The 2023 Georgia Bulldogs will enter the season as the back-to-back defending national champions, but they will have a new look after losing a number of guys to the NFL draft and the NCAA transfer portal.
ESPN’s Bill Connelly recently released his returning production rankings, which looks at which programs return the most production from last year’s teams. This category is one of the three factors that go into his SP+ rankings and account for a majority of the formula.
Georgia checked in at No. 80 in the rankings, returning 61% of its production from last season. Connelly also breaks it down by offensive and defensive production. Georgia returns 52% on offense (109th nationally) and 70% on defense (42nd nationally).
In 2021, Georgia ranked No. 96, returning 59% of its production from the previous season. And that was after losing 15 guys to the NFL draft and 13 more to the transfer portal.
Connelly listed Florida State, Michigan, Texas A&M, Missouri, USC, Utah, Texas and Washington as the teams most likely to improve next season.
Alabama, TCU, Kansas State, UTSA and Iowa are the teams Connelly considers most likely to regress.
For comparison purposes, Auburn ranks No. 28 with 71% production returning, Ole Miss ranks No. 30, LSU No. 32, Clemson No. 36, Tennessee No. 69 and Alabama No. 125.
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