Jamon Dumas-Johnson feels he hasn't hit his ceiling quite yet
ATHENS, Ga. — Jamon Dumas-Johnson has been everything Georgia fans could have wanted and more so far this season for the Bulldogs. The sophomore linebacker was stepping into a starting spot previously held by the Butkus Award winner, Nakobe Dean. Georgia had two other inside linebackers drafted in the first three rounds of the 2022 NFL Draft that Dumas-Johnson was also helping fill the shoes of. And to date, he’s done pretty well at just that with 54 tackles – good for second on the team after freshman safety Malaki Starks recently passed him – and team-high totals for tackles for loss (7.0) and sacks (3.0). Still Kirby Smart thinks there’s more that Dumas-Johnson could be doing.
“He’s the go-between between from the back-end to the front-end. So he and Smael are like messengers. You know, they have to deliver the message frontways and deliver the message backways and make sure we’re on the same page which is critical in today’s day and age of offense, where people are constantly moving, nobody’s sitting still, things change. You got to have great eye control,” Smart said. “He’s also the signal caller, the one that gets the signal and tells people what to do. And he holds people accountable, you know, including himself. He hasn’t had some of his best games and best weeks of practices here recently. But yet he still holds himself to a high standard, and he acknowledges that he can do better. When you have a guy at that position that thinks that way, it’s good hardwiring for your defense.”
Dumas Johnson started the season hot with five or more tackles in four straight games during late September and early October. He had seven stops against Florida before seemingly hitting a wall against Tennessee and Mississippi State with only a combined six between the two weeks. However, in Georgia’s most recent outing – a 16-6 win over Kentucky – Dumas-Johnson tied his season high with eight tackles.
“I knew Kentucky’s a run first offense, they had a big physical back, so putting your eyes on guards and tight ends and fullbacks, it’ll take you to the play,” Dumas-Johnson said in recapping his showing. “Credit to my d-linemen for getting knock back and helping me be in a position to make the tackles.”
“I been playing okay. I don’t feel like I’ve been playing up to the standard, the way I could play,” he added. “My teammates keep me high, my coaches keep me high, so it’s okay. I’ve got to clean up some eye control stuff, it’s been getting me here and there. Things like that … The past few weeks, practice has been a slow start for me. It definitely translate to the games. You can see it, and you can feel it. Some weeks in practice, I’m feeling good, feeling hype and in that game, I go crazy. Walking through practice, which you shouldn’t do, leads to a bad game, and I’ve definitely seen that happen the last few weeks. I agree, practice hasn’t been my best the last few weeks, but you can only look forward.”
Looking forward for Dumas-Johnson and the Dawgs, Georgia hosts in-state rival Georgia Tech for the regular season finale on Saturday. In 115 all-time meetings between these two teams, Georgia holds a 69-41-5 advantage including four straight since a loss in Kirby Smart’s first season on the job. The Bulldogs won 45-0 last year in Atlanta. This will be the Yellow Jackets’ first trip to Athens since 2018 with the 2020 game being cancelled due to COVID-19. Kickoff time is set for 12:00 p.m. ET on ESPN. Georgia comes into Saturday at 35.5-point favorites according to Vegas Insider.
