Georgia's All-Kirby Smart Era Team: Inside Linebacker
We’re entering year eight of the Kirby Smart era in Athens. The Georgia football coach has more than established himself as one of the best, if not THE best, in College Football by turning around a program that had gone stagnant and is now at the top of the sport with the Bulldogs having won back-to-back titles.
Seven full seasons at the helm means a lot of things. Smart’s first full class has come and gone. While the “COVID-year” delayed it a bit, that happened this past season with the departure of Robert Beal – and of course walk-on Stetson Bennett. So, it’s time that we start discussing the All-Smart Era Team.
Our rules are simple. They only require the player to have spent one season playing for Smart so seniors on the 2016 team are eligible. Other than that, they must have finished their career at Georgia or be suiting up for the Bulldogs this fall.
Last week we covered the entirety of the offense. Those stories are linked for you below. This week, it’s time for defense, and we continue today with the outside linebackers.
Roquan Smith (2015-2017)
Roquan Smith arrived prior to Kirby Smart, but certainly left a big impact on the Smart-era. As a freshman under Mark Richt in 2015, he appeared in 12 games totaling 20 tackles. That included five against Florida. However, it was as a sophomore that he really broke out, starting 10 of 13 games and leading the team in 95 stops including 5.0 for loss.
During that sophomore season, Smith went for 10+ tackles in three different contests. That included 13 in each of the last two games of the year against Georgia Tech and TCU.
The next year, Smith was named a unanimous All-American with first team honors from the Associated Press, Walter Camp, American Football Coaches Association, Football Writers Association of America, Sporting News and Phil Steele. Smith won Defensive Player of the Year for the SEC and the Butkus Award as the nation’s top linebacker, Georgia’s first-ever winner of the award. He had 137 total tackles including 6.5 sacks and 14.0 tackles for loss.
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Smith played some of his best football on the biggest stages for Georgia. He earned MVP honors in the SEC Championship Game with a career-high matching 13 tackles that including a sack, another stop for lost yardage and a pair of fumble recoveries. Then, in the College Football Playoffs at the Rose Bowl, he had 11 tackles including a sack and several important third down saving stops to earn Defensive MVP. He had 10+ tackles in five games including three straight to end the year. Smith went top 10 in the 2018 NFL Draft to the Chicago Bears.
Nakobe Dean (2019-2021)
From the Bulldogs’ first Butkus Award winner to the program’s second, when Smith left, the torch was passed pretty quickly to Nakobe Dean.
A five-star out of Mississippi, it was big for Georgia to land Dean out of high school – and helped build Glenn Schumann’s reputation as an ace recruiter. He played in all 14 games as a freshman, finishing with 25 total stops including 1.5 tackles for loss while being named co-winner of the team’s Defensive Newcomer of the Year Award.
Dean continued his strong play into 2020. He was a semifinalist for the Butkus Award starting all 10 games and playing the most snaps among linebackers. He finished as the team’s leading tackler with 71 stops, recording 10+ in three games. He had 12 in a win over Mississippi State, 14 at Kentucky and a career-high 15 against Florida. Furthermore, Dean had a team-best seven stops in the Peach Bowl with four quarterback pressures and a stop on Cincinnati’s final drive of the game.
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Dean saved his best for last in 2021. He was voted a unanimous All-American and First-Team All-SEC player by the coaches and media. Furthermore, he was one of the team’s permanent captains on a National Championship winning squad. Helping Georgia’s defense take the title of tops in the country, Dean had 72 tackles including a team-high 10.5 for loss. He was second in sacks with six and finished among the leaders in quarterback hurries (31), interceptions (2) and pass breakups (6). Dean, a year after being a semifinalist for the Butkus Award, took home the title in 2021 before being drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles.
Second Team: Quay Walker (2018-2021), Monty Rice (2017-2020)
