Former Georgia football WRs Adonai Mitchell, Jermaine Burton on time with Bulldogs

INDIANAPOLIS — Adonai Mitchell left Georgia football with a pair of national championship wins and a touchdown catch in each of his four playoff games with the Bulldogs.

Jermaine Burton earned a natty ring himself with the Bulldogs right here in Lucas Oil Stadium. He's back for the NFL Combine.

He will take part in on-field workouts on Saturday afternoon.

Their post-Georgia college football lives have been viewed differently by most Bulldogs fans.

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Mitchell, who also goes by “AD,” is still viewed fondly by most. He transferred back to his home state of Texas after the 2022 season to help care for his daughter Icylinn and heaped praise on the Georgia program and the people in it in a "Players Tribune" piece when he announced he was declaring for the NFL draft.

“Man, those couple years, I grew a lot there,” Mitchell said Friday. “Georgia, it’s not for the weak. I’d definitely say that. You go there, you’re expected to work. You’re expected to grind and most importantly you’re expected to grow on the field as a player and off the field as a person. You know you’re going to go through a lot over there. A lot of hard times. You’re going to reach the highs when you’re winning, and you’re going to reach the lows when you get into the workouts.”

Burton transferred to rival Alabama after Georgia had beaten the Crimson Tide for the program’s first national title in 41 years. When the Crimson Tide beat Georgia in the SEC championship game in December, Burton flashed a broken heart signal to Georgia fans.

“Just really pretty much having fun with the fans,” he said Friday. “That’s pretty much all that is.”

Former Georgia wide receiver Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint called Burton "a character. He’s a good guy. Great friend. Great worker, hard worker. He’s really talented. During the season, there was a lot of I’d guess hate going on about him I guess what he was doing. At the end of the day, he’s just a kid playing football. He don’t mean no harm.”

Mitchell, who is being projected by some as a late first-round draft pick, decided to transfer after an injury-plagued sophomore season when a high ankle sprain limited his time on the field. Being close to his daughter, who will turn 3 this summer, was a big factor.

“There were mostly off the field things I wanted to accomplish in my life that I just wasn’t able to accomplish during my time at Georgia,” he said.

His 10-yard touchdown in the final minute of a 42-41 Peach Bowl win over Ohio State, and of course his 40-yard go-ahead touchdown grab against Alabama in a 33-18 national championship game win here in the 2021 season were clutch.

Mitchell  had 38 catches for 560 yards and seven touchdowns in two seasons.

He said the touchdown against the Crimson Tide was probably the biggest of his time at Georgia.

“It was just my freshman year,” Mitchell said. “It wasn’t a game we were just beating the opponent and it was clear who was going to win the game. You really had no clue. Everybody was just fighting tooth and nail to come up with the W.”

Burton tied for the Georgia lead in touchdowns by a wide receiver with five in 2021 and led all receivers with 497 yards on 26 catches, a 19.1-yard average.

He said the program’s “structure and discipline,” stood out to him.

“I really appreciate it because it really carries on with you into the future as you transition and mature into a player you really want to be,” he said.

He said he became more mature under Nick Saban at Alabama, where he controversially made contact with his right arm with a female fan who rushed the field at Tennessee when the Volunteers beat Alabama in 2022.

Burton said he had a chance to see his former UGA teammates Mitchell, Rosemy-Jacksaint and Ladd McConkey this week at the combine.

“It was pretty much like the old days, all connected,” he said. “We wished each other the best of luck in this process.”

Asked if he would be conflicted about who to root for in the Georgia-Texas game next fall, Mitchell smiled and said: “I don’t know.”

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Georgia football fans view Adonai Mitchell, Jermaine Burton differently