Georgia defensive line looking to shake negative narrative in 2024

ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia’s defensive line play has been one of the bigger talking points surrounding the Bulldogs for the better part of the past year. This time last year, UGA was looking for a replacement to Jalen Carter and lost Bear Alexander to the transfer portal. There was some buzz about Nazir Stackhouse, but during the season, the combination of him, Zion Logue, Warren Brinson and others up front didn’t quite live up to the standard set by recent groups. Now, with Stackhouse and Brinson both back and more depth up front created by guys like Christen Miller and Jordan Hall, Georgia is hoping to see a better season out of that unit in 2024.

“Yeah, I’m not down. I don’t know where this is coming from. Maybe there’s a narrative out there that I don’t know about. I have no idea what you guys are reading, saying or seeing. I’m not down on our run defense. We are not as good as we are that year but we’re better than we have been a lot of other years,” Smart said about the defensive line and their ability to stop the run. “The scales of that in terms of that. I wouldn’t trade our group for any group in the country in terms of defensive line groups and a collective whole. We’ve got a group that can get the job done. They’re going against one of the best three or four offensive lines they’ll go against all season each and every day. Iron sharpens iron and we’re getting better by who we go against.”

“I don’t really do the comparison thing. I’m not really going to compare them to Devonte (Wyatt), Jordan (Davis) and Jalen (Carter) who were all here at different times. There were years with those three and there were years one of those three was here. It has varied every year,” he continued. “I’m pleased with where we are. We have to get better and we have players on our defensive line that can get better. The worst feeling as a coach is when you don’t have players that you can get better. There are coaches all across the country right now that don’t have one 300-pounder. We have several. We just got to continue to get them better and execute at a higher level. It’s not about them sometimes, it’s about the guy behind them, making sure he sticks his nose in the right place too.”

Georgia’s run defense ranked No. 20 in the country as it gave up 113.64 yards per game, it’s highest total since 2018 and finish outside the top two since that season too. In 2019, 2020 and 2022, the Bulldogs ranked first in the nation against the run, averaging less than 80 yards a game allowed on the ground.

Smart’s comments about not knowing where the narrative of the deficiencies of the defensive line is coming from might be a bit of an overstatement too. In his Q&A interview with ESPN’s Chris Low this spring, the head coach even admitted that “maybe we’re a little weaker on defensive line,” while adding “that’s not to say we were subpart on the defensive line last year, we just weren’t great.”

Smart points to the lack of a “dominant guy,” like Davis, Wyatt or Carter – a trio of interior defensive linemen drafted in the first round. The Bulldogs didn’t have a player like that last season, and they might not this year either. The experience factor of the whole group should help however.

“It’s great, as long as age doesn’t prevent growth. There’s opportunities for younger plays to come in and grow and get better. With those guys, we’ve got to be smart about number one, how we practice them, the reps they take, do they stunt growth. If they stunt growth, then maybe we don’t get better for the next year. I certainly didn’t sit on this podium last year this time thinking those two guys would be back. So, the fact they were was a luxury in terms of depth, but we still have to get better,” Smart said, speaking about the veteran presence of Stackhouse and Brinson on the defensive line. “If they stay the same, they did no good coming back. We’ve had multiple talks about how easy it is to get comfortable and complacent in these years, but they both have a purpose. Are they going to have a chip on their shoulder, or are they just going to sit around and collect? I hope they get better. I hope they grow. I hope they have intentions of moving up, improving their draft status and getting their degrees. Both of them are on track to do that.”

After the first scrimmage, Smart was pleased with the way the defensive line approached the day with energy and enthusiasm. They affected the quarterback well but didn’t stop the run quite like he would’ve wanted. Since then, there’s been another scrimmage and several practices get better, and their next opportunity to show improvement will be in front of a Sanford Stadium crowd this Saturday during the annual G-Day spring game. Kickoff time between the hedges is set for 1:00 p.m. ET, streaming on SEC Network+.