Georgia football 2025 roster tracker: Live updates on transfer portal, NFL draft decisions and coaching news
The Georgia football 2025 roster has already begun to take shape, even as the Bulldogs continue through the 2024 season. Below you can find the latest on the transfer portal, coaching changes and NFL draft decisions as they impact the Georgia roster.
Georgia can expect to have plenty of roster turnover, given it regularly sends double-digit players to the NFL and loses a significant chunk of its roster to the transfer portal
Georgia football 2025 roster tracker: Live updates, latest rumors and intel
5 p.m. ET, Dec. 17 update: Despite a number of high-profile names going into the transfer portal, not every big name is going to fit at Georgia.
But that is not the case when it comes to Zachariah Branch and Zion Branch of USC. The two brothers announced their plans to enter the transfer portal on Tuesday.
Zachariah Branch is a wide receiver with two years of eligibility remaining. He is among the most explosive players in the country and an elite punt returner. He signed with USC as a 5-star prospect in the 2023 class.
Wide receiver is an obvious need for Georgia, with Kentucky transfer Dane Key perhaps being the biggest name Georgia has been connected with at this point. Key visited Georgia on Tuesday.
Zion Branch isn’t seen as the same high-level prospect as Zachariah, but he is someone who fills a need for Georgia. Safety is maybe Georgia’s second-biggest need heading into 2025 and the older Branch brother fills a potential void left behind by Malaki Starks and Dan Jackson.
Georgia did see Jacksonville State target Zechariah Poyser commit to Miami on Tuesday after Poyser visited Georgia over the weekend. Zion Branch will also have two years of eligibility remaining.
The Branch brothers will not be easy to land, as they figure to command significant offers in the transfer portal. The usual suspects of Oregon, Ohio State and Alabama figure to be in on the recruitments of the Branch brothers.
We’ll see if Kirby Smart and Georgia are willing to push and land both players. This is the type of recruitment in the transfer portal that the Bulldogs have not usually won or gone all-in on. But the Branch brothers are good enough to where Georgia could reverse that trend.
12:30 p.m. ET, Dec. 13 update: Another Bulldog has gone into the transfer portal, with defensive back Justyn Rhett entering the transfer portal.
He becomes the fourth Bulldog to do so and the second defensive back to do so, joining Julian Humphrey. Rhett played in just two games this season and will have three years of eligibility remaining.
Georgia has not yet added anyone out of the transfer portal, with wide receiver being the one position that Georgia seems to really be pushing for. Kentucky wide receiver Dane Key seems like the most likely target, while Georgia Tech wide receiver Eric Singleton seems to be trending elsewhere as Matt Zenitz reports he has a visit set up for Texas next week.
4:30 p.m. ET, Dec. 10 update: Georgia got some good news and some bad news via the transfer portal on Tuesday.
The bad news is that defensive lineman Jamaal Jarrett has now entered the transfer portal. He will have three years of eligibility remaining at whichever school he next ends up at. He emerged as a rotational piece at Georgia this season, playing in 11 games and recording 3 tackles.
The more positive news for Georgia is that wide receiver Nitro Tuggle announced that he would be remaining at Georgia after previously announcing on Monday that he would enter the transfer portal.
The Tuggle news comes shortly after Georgia learned it would not have wide receiver Colbie Young for the Sugar Bowl as his legal status is unchanged. Tuggle has three years of eligibility remaining for Georgia after playing in seven games thus far this season.
Georgia has made pushes in the transfer portal already, with wide receivers Dane Key and Eric Singleton Jr. being early targets for Georgia. Key is a Kentucky transfer who is also considering Nebraska, while Georgia looks to beat Auburn and Ole Miss for Singleton.
12:30 p.m. ET update: Georgia has seen another wide receiver enter the transfer portal, with freshman Nitro Tuggle doing so.
He will have three years of eligibility remaining at his next school after playing in seven games as a freshman for the Bulldogs. Tuggle caught 3 passes for 34 yards this season.
With Tuggle exiting the program, it will put Georgia in an even greater bind at the wide receiver position for the College Football Playoff. With Tuggle and Michael Jackson III now elsewhere, Georgia has only seven scholarship wide receivers active at the moment. That number could move back up to eight in the event that Colbie Young is reinstated if his charges are dropped.
Georgia did sign five wide receivers in the 2025 recruiting cycle, led by top prospects CJ Wiley and Talyn Taylor. But with Young and Dominic Lovett set to exhaust their eligibility and Dillon Bell and Arian Smith having NFL draft decisions to make, Georgia will have to be active in the transfer portal to get its numbers back up at the position.
