Two SEC Powerhouses Hit With Major Regret as NFL Draft Reality Hits Hard

Isn’t it funny how life hits you? One day you’re sitting on top of the world, talking big boy talk about taking over college football. The next day, life throws a mean Mike Tyson uppercut, and the NFL Draft comes in like a repo man, snatching up all your shiny toys. It happens every year, but 2025? It’s going to hit the SEC bad. Just ask Florida State—they went undefeated in 2023, flexed all over the ACC, and then got stripped to the bone, ending up 2-10 in 2024. Washington too, cooked with Michael Penix Jr., then turned around and couldn’t even scrape a winning record. Now, after this 2025 Draft? Two SEC giants just walked straight into the same buzzsaw. No helmets. No padding. Just vibes… and regret.

Let’s cut the cute talk. On April 27th, That SEC Football Podcast had SEC Mike and Cousin Shane lay it all out—raw and fresh off the draft. Cousin Shane kept it real, asking Mike, “If you were looking at two teams, Mike, right now after this draft, which two are going to be the ones where five years from now we’re saying, ‘We missed it. We missed it with these guys?” 

SEC Mike didn’t even blink: “Oh easy. Number one, without a bullet, underline, italics: Ole Miss. This was the year. You know, again, they may have another shot, they’re hyping up this Austin Simmons like he’s the next Arch Manning, but he’s gotta be elite-elite for Ole Miss to get there next year. But I think Ole Miss, with their eight picks, they seriously missed a window. And honestly, that’s the only team I can really fit into that.”

Ole Miss had EIGHT guys drafted—a program flex. 2 first-rounders, Walter Nolen and Jaxson Dart are already cashing NFL checks. Tre Harris and Trey Amos? Gone by round two. Princely Umanmielen? Third round. Then Jordan Watkins, Pooh Paul, and J.J. Pegues got scooped up too. It was a full-blown Black Friday clearance sale in Oxford. Walter Nolen? Monster. Arizona Cardinals scooped him with dreams of him clogging the middle like rush-hour traffic. Jaxson Dart? New York Giants—might as well be called “Danny Dimes 2.0” if he pans out. Tre Harris? LA Chargers—about to cook with Justin Herbert. Watkins to the 49ers? That boy set records at Ole Miss—254 receiving yards in 1 game? Certified demon. And Pooh Paul? If you’re leading Ole Miss’ top-five defense and getting Butkus Award love, you’re no scrub. Rams snagged him like a free Playstation at Walmart.

But here’s the kicker: 18 STARTERS gone. Eighteen. Like pulling 18 bricks out of Jenga and praying it doesn’t fall. Only FOUR returning starters. That’s it. Two tackles, Jayden Williams and Diego Pounds, trying to protect a line that couldn’t open running lanes if they had Google Maps. 2024 was their golden ticket, their shot at a natty. Instead, they fumbled it like a wideout in the rain.

Straight up, Ole Miss is about to find out how cold the world is without Jaxson Dart slinging missiles and Tre Harris mossing DBs. No offense to Austin Simmons. Sure, 2025 might not be a full disaster like Mike Norvell’s FSU, but compared to what COULD have been? Major regrets, fam. Just like LSU 2023—Jayden Daniels, Malik Nabers, Brian Thomas Jr. all straight EATING in the league while LSU is sitting back like, ‘Damn, we had all that?’

The second SEC team?

Cousin Shane pulled no punches: “I’m going to go Georgia Bulldogs. I feel like that’s another one. You can’t have 13 kids drafted—I mean, some of these guys, I think, were perfect fits. I watched what Atlanta did, I watched what the Lions did. Some of these I’m like, ‘Man, they’re going to fit perfect here.’ And I feel like we get five, six years from now, and some of these guys are still dominating the league, and we look back and say, “How did Georgia get their as-es handed to them by Notre Dame?’ That’s where I’m at.” He isn’t lying. Georgia had THIRTEEN dawgs get their names called—back-to-back years matching that number. You’d think Kirby Smart was running an NFL factory at this point.

First off, Mykel Williams—49ers got him at No. 11, and it’s almost unfair. Jalon Walker? Falcons got him at 15. Malaki Starks? Ravens, pick 27. That’s three defensive nightmares off the board just like that. Tate Ratledge (Lions, 57th), Arian Smith (Jets, 110th), Smael Mondon Jr. (Eagles, 161st)—that’s half the Avengers. And it isn’t just quantity; it’s quality. These dawgs fit PERFECT. Walker sliding into the Falcons’ scheme like butter on biscuits. Starks patrolling Baltimore’s secondary like a watchdog on Red Bull. Ratledge mauling fools up front for Detroit.

Yet somehow… Georgia got embarrassed. Somehow, they got slapped around up by Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl. They had NO BUSINESS losing. Like, how you send half your team to the NFL and still catch L’s from Notre Dame? Disrespectful. Cousin Shane doubles down: “So yeah, I feel like that’s where we’re going to be with the Georgia Bulldogs. Just—13 players. You know six seven of them are going to be Pro Bowlers.”

The talent drain is going to hurt, no matter how deep the bench is. Kirby’s been stacking five-stars like it’s Pokémon cards, but even he can’t replace 13 future NFL dogs overnight. 2025 might still be solid, but Georgia’s “unbeatable machine” vibes? Cracked. Bruised. Vulnerable. Bottom line? The NFL Draft doesn’t just change players’ lives—it flips college football upside down. Ole Miss and Georgia both just got a front-row seat to that chaos. Rebels lost their best shot at history. Bulldogs better hope Kirby’s bag of tricks isn’t empty, or it’s going to be a long, loud 2025 season in the SEC.