New wave of Georgia defensive line talent exciting to teammates this spring
ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia had a trio of defensive linemen taken in the first round of last year’s NFL Draft. The Bulldogs are likely to land another one in the first round this year with Jalen Carter, and if you look at their roster, they have first round talent up and down – even still on the defensive line.
Senior defensive lineman Zion Logue had the fortune of playing alongside Carter, as well as Jordan Davis, Travon Walker and Devonte Wyatt early in his career. He’s seen what dominance on the defensive line looks like. Now with all of them gone, it’s up to new blood like Mykel Williams, Bear Alexander and Jordan Hall to learn from Logue, Nazir Stackhouse and Warren Brinson and uphold the Georgia standard in the trenches.
“First and foremost, we’re happy for Jalen. All the things he’s accomplished here at this university. Nobody’s surprised by that. We all knew once his time came for him to go into that draft and when he was going to take that next step he was going to take with a full head of steam, and we’re all wishing him the best of luck. But we preach at the University of Georgia next man up,” Logue said. “I believe you heard it all throughout the season last year when guys went down, and throughout the years that Coach Smart has been here, he’s built that culture of next guy up no matter if a guy leaves or if a guy gets injured, if you’re out there on that field, you’re a starter. So we’ve just got to find that next piece.”
Williams was a fixture for Georgia on the defensive line in 2022. As just a freshman, he led the team in sacks with 4.5 on the year. Williams totaled 28 tackles including 6.5 for loss. Then there’s Alexander, another freshman who stepped up for the Bulldogs later in the season. When Carter went down with injury, Alexander got thrown into the fire. He learned through the experience and ended his season off with an outstanding performance in the National Championship Game against TCU with a pair of tackles for loss including a sack of Heisman Trophy finalist Max Duggan.
“He’s taken very big leaps and bounds,” Logue said of Alexander. “He’s still a young player, still has a lot to learn with the defense and scheme and things like that. But once he puts everything together, Iike I’ve said for a long time, he’ll be a really good player.”
As for Hall, a true freshman this coming season who’s on campus already as an early enrollee, he’s just getting started with the development Alexander and Williams had during their first year. A five-star according to all but one of the recruiting industry’s four major rankings, Hall finished the 2023 cycle as the No. 25 overall player and No. 4 defensive lineman according to the On3 Industry Ranking and even higher according to On3’s in-house system.
“Jordan Hall’s going to be a very good third-down player once he gets everything in hand. Both of the guys still have a lot to do, still have a lot to grow,” Logue said when asked about Hall and fellow freshman defensive lineman Jamaal Jarrett. “They’ve only been here for, what, three months, four months. It’s a learning process for those guys. Just like everybody, everybody came in once and part of the time they were freshmen they didn’t know the defense, they really didn’t know how to use their hands, use their feet as well as the other guys. It’s like a learning curve. They’ll catch up.”
Georgia is three practices in to a 15-practice set of spring drills. The Bulldogs wrap up on April 15th with the G-Day spring game, an opportunity for Alexander, Hall and all of the Georgia defensive linemen to test their skills against an offensive line that returns four starters from the National Championship Game squad.
