Amarius Mims: Great Things Also Come In Big Packages

“Potential Means You Ain’t Done Much Yet.”

The above phrase was a favorite of one of my high school coaches growing up in (like Amarius Mims, coincidentally) Bleckley County. The county is among Georgia’s smallest, and is noteworthy primarily for being the halfway point between Atlanta and St. Simon’s Island, as well as its residents’ odd propensity for putting spaghetti noodles in Brunswick stew (don’t knock it until you’ve tried it).

But I digress. It’s true that there are a lot of folks out there with potential. And potential is a great thing. You’d rather have it than not. But potential on its own isn’t worth much generally speaking.

Except in the NFL Draft. In the NFL Draft it can be worth millions. Amarius Mims may be among the most intriguing early round prospects in this draft because of his potential. At 6’8, 340 pounds it’s possible no one has ever looked more like an NFL offensive tackle than him. He has long arms, broad shoulders, and carries those 340 pounds as well as anyone.

Offensive line is the most difficult position to scout in college football. It is incredibly hard to know how a 14 or 15-year-old kid will develop physically and mentally by the time he’s ready to play up front in the SEC.

That being said, Amarius Mims was a no-brainer.

After playing tight end and defensive end for Bleckley County head coach Von Lassiter*, Mims transition to the offensive tackle spot as a junior and emerged as one of the top underclassmen prospects in the nation almost immediately.

He arrived in Athens in the 2021 recruiting class as a five star recruit, among the top twenty in the nation according to every major recruiting service, and the near-unanimous top player in the state of Georgia.

Of course, it’s not like Georgia was running low on elite offensive linemen when he arrived in Athens. With future NFL players Jamaree Salyer, Broderick Jones, and Warren McClendon already entrenched, Mims saw action in eight games for the 2021 national champions as a true freshman.

As a sophomore Mims saw his role behind Jones and McClendon increase, as he played in 14 of Georgia’s 15 games as part of another national championship team. With those guys headed to the NFL 2023 was set to be Mims’ chance to shine.

But alas, life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans. Mims earned the starting nod at right tackle coming out of spring and was named first team preseason All-SEC. However, a persistent high ankle sprain limited him to action in 7 games, making only 6 starts. It’s a fruitless exercise to forecast what will never have been. But a healthy Amarius Mims could well have played himself into the top ten of this draft.

Big. Brawny. Balletic.

As it is, the numbers from Amarius’s time in Athens are still pretty impressive. The Cochran Crusher played 803 snaps in the red and black, 401 of which were passing plays. In those 402 opportunities he surrendered only 7 quarterback pressures, and no sacks. Zero. Zip. Zilch. It just doesn’t get any better than that. Especially when you consider that he earned his first start against Ohio State in the 2022 College Football Semifinals and played significant snaps throughout the SEC schedule. There could be more tape out there on Mims. But the tape that he did lay down is phenomenal.

How will that translate to the NFL? No one really knows. Mims showcases better technique than you’d expect from a guy with his height and length. His hand placement is excellent, and he has pretty heavy hands. If he gets a punch and a good foot set on a rusher that defender is just out of luck. Mims also has better hip bend and rotation than you’d expect for a 6’8 tackle. He’s just more athlete than he’s supposed to be at that size, and that’s going to intrigue some teams.

Perhaps his best attributes however are his feet. Mims is quick out of his stance and fluid in his sets. Even when a pass rusher appears to have an angle on him or to have timed his get-off to win the rep, Mims seems to recover all that advantage on the second and third steps.

Are there question marks? Sure. Mims is a good downfield blocker in part due to his athleticism, but struggled at times when he needed to just move bigger defenders out of the way in the run game.

He’s definitely further ahead as a pass blocker than a run blocker. And that punch I mentioned above that allows him to stop edge rushers cold also takes him out over his hips sometimes, hurting his balance. That’s an evolving technique issue that can be sorted out though.

Amarius Mims definitely has more development ahead of him. He hasn’t played that much college football, and that’s going to worry some teams and drop him out of the top 4-5 offensive tackles chosen.

But Mims very clearly has the physical tools and developing talent to be a first round selection for a team that can bring him along in year one. He’s nowhere close to his physical ceiling, which is as high as any tackle prospect in this class. While he stayed mostly on the right side in college, that was largely due to the presence of NFL first round left tackle Broderick Jones and future NFL first round left tackle Ernest Greene. There’s no reason Mims couldn’t also find a home on the blind side in the league as he continues to hone his craft. Until later…

Go ‘Dawgs!!!

* Lassiter was also the high school head coach and offensive coordinator for future Bulldogs Jake Fromm and Trey Hill at Houston County. In short, he may have sent as much talent to Athens in recent years as any high school coach around. If you happen to see him at Scott’s Barbecue in Cochran, as a Bulldog fan I think you are obligated to at least buy him some banana pudding or some of that weirdly delicious Brunswick stew with the noodles in it.