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George Pickensâ star on rise in Dallas, earns praise from Jerry Jones
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George Pickensâ star on rise in Dallas, earns praise from Jerry Jones
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No doubt CKS puts players in the NFL. I think this article is trying to cool down us angry fans, bring up the past LOL
I guess we all should turn the page…..
Pickens never was and will never be one of my favorite Dawgs. Selfish immature undisciplined kid.
Maybe George is just a little more "passionate" than some other receivers. I agree he was a little immature at UGA, but I can't see that as an issue now. He is overall a superb football player.
Fair - but if you were a teammate, my guess is, you would have loved him. He gave it his all, definitely a "playa"...a passionate one. Wish we had more like him - he certainly had the "dog" in him… and that by far outweighed any negatives.
Loved the fellow, one of my favorites.
@Roman13
Yes, George Pickens is a selfish, immature undisciplined kid. He is a selfish, immature undisciplined kid who came to UGA back when other 5 star WRs with the ability to play outside avoided UGA because they didn't think that Jake Fromm could get them the ball downfield (yes, Dominick Blaylock game to UGA, but he was a slot WR who would have benefited from the offense that UGA was running back then had he remained healthy). He is also a selfish, immature undisciplined kid who didn't qualify academically immediately and worked extremely hard to meet the academic requirements instead of just going to Mississippi State, Nebraska, Michigan State, Arizona State, Oregon State, UCF, West Virginia, Arkansas and any of the other programs that aren't as hard for athletes to qualify as "public Ivy" UGA. That was a real risk on his part as had Pickens failed to meet UGA's entrance requirements he would have either had to sit out a year or - more likely - go to junior college.
Once at UGA, the selfish immature undisciplined Pickens suffered through a miserable 3 years of frustration because - as predicted - UGA played a succession of QBs who didn't have the arm strength to get the ball downfield to a future NFL split end. (Yes, Brock Bowers and Ladd McConkey caught a few deep balls, but in the NFL they play inside, at TE and slot WR, not outside like Pickens) plus injuries. Yet Pickens didn't transfer to Bama, LSU, Ohio State, Oklahoma, USC, Clemson or any of the other programs playing future NFL starters at QB.
And in his last game, the selfish immature undisciplined still-injured Pickens risked his aggravating his injury and his NFL future to not only play in the 2021 national title game but lead UGA in receiving. Note that Jaxson Smith-Njiba of Ohio State chose not to play in the 2022 title game despite being mostly healthy. Had Smith-Njiba, who has since gone on to be a Pro Bowl NFL WR, played in that game Georgia would absolutely certainly have lost.
Make no mistake: by sticking around at UGA instead of entering the transfer portal after his freshman season and getting to play with guys other than Fromm and Bennett, the selfish immature undisciplined Pickens, a clear first round talent, dropped to the second round. In the process he cost himself tens of millions of dollars that he is never going to get back. So while you may not like him, the guy sacrificed more for UGA than pretty much every player than you like more than him. Including both the QBs who threw him the ball. It would be helpful to remember that. Both used threats to transfer out of Athens to preserve their playing time. Amazing how so many people have forgotten this. I don't blame them: college football is a business so they were just protecting their own interests. But people selectively forget this in order to go after a guy who make a big risk to become a Dawg, left a ton of stats and money on the table to stay one and even risked all of his money to help UGA win a title. Remember John Metchie, who got hurt in the 2021 title game against UGA that Pickens risked his health to play in? He was never the same afterwards. The Texans gave up on him and cut him this offseason. Right now he is only still in the NFL, at the bottom of the Eagles' roster, because he is friends with the Eagles' QB.
And I say this as someone who doesn't like him either. But despite not liking him, I would never rip him on a UGA site precisely because of above.
I have watched all the Cowboy games this year. I have watched Pickens closely. Pickens' behavior has been a continuation of the behavior that got him shipped out of Pittsburgh. Pickens is very talented but the Stealers (stole those 70's SB with the 1st steroids team) wanted him gone. Actually it has been worse in Dallas. But that is because the Cowboys are slack when it comes to leadership and accountability.
The behavior that we saw vs TN and GT is routinely coming out of Pickens now. Consistently undisciplined. immature, selfish pretty much sums up what you get from GPickens. He is talented but not enough for the Stealers to keep him. That's Mike Tomlin, an easy coach to play for if you're a mature player, shipping him out.
You have a very selective memory or just seem to omit some relevant facts when they don't meet your narrative.
Yes Pickens was a 1st rd talent but the reasons he fell was 1) he was coming off a knee injury reconstruction that wiped out just about all of his last season at UGA. 2) Questionable character actions, especially the GT fight, alone would've dropped Pickens to the 2nd rd. The NFL does not gamble 1st rd picks on guys that act like that anymore. That GT fight was selfish and immature. The game at GT was already won. But Pickens failure to defuse and walk away caused him to miss the rest of the GT game and the 1st half of the SECCG. A game UGA lost and Dom Blaylock tore up his knee trying to carry the Pickens-less UGA passing game.
Sure he came back at the end of the '21 season. But you can bet the main reason he did that was to enhance his draft stock. Based on what I have seen so far in games and pregame at Philly shows he has not changed or grown up much. May even be worse because he now he got his money and there is no one keeping him on a short leash like CKS tried to do to help him show he was worthy to be drafted high..
As for Metchie, you fail to mention that, besides recovering from a torn ACL suffered in his last CFB game, he was also diagnosed with leukemia after the draft but before his rookie year. Ya think, maybe, those are reasons he might not be the same player he was in '21 for Alabama? Metchie went through an 18 mo rehab on his injured knee before playing in his 1st NFL game.
As for Jaxson Smith-Njigba, "He declared for the NFL Draft after doctors advised him that he could not return to play in the playoff games.", AI. JSN could afford to sit out the playoffs. He didn't have any of the character questions Pickens had to overcome in the eyes of NFL teams. Pickens return to play for UGA in the '21 playoffs were as much or more self serving as they were for the glory of old Georgia.