Which Dawg goes first?

The Georgia Bulldogs have had some success in recent years during the NFL Draft. Last year A.J. Green went No. 4 overall to Cincinnati with two more going in the third round and a pair going in the fourth round. On Draft Day 2009, Matthew Stafford went No. 1 overall and Knowshon Moreno went 11 picks later at No. 12. In fact Georgia has had 57 players drafted since Mark Richt’s first game as head coach.

Georgia won’t have many first round picks this year, something Richt is likely happy about as several key underclassmen decided to return to Athens for the 2012 season. But one or two Georgia Bulldogs could still sneak into the first round. Three players in particular come to mind in this draft class, but which one will be selected first?

The NFL Network’s Mike Mayock projects TE Orson Charles as the first tight end taken, but that likely won’t happen until the second round. He predicted Charles going somewhere between 35 and 45 and definitely gone by No. 50. The tight end position was shown to be incredibly valuable this year with breakout years from Jimmy Graham, Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. Charles has nice size at 6-foot-3, 240-pounds, but doesn’t have the Gronkowski size, and despite massive hype, Charles only pulled in 10 touchdowns over his three seasons in Athens.

James Alder of About Football has OG Cordy Glenn as the No. 29 overall prospect but going to Chicago at No. 27. Glenn played both guard and tackle while in Athens and the versatility plus the 6-foot-5, 350-pound frame will get plenty of looks by NFL teams.

Dane Brugler of CBS Sports has Glenn going to the New York Giants with the No. 32 in the first round, right after Brandon Boykin goes to New England at No. 31. Boykin is an interesting possibility as he played special teams in addition to cornerback for the Dawgs his first three years on campus then got onto the field on offense as a senior. His first ever offensive touch, he took 80 yards for a rushing score. Bill Belichick loves players that can do different things on the football field, as evidenced by his using wide receivers as corners in recent years.

Brugler’s co-worker at CBSSports has Glenn going to Pittsburgh at No. 24, a team that churns out All-Pro offensive linemen.

Ben Jones will likely get drafted but few teams take centers in the first round, so expect to see Jones taken in the third or fourth round.

Draft Day 2013 will likely see several Bulldogs taken early as Jarvis Jones, Bacarri Rambo, John Jenkins and several others could elect to take their talents to the NFL. Richt will hope that all play like first round picks this year; if so Georgia could have a special season.