Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins taking steps towards contribution in 2022
There are big shoes to fill on the Georgia defense in 2022 with some of the biggest coming at defensive end. Travon Walker was picked No. 1 overall in the NFL Draft this past spring after a junior season that saw him start all 15 games and make 37 total tackles, second among the defensive linemen. Of those, 6.0 were sacks and 7.5 were tackles for loss, all the while Walker finished atop the team standings in quarterback pressures with 36, including a career-high seven in the National Championship against Alabama. Trying to move on to 2022, the attention now turns to Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins on the edge to do his best in his second season with the Bulldogs.
“I think the biggest thing is, when he went into the spring, he really attacked his body and his ability to be a guy around the edge. That’s a battle you take as a big guy every single day all throughout the summer and into fall camp,” Georgia co-defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann said about Ingram-Dawkins. “The biggest thing is, when you’re leaner, you can be quicker and more explosive, it’s beneficial. That’s at every position. He’s really done that, and we want that in position whether it’s him or Tramel Walthour or Mykel Williams, when they’re out there we want them to be guys that are able to be quick, athletic, lean, guys that can make plays in terms of pursuit but also go inside. But his growth, especially in the spring when he leaned himself up, it helped him.”
Ingram-Dawkins played in just one game last season against Charleston Southern. He had two tackles in the win over the Buccaneers including one for lost yardage as well as a pass deflection, batting down a ball at the line of scrimmage. Then, in the spring game, Ingram-Dawkins made two tackles including a sack for a loss of 3 yards along with another half-tackle for loss. So, with so much inexperience, why is it that folks are looking to him to fill such big shoes? The answer is, ‘Everything Ingram-Dawkins is capable of.’ Ranked the No. 109 player overall in the Class of 2021, the No. 14 defensive lineman and the No. 1 player in the state of South Carolina, Ingram-Dawkins will have more opportunities to shine this year.
“Tray Scott does a phenomenal job with our defensive line and the development of our defensive line. Some of those guys weren’t really high-ranked recruits when they came in here, and they got developed by Tray, who I think is as good of a defensive line coach as I’ve ever worked with. I’d put Tyrion and Nazir (Stackhouse) and our entire room in Tray’s hands and let him develop those guys as we continue to move forward,” fellow Georgia co-defensive coordinator Will Muschamp said, asked about the development of two of Georgia’s younger defensive linemen. “I’ve seen improvements, drastically, in my time with Nazir and obviously Tyrion last fall a little bit, and he made huge strides in the spring. We have to get a lot better. I do know that, especially at that position, how critical that is and the number of snaps we lost in our front seven, we’ve got to continue to take strides forward.”
