Georgia defensive line playing with something to prove to Kirby Smart
ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia’s defensive line has been a talking point in preseason practice this year. Having put four players out as first round picks the last two seasons, the Bulldogs have had no shortage of disruptive forces up front during their back-to-back run as national champions. Ask Kirby Smart about the group this year and he’ll be honest with you: he doesn’t see that. However, tell the players on this year’s defensive line that and they’ll tell you otherwise.
“You say not having any game-wreckers, I feel like I can wreck the game. Stunting, stuff like that,” senior defensive lineman Warren Brinson said with a look of disgust on his face. “We’re going to see as the season goes on. We don’t have any of the ‘big names’ but by the end of the season, we could all be big names, you know what I’m saying. It’s really just us working hard, having a good season, you’re going to see people wreck games.”
There’s certainly the potential that Brinson is right to bet on himself and his teammates. They’ve shown it in flashes before.
Last year during a time that Jalen Carter was battling to get back to full speed from a knee injury Brinson stepped up and had three tackles for loss in five games. He had a career-high four in Georgia’s come from behind victory over Missouri, the game in which Carter went down.
Brinson’s not the only one capable either. Nazir Stackhouse and Mykel Williams were named First-Team All-SEC selections on Tuesday by the league’s 14 head coaches, while the likes of Zion Logue and Tramel Walthour provide steady veteran presences.
“We don’t have the depth we probably have had,” Smart said in assessing the defensive line after the team’s second scrimmage this past Saturday. “Maybe that’s a luxury compared to other people, I don’t know. I think we’ve got to get deeper at the position. The only way to get deeper at the position, you can’t get anybody at this point. There isn’t anybody coming out for waivers.”
The way to get deeper? It’s by having young defensive linemen step up. Guys like Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins, Christen Miller, Jonathan Jefferson and Jordan Hall have been in the program for varying lengths of time. Some are in their first season while others have been around the block a time or two. However, as Smart as said before, ‘if you’re good enough, you’re old enough.’ That statement will be put to the test this fall with establishing defensive line depth in the lack of the disruptive forces of the past becoming a priority.
“We have a motto in our room, Coach Scott always preaches it: ‘We’re all we’ve got, we’re all we need,'” Brinson said. “We know it’s going to be a journey this season to work hard, fill out the roles, to push through and sustain throughout the whole season. So it’s about us putting forward our best foot to work hard and taking care of our bodies.”
“We’ve had first-rounders, first-rounders, first-rounders. We have to keep that going,” he continued, aware of what Georgia has done on the defensive line and what the perception of this year’s group compared to previous ones might be. “There’s a standard we have to play to, there’s a standard we have to uphold. When it comes to stopping the run, being stout up front, generating a pass rush and juice like that. Playing with my guys, I trust them and they trust me.”
Georgia opens its season on Saturday, September 2nd at home against UT-Martin. The Bulldogs come into their attempt at a three-peat as the No. 1 ranked team in both the AP and Coaches polls and were chosen as the media’s preseason pick to win the SEC.