It’s worth noting that the coach who recruited Tuggle to Georgia, Bryan McClendon, was replaced by James Coley this offseason.
With Tuggle no longer on the team, Georgia has only two wide receivers on the roster that were signed by McClendon in Anthony Evans and Sacovie White.
10:30 a.m. ET update: The transfer portal is officially open, as the winter window opens on Dec. 9 and runs through Dec. 28. Those participating in the College Football Playoff, like Georgia, will have an additional five days to enter the transfer portal once their respective season comes to an end.
The Bulldogs have already seen two of their own players enter the transfer portal, with cornerback Julian Humphrey and wide receiver Michael Jackson doing so. Humphrey was not with the team on Saturday, so it’s safe to say that once you go into the transfer portal at Georgia, your time has come to a close.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart gave an update on what Georgia will be looking for in the transfer portal on Sunday.
“We evaluate the transfer portal on who fits our culture more than we do who fits our talent level,” Smart said on Sunday. “There’s tons of talented guys out there. We just want to find people that want to fit our culture and really our ethic because it’s not a place to go to if you’re just looking for sheer numbers. I mean, you’ve got to want to win, and you’ve got to want to make sacrifices for the team here.”
As for positions of interest, wide receiver and defensive back may perhaps be the most important for the Bulldogs. Some players who fit the traditional mold of what Georgia looks for — SEC experience, previous recruiting ties — have already entered the transfer portal like Kentucky receivers Barion Brown and Dane Key or Alabama defensive tackle Jaheim Oatis.
On interesting name that went into the portal on Monday was Georgia Tech wide receiver Eric Singleton. He was recruited to Georgia Tech by Josh Crawford, who is now Georgia’s running backs coach. Over the past two seasons, Singleton caught 104 passes for 1,468 yards and 9 touchdowns for the Yellow Jackets.
Georgia can begin contacting and hosting players in the transfer portal, even with its season still on-going. Georgia does not play again until Jan. 1, when it takes on the winner of Notre Dame-Indiana in the Sugar Bowl.
Georgia football 2025 players in the transfer portal
*This section will be updated as players announce their intentions to transfer. Georgia had 21 players transfer out last season. The Bulldogs took 11 players out of the transfer portal last year. The transfer portal opens on Dec. 9 and closes on Dec. 28. Teams playing in the College Football Playoff get a five-day extension from when their season ends. The NCAA allows players a one-time transfer exemption, meaning they can transfer anywhere once. Graduate transfers are allowed to transfer a second time if that is the case.
- Cornerback Julian Humphrey — transferred to Texas A&M
- Wide receiver Michael Jackson — entered transfer portal
- Defensive tackle Jamaal Jarrett — entered transfer portal
- Defensive back Justyn Rhett — entered transfer portal
- Outside linebacker Samuel M’Pemba — entered transfer portal
- Inside linebacker Troy Bowles — entered transfer portal
- Safety Jake Pope — entered transfer portal
Georgia football 2025 NFL Draft decisions
*This section will be updated as players announce their decisions as to whether they are staying or going. The deadline to enter the 2025 NFL Draft is Jan. 15, unless you are playing in the national championship game. Those in that game will have a special deadline on Jan. 24. Georgia had two players taken in the first round of the NFL draft last year. No program has had more players taken in the last five NFL drafts than Georgia.
- Offensive tackle Xavier Truss — exhausted eligibility
- Safety Dan Jackson — exhausted eligibility
- Outside linebacker Chaz Chambliss — exhausted eligibility
- Inside linebacker Smael Mondon — exhausted eligibility
- Defensive tackle Warren Brinson — exhausted eligibility
- Defensive tackle Nazir Stackhouse — exhausted eligibility
- Wide receiver Colbie Young — exhausted eligibility
- Wide receiver Dominic Lovett — exhausted eligibility
- Tight end Benjamin Yurosek — exhausted eligibility
- Quarterback Carson Beck
- Wide receiver Arian Smith
- Offensive guard Tate Ratledge
- Offensive guard Dylan Fairchild
- Offensive guard Micah Morris
- Center Jared Wilson
- Defensive end Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins
- Running back Trevor Etienne
- Tight end Oscar Delp
- Wide receiver Dillon Bell
- Defensive end Mykel Williams
- Linebacker Jalon Walker
- Cornerback Daylen Everette
- Safety Malaki Starks
- Punter Brett Thorson
Georgia football 2025 coaching staff changes
*This section will be updated as coaching changes are announced. Georgia had four on-field assistants leave the program last offseason.
