Georgia football has taken its fans on quite the ride the last three years.

Three straight unbeaten regular seasons. A 42-2 record over three seasons. A pair of national championships.

Buckle up because this season looks like the most compelling schedule in Kirby Smart's nine seasons.

Let’s look into our crystal ball and make five predictions about what’s ahead.

Mykel Williams goes off

Georgia’s defense is a true team effort so it’s hard to project too many individual stats.

Mykel Williams, the 6-foot-5, 265-pound junior with nine career sacks, should be able to show his pass rushing skills even more on the edge. He’ll have the most sacks for a Bulldogs since 2020 when Azeez Ojulari rang up 8 ½ sacks.

Then again it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if Jalon Walker, who led the team in sacks last season with 5, gives Williams a run for his money as the sack leader.

Carson Beck heads to New York for the Heisman

Georgia went quite a long time between Heisman Trophy finalists from Garrison Hearst to Stetson Bennett. That was 30 years.

This time it will be two years between Bennett and his fourth place finish in 2022 and Beck getting an invite to the Big Apple.

Beck will finish higher than Bennett did, but Georgia’s more balanced offense with Trevor Etienne leading the rushing attack will mean the quarterback's numbers may not put him at the top of the pack for the stiff-armed trophy.

Trevor Etienne pushes for 1,000 yards

Georgia hasn’t had a 1,000-yard rusher since D’Andre Swift in 2019 when he rushed for 1,218 and 7 touchdowns.

Etienne, the Florida transfer, will flirt with it but won’t quite get there.

Georgia has too many other talented backs. Branson Robinson’s return from a season-ending injury last year puts him squarely in the mix for carries and freshman Nate Frazier and Roderick Robinson also will share the load.

Etienne will get yards in other ways, too, as a threat out of the backfield.

Georgia’s leading receiver will be…

Georgia will have three players with 40 catches this season. Junior Dillon Bell will lead the Bulldogs. He had 15 catches for 228 yards in Georgia’s final four games of last season.

The other two players that will hit 40 receptions will be Dominic Lovett and Oscar Delp who will be the No. 1 tight end with two-time Mackey winner Brock Bowers now with the Raiders.

Georgia had eight players hit 20 receptions in 2023. They will do that again.

Who else will reach 20? Arian Smith will have his biggest season as a Bulldog. Look for Etienne, Miami transfer receiver Colbie Young, Stanford transfer tight end Ben Yurosek and sophomore wide receiver Anthony Evans to get there, too.

Georgia’s playoff path will begin…

After Christmas. Georgia will get one of the four first-round byes which means it will play its first game in the 12-team playoff as a top four seed on either Dec. 31 or Jan. 1.

That’s too bad in one respect because it would be super cool to see the Bulldogs in a playoff game at a campus site. Georgia will play in New Orleans in a quarterfinal in the Sugar Bowl as SEC champions.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Predicting UGA football in 2024 for Mykel Williams, Carson Beck, more