ATHENS — The transfer portal is heating up, and one of Georgia’s biggest guys is about to hop into it.
Amarius Mims, a former five-star offensive line prospect from Bleckley County, does not intend to spend another season with the Bulldogs as a backup. He is seeking immediate playing time elsewhere, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.
Recruited to UGA to play tackle, the 6-foot-7, 330-pound sophomore has been unable to unseat either left tackle Broderick Jones or right tackle Warren McClendon through four weeks of spring practice. Mims did not show up for practice last Thursday and did not participate in the Bulldogs’ scrimmage at Sanford Stadium this past Saturday, according to 247Sports.com.
Georgia is set to play the G-Day game, the annual intrasquad spring scrimmage, this Saturday at 1 p.m. (ESPN2).
Mims is not the only O-linemen seeking greener pastures. Clay Webb, a fourth-year junior from Oxford, Ala., and another former five-star prospect, also has informed the Bulldogs he intends to transfer.
The 6-3, 290-pound Webb was expected play center at Georgia, but he has sat behind Sedrick Van Pran and Warren Ericson.
Mims and Webb are the second and third offensive linemen to enter the portal this spring. Junior tackle Owen Condon also entered the portal on the eve of spring practice and since found a home at SMU.
That’s 10 Georgia players to head for the door since the end of the 2021 season. Also leaving the Bulldogs since they secured the national championship are defensive back Latavious Brini (Arkansas), safety Daran Branch (unknown), receiver Jermaine Burton (Alabama), running back/defensive back Lovasea Carroll (South Carolina), receiver Jaylen Johnson (East Carolina), cornerback Jalen Kimber (Florida), receiver Justin Robinson (Mississippi State) and cornerback Ameer Speed (Michigan State).
There will be more to come. Georgia will be significantly over the 85 scholarship limit when the remaining incoming freshmen of the 2022 signing class join the team by the first of June. The Bulldogs will need to be under by the time they enroll for summer semester.
Like Burton, though, Mims is not a player that the Bulldogs wanted to lose. Hoping to find a way to get him on the field, they were giving him looks at guard as well. Regardless, he was in line for extensive playing time at tackle and would have succeeded Jones or McClendon next year when either or both head to the NFL.
But Mims and people in his camp believe he is destined to start at tackle now, and Mims had been unable to beat out either McClendon or Jones in practice.
Mims was ranked the No. 8 player in the nation by 247Sports.com when he signed with the Bulldogs. He appeared in eight games as a backup last season but did not get any action in the postseason.
Preliminary reports have him possibly heading to Florida State or Miami.
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