For at least one more game, North Murray High School graduate Ladd McConkey will suit up for the Georgia Bulldogs.
McConkey, at a Thursday news conference ahead of Saturday’s Orange Bowl against Florida State, confirmed that he’d be on the field for Georgia against the Seminoles.
The game could possibly be the final in the UGA red and black for McConkey, who still has some eligibility remaining after this season but also has prospects of being picked in the 2024 NFL draft. But, McConkey said, that decision won’t be finalized until after Saturday’s game.
“I’ve got to sit down and weigh the pros and cons of everything. At the end of the day, I’ve just got to play this game, focus on this one and get through it, then sit down with my family and make that decision,” McConkey told reporters at the Thursday conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. “This place has done so much for me. They’ve poured into me here. The main thing is just playing with a great group of guys. I’ve gained like 130 brothers every single year.”
Whether or not it’s his last game as a Bulldog, McConkey said he was eager to suit up Saturday. Georgia takes on Florida State, which was left outside of the College Football Playoff despite finishing the regular season undefeated, Saturday at 4 p.m. in Miami.
McConkey’s clarification on his status for the game was a question worth asking for reporters Thursday in an era where the teams left outside of the four-team playoff are hit hard with players entering the transfer portal or opting out of bowl games to prepare for the draft.
With a loss to Alabama in the SEC Championship Game, Georgia missed out on a chance for a third straight national championship. McConkey was asked how he and the other Georgia players are staying motivated to face FSU.
“Anytime you step on the field, you want to win,” McConkey said. “We want to win and we want to go play. Let’s go out the right way.”
If Saturday does mark McConkey’s final game in college, it will wrap up a career in which the former North Murray Mountaineer helped deliver two national championships to a school that had gone 40 years without one.
In 2021, as a redshirt freshman, McConkey totaled 31 catches for 447 yards and five touchdowns, then brought in 58 balls for 762 yards and seven scores as a sophomore.
Injuries led to McConkey being limited to just seven of Georgia’s 13 games so far this season, but McConkey still has totaled 29 catches for 456 yards and a pair of touchdowns. McConkey missed the first four games of the season before making his season debut in a September game against Auburn.
“It’s definitely been frustrating, but it’s football and it’s injuries, and you can’t really control them,” McConkey said.
According to nflmockdraftdatabase.com, which compiles projected 2024 drafts from several different sources, McConkey is a consensus projected late second round NFL draft pick, if he does choose to enter the draft. Some mock drafts have him being selected as high as the late first round, while most project McConkey to come off the board in the second, third or fourth rounds.