Anderson, Dalton’s Jahmyr Gibbs, Lithonia’s Broderick Jones, Hillgrove’s Myles Murphy and Calvary Day’s Nolan Smith.
The 25 Georgia draft picks overall are the fourth-most all-time. Georgia had 30 in 2022 and 2015 and 29 in 2017.
The 25 ranked third nationally behind Florida’s 36 and Texas’s 30, according to High School Football America, which counts based on a player’s graduating school.
The only player among Georgia’s 25 who was not a major Division I recruit out of high school was YaYa Diaby, a defensive lineman from North Clayton. Diaby signed with Georgia Military College before going to Louisville. The Buccaneers took Diaby in the third round.
Georgia’s status as a talent-rich football state is growing rapidly. In the past 10 years, Georgia has averaged 21.4 picks overall and 3.5 first-rounders after averaging only 11.6 and 1.7 in the 1990s and 13.5 and 1.7 in the first decade of this century.
Below are Georgia’s 25, with their high school, college and NFL teams.
First round
3. LB Will Anderson, Dutchtown/Alabama (Houston)
12. RB Jahmyr Gibbs, Dalton/Alabama (Detroit)
14. OT Broderick Jones, Lithonia/Georgia (Pittsburgh)
28. DE Myles Murphy, Hillgrove/Clemson (Cincinnati)
30. LB Nolan Smith, Calvary Day/Georgia (Philadelphia)
Second round
41. LB B.J. Ojulari, Marietta/LSU (Arizona)
45. S Brian Branch, Sandy Creek/Alabama (Detroit)
60. CB D.J. Turner, North Gwinnett/Michigan (Cincinnati)
Third round
79. WR Josh Downs, North Gwinnett/North Carolina (Indianapolis)
82. DE YaYa Diaby, North Clayton/Louisville (Tampa Bay)
88. RB Tank Bigsby, Callaway/Auburn (Jacksonville)
92. OT Wanya Morris, Grayson/Oklahoma (Kansas City)
Fourth round
116. DE Colby Wooden, Archer/Auburn (Green Bay)
128. QB Stetson Bennett, Pierce County/Georgia (LA Rams)
134. CB Jay Ward, Colquitt County/LSU (Minnesota)
Fifth round
145. S Jammie Robinson, Lee County/Florida State (Carolina)
165. CB Terrell Smith, South Gwinnett/Minnesota (New Orleans)
168. LB Owen Pappoe, Grayson/Auburn (Arizona)
170. S Christopher Smith, Hapeville Charter/Georgia (Las Vegas)
171. TE Payne Durham, Peachtree Ridge/Purdue (Tampa Bay)
173. EDGE Robert Beal, Norcross/Georgia (San Francisco)
174. OT Warren McClendon, Brunswick/Georgia (LA Rams)
175. TE Davis Allen, Calhoun/Clemson (LA Rams)
Sixth round
193. RB Chris Rodriguez, Ola/Kentucky (Washington)
Seventh round
258. DB Kendall Williamson, Brookwood/Stanford (Chicago)
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