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'Next man up' Georgia defense ready with All-Americans banged up

Palmber-Thombsby: Palmer Thombs09/27/23palmerthombs

ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia was down a pair of starters this past Saturday, taking on UAB. With All-Americans Javon Bullard and Mykel Williams sidelined, safety Dan Jackson and defensive lineman Tramel Walthour made their way into the starting lineup.

It wasn’t the first time starting for either Jackson or Walthour. In fact, far from it. Jackson started four games for the 2021 team (Kentucky, Charleston Southern, Georgia Tech, Alabama – SEC Championship). He then opened the 2022 season against Oregon as a starter. Same goes for Walthour who was first on the field for the final 13 games of the 2022 season.

Even when they haven’t started, both Jackson and Walthour have been key contributors to the Georgia defense, each playing in every game for the Dawgs since the start of the 2021 season with the exception of Jackson’s eight injured contests at the end of last year.

And while their status as starters once again this coming Saturday is up in the air with Bullard and Williams working their way back, Jackson and Walthour will have roles regardless.

“He’s done good. Dan, when he’s been healthy he’s played really well,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said on Tuesday of Jackson. “He played a dime role two years ago, last year dealt with injury most of the year, and that was really frustrating for him, set him back. He’s just now, to me, getting back to his old play speed. He can run. Dan has good speed, good eyes, he understands our defense and recognizes things. I was really proud of him the other night, played really well and if Javon can’t go, we’ll need him to play well again.”

“It’s been huge for us. Look at the situation we’ve been in. That’s the position we’re probably the thinnest on our entire team more so than running back and tight end, it’s defensive end – what I call big end. We have defensive tackles, but we have a deficiency there,” he added on separate occasion about Walthour and the importance of his return for a COVID super-senior sixth season. “Ty (Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins) has been injured back and forth. Mykel was out almost all of camp. Where we would be without Tramel, we would be forced to play undersized outside ‘backers at that position. Tramel’s given us great leadership and great consistency.”

Smart seemed hopeful when asked for an injury update on Bullard and Williams, having seen both of them in action a couple of times already this week. According to the coach, both were participants at points in practice but not in full.

“Those guys are going to be probably really close,” Smart said. “Right there with Ladd and Kendall. Could be into the weekend before we know.”

Should either Bullard or Williams not be able to go though, both Jackson and Walthour will be ready once again with the full trust of their coaches behind them.

“That starts every day at practice. It started yesterday at practice,” Jackson said of being prepared to play. “You know, you’ve got to treat every game like you’re the starter no matter what position you’re in, what string technically you’re in. We all prepare the same way from our ones to our threes because Coach Schumann and Coach Muschamp always say that if you’re in the game, you’re a starter. So I think that’s how everybody prepares.”

“The mentality here is next man up,” Walthour added. “We’ve got guys practicing every day just like everybody else. Everybody is ready to fill in to roles where they can and when they can.”

Kickoff time for Saturday’s matchup against Auburn is set for 3:30 p.m. ET, 2:30 p.m. local at Jordan-Hare Stadium, on CBS. It’s the 128th all-time meeting between the Bulldogs and Tigers in the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry. Georgia holds an all-time advantage of 63-56-8 including wins in six straight contests.

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