Malaki Starks stood talking to reporters in front of a window with the Dallas skyline behind him last week at SEC Media Days. To his right were two other Georgia teammates that, like him, are pegged as 2025 NFL first-round draft picks.
Mykel Williams or Carson Beck could be in rare air as the No. 1 overall pick if projections from ESPN analysts prove accurate ninth months before the real deal.
Beck, Georgia's returning starting quarterback, sits atop Matt Miller's latest mock draft going to the Giants after a trade.
Williams, the Bulldogs' junior edge rusher, is Jordan Reid's top player on his big board.
So, Starks was asked, you've got one choice: Are you taking Williams or Beck?
"Both," the junior safety said diplomatically. "Both. I'm not choosing. They're both, I say, generational talents. They're amazing the things that they can do. I'm excited for them, but you know I think they're more focused on what's going to go on through the season. When that time gets there, I'm going to be excited for both of them."
Georgia already boasts five NFL No. 1 picks all-time, including quarterback Matthew Stafford in 2009 and defensive lineman Travon Walker in 2022.
Players are aware of their next-level buzz.
"We noticed it, but we don't really too much pay attention to it," Williams said. "I feel like we've got to go out on the field and prove it"
Said Beck: "Obviously, I think that's super cool. I see all that. …The more team focused I stay, those individual goals start to happen. When I just pour myself into the team and focus on just winning every week and doing my job each and every play, all that other stuff kind of takes care of itself."
Jim Nagy, who keeps close tabs on NFL prospects as executive director of the Senior Bowl and saw both Beck and Williams in person at Georgia's spring game, said he's "not a big fan" of mock drafts that come out in the summer.
"Honestly, I think they're a little dangerous," he said. "I think players, some of them, unfortunately buy into that, their families do, but both of those guys are great players. …We've got big grades on both of those guys, but it's way too early for that."
Beck had a breakthrough 2023 season when he threw for 3,941 yards with 24 touchdowns and 6 interceptions and set a Georgia record with a 72.4 completion percentage.
Miller calls Beck "a steady pocket passer with a big arm and great processing speed. And he is primed for a breakout season…"
Beck, a fifth-year senior, has attacked the offseason workouts since spring practices, coach Kirby Smart said.
"The reports I'm getting from the weight room are that he's in the best shape he's been in," Smart said. "He's a little bit lighter. He's running well. I've seen some running stuff. I feel really comfortable about Carson because of how much he loves football and how much he likes to watch it. He takes wideouts down and throws with them. That part checks the box."
Smart said Beck could continue to work on how he influences younger players on the roster and studies the game.
"He's got to take it to another level to take us where we want to go," Smart said.
Williams looks poised for his biggest Georgia season after racking up 9 sacks and 46 tackles in his first two seasons. He's played primarily on the defensive line, but he's focused more on playing outside linebacker.
"Yes, it requires quite a bit of projection, but at 6-foot-5 and 265 pounds, the junior pass-rusher has enormous upside," Reid wrote. "He has to be better with finishing plays, but he shows plenty of length and strength at the point of attack."
Williams hears Travon Walker's name often when people talk about what he can do.
He considers the Jacksonville Jaguar a "big brother," and they talk by phone.
"He helps me with little things in my game that he sees that I can fix," Williams said. "
Walker had just 9 ½ sacks in three seasons and was used at defensive end, defensive tackle, linebacker and even nose guard.
"You see guys like Travon and previous guys not really have the stats because they play for Georgia and they killed at the combine, they were able to accomplish those things," Williams said.
Williams has worked this offseason on "small things," like learning drops and his defensive assignment for playing more outside linebacker.
"I just want to get comfortable in the position," he said.
Smart thinks Williams being available to practice going into the preseason will set him up for the season because he was slowed by a toe injury a year ago.
"He's healthy right now, and we need him to maintain that," Smart said. "He's really hard to block. He's a dominant football player, and he got better as the year went on last year."
Said Williams: "I'm so glad I had an offseason this year to come in and work. It put myself in a great position to go into the season and have a great year."
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Next UGA football No. 1 pick? Carson Beck, Mykel Williams stock is high
