Georgia Bulldogs

Editor’s note: As we approach national signing day and consider the future of Georgia’s football program, we’ll also look backward into the Bulldogs’ recruiting history. Over the next few weeks, we’ll talk with several former Georgia standouts about their experiences as recruits. We begin today with offensive lineman and 2011 team captain Ben Jones.

ATHENS, Ga. -- In the summer of 2007, Ben Jones was one of those prospects who became a rock star on the summer camp circuit.

After dominating some high-profile competition in blocking drills at a prospect camp at Georgia, Jones quickly made himself a household name among recruitniks. But luckily for Mark Richt’s Bulldogs, Jones had a burning desire to play football at his late father’s alma mater -- and he played quickly.

Jones was a starting center for the preseason-No. 1 Bulldogs only a few games into his freshman season in 2008 and essentially held onto the job for the rest of his career. He was an ESPN All-American and All-SEC selection last season as a senior before becoming a fourth-round NFL draft pick by the Houston Texans.

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Editor’s note: Each day between now and Georgia’s Capital One Bowl date with Nebraska, we will review the season for a key Bulldogs player and attempt to project what’s next. Today we’ll look at center David Andrews.

No. 61 David Andrews
Sophomore/Center

Role in 2012: Andrews took over for four-year starter Ben Jones and held his own at perhaps the most important position on the offensive line.

The good: The sophomore played here and there behind Jones as a true freshman in 2011, but he entered the 2012 season with essentially no experience at crunch time against SEC starters. But Andrews was one of the pleasant surprises for the Bulldogs, performing capably -- and exceptionally at times. The line was one of the team’s biggest question marks entering the season, but Andrews and company seem to be heading in the right direction.

The bad: Always reluctant to publicly give himself high marks in interviews, Andrews often focuses on what he should have done better. A bad snap here, a missed block there. He once remarked after missing a block against Florida Atlantic -- in which the Owls defender dragged Bulldogs quarterback Aaron Murray down by the face mask, drawing a 15-yard penalty -- that he “almost got Murray decapitated.” But it was largely a solid season for Georgia’s center.

Crystal ball: There were certainly times when he played like a first-year starter, but Andrews seems to have settled the questions as to whether he is big enough (6-foot-2, 295 pounds) to hold up against the monsters who reside at the center of SEC defensive lines. He seems to have solidified a spot on the line for the next two seasons, and if he continues to make steady progress Andrews might contend for all-conference honors before his time at Georgia is up.

Ben Jones, one of Georgia’s most valuable offensive linemen of the Mark Richt era, went to the Houston Texans in the fourth round of the NFL draft.

The Texans picked Jones with the 99th overall pick Saturday in the draft -- which he discovered while watching with about 30 family members at his aunt's home in Bibb County, Ala.

"They love those undersized, scrappy zone centers," NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock said of the Texans. "Ben Jones from Georgia occasionally gets overextended, but this is one of the scrappiest, smartest players I’ve seen on tape. He takes great angles, the kid understands the game and leverage. The more he has to move sometimes at the second level, the more his lack of athletic ability hurts him. But this kid gets the game of football."

Jones became the second center selected in the draft, following only Wisconsin’s Peter Konz, who went in the second round to the Atlanta Falcons.

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Watch Saturday's Rounds 4-7 live on WatchESPN.com.

Day 2 of the NFL draft has come and gone with only one Georgia player -- offensive lineman Cordy Glenn -- being picked.

Projected by many draft experts as a first-round pick, Glenn slipped to the second round, where the Buffalo Bills grabbed him with the 41st pick. Former Bulldogs Brandon Boykin and Orson Charles both had hopes of landing in the second or third rounds, but neither player made it off the board by the end of the night.

Rounds 4-7 will begin Saturday at noon ET on ESPN, with Boykin, Charles and several other ex-Bulldogs hoping to hear their names called on the draft’s final day.

Center Ben Jones, punter Drew Butler, defensive tackle DeAngelo Tyson and kicker Blair Walsh are also among the potential ex-Bulldog draft picks. Several more should have the opportunity to sign deals with NFL clubs as undrafted free agents.

No Georgia players were selected in Thursday’s first round of the NFL draft.

Former Bulldogs offensive lineman Cordy Glenn was one of 26 players who attended the draft at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall, but is one of six remaining in the green room at the end of the night. Four offensive linemen -- USC's Matt Kalil, Stanford's David DeCastro, Iowa's Riley Reiff and Wisconsin's Kevin Zeitler -- were picked in the first round ahead of Glenn.

Most draft experts projected that Glenn would be a first-round pick, with ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. ranking him as the No. 14 overall prospect on his “Big Board.” Glenn is now the best available player remaining on Kiper’s board and is the second-best player left according to NFL Network expert Mike Mayock and ESPN's Todd McShay's rankings.

Glenn was clearly Georgia's best shot at becoming a first-round pick. Instead, for the fifth time in the last seven years, no Bulldog was selected in the first round.

Glenn -- along with former Georgia teammates Brandon Boykin, Orson Charles and Ben Jones -- will now wait to hear his name called Friday night in the second or third rounds.

Round 2 will begin at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN. The draft will conclude with Rounds 4-7 starting at noon ET Saturday on ESPN.

With an hour to go until the NFL draft begins, Georgia figures to have only one player hear his name called tonight during the first round.

Almost every top draft analyst has former Bulldogs offensive lineman Cordy Glenn going in the first round, typically somewhere in the mid to late first round.

However, Georgia figures to have several more players drafted between the second and seventh rounds on Friday and Saturday -- with cornerback Brandon Boykin, tight end Orson Charles and center Ben Jones figuring to be the next Bulldogs off the board.

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ESPN's Todd McShay will have a final update on the first round Thursday morning in the hours leading up to the first overall pick, but here's a match-up of prospects to team needs up and down the board, which includes Georgia's Cordy Glenn going to Cleveland in the first round and Orson Charles heading just down the road to the Falcons in the third round.

Scouts Inc. breaks down the 2012 class in each position group, including the top prospects in each of the position-specific categories Scouts uses in evaluations, along with a listing of all draft-ready prospects, four-year combine averages, picks in Rounds 1-2, and three-year market trends for each position.

Offense
Quarterback
Running back
Wide receiver
Tight end
Offensive lineman

Defense
Defensive lineman
Linebacker
Defensive back