The Georgia Bulldogs are headed into a massive game this weekend against the Auburn Tigers now almost a full week removed from the emotional roller coaster that was the win over Alabama.

It has been an impressive first half of the season for the Dawgs, and their best players have certainly been just that so far across the 6-0 start. Nobody encapsulates that fact better than superstar linebacker Chris Cole, who has been on an absolute tear during what has become a breakout season for him.

Dawgs fans already knew how good he could be, but it feels like the rest of the country is now just starting to find out, and Cole is getting his much deserved props. He was nominated to two prestigious midseason awards lists as a result, the Lombardi Award as well as winning the Bednarik Award Player of the Week, both significant honors which are fitting to the status that Cole has began to amass.

Purely from an athleticism standpoint, Cole likely already had a good chance to be drafted at some point in the back end of the first round of the NFL Draft, but the way he is playing so far this season, he may wind up being a premiere selection early on night one.

This is the kind of player that NFL teams are salivating over, with a rare blend of size and speed as well as playmaking ability to be the ideal type of linebacker pro teams are looking for right now.

"Cole is an outstanding player and is perfect for the way NFL football is played today," Mel Kiper Jr. wrote on his latest big board which had Cole ranked as the No. 7 overall prospect in the country as well as the third overall defensive prospect on the board.

Playing like a man possessed right now, Cole has a legitimate chance to become a top-10 pick if he continues the rest of the season like this, and right now there are no signs he is going to be slowing down anytime soon.

The awards and accolades are going to keep on coming, and soon they will go from watch lists and player of the week to actually claiming the honors he looks to be up for, of which there are certainly many.

With the Dawgs looking like one of the top contenders for the national title, they have Cole to thank as a huge part of the reason for why.