Editor’s note: SDS is ranking the 25 best SEC players — at any position — of the last decade. Georgia WR A.J. Green is next up in a 25-part daily series.

18.) WR A.J. GREEN (2008-10)

A five-star recruit rated as the No. 2 receiver of the 2008 signing class behind Alabama’s Julio Jones, Green was the rare player many projected as a sure-fire NFL pick long before he stepped on campus in Athens, Ga.

Green, 6-foot-4 and thin as a rail, caught eight passes for 159 yards at Arizona State in his fourth game as a true freshman. He bested Jones in receiving yards (963 to 924), yards per catch (17.2 to 15.9) and touchdown catches (8 to 4) that season, earning first-team All-SEC honors ahead of his freshman rival and Florida’s Percy Harvin.

Green and Matthew Stafford, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2009 NFL draft, had just one season together.

The Bulldogs turned to Joe Cox, who started one season in between Stafford and Aaron Murray, at quarterback in ’09. Still, Green caught six touchdown passes in the first seven games before missing three November contests and nearly three quarters of another game due to chest and shoulder injuries. Green averaged 97.4 receiving yards per game before the injuries and still earned first-team All-SEC honors.

Green returned in time to make six grabs in an Independence Bowl win against Texas A&M, a game that cost him a chunk of his 2010 season. He later admitted to selling his jersey for $1,000 to a former North Carolina player that the NCAA categorized as an agent, earning him a four-game suspension and forced restitution for the money he made from the sale.

Despite missing those four games and playing with Murray, then a redshirt freshman quarterback, Green made his last nine games count, averaging 94.2 receiving yards per contest with several 100-yard performances.

Much like Todd Gurley, Green arguably was the best player at his position in college — or at least 1a to Julio Jones — but missed games due to injury and suspension and then left early.

Still, when he was on the field, Green was darn near uncoverable 1-on-1, even during an era loaded with first-round cornerbacks like Joe Haden, Stephon Gilmore and Kareem Jackson, among others. One of the most athletic, explosive receivers in Bulldogs history, Green lived up to can’t-miss status, getting selected two spots ahead of Jones in the 2011 NFL draft and becoming an immediate Pro Bowl player.

Since reaching the NFL, Green has made the Pro Bowl in all four seasons.

Green paired a huge catch radius with shifty open-field moves, top-end speed, solid hands and physicality, making him a great all-around college receiver.

Career numbers: 166 catches, 2,619 receiving yards, 23 touchdowns.

Individual superlatives: 2008 — SEC Freshman of the Year, first-team All-SEC; 2009 — First-team All-SEC.

NFL Draft: No. 4 overall to the Cincinnati Bengals in 2011.