A special defense being built in Athens
As good as Georgia’s defense has been, head coach Kirby Smart dropped some knowledge Tuesday that qualified as eye-opening.
“I don’t know that I’ve had an athletic front seven like this one,” Smart said during his Zoom session with reporters. “I’ve been much deeper in the secondary, but I don’t know if I’ve had a group as athletic as this group that can move and twist, in today’s college football world, which gives you a chance because of all the spread stuff.”
Considering Smart’s coaching past, that’s quite the statement.
During his tenure at Alabama, the former defensive coordinator of the Crimson Tide was used to coaching some dynamic defensive players.
In 2011, Alabama led the nation in scoring defense (8.2 points per game), total defense (183.6 yards per game), rushing defense (72.2 ypg), and passing defense (111.5 ypg).
His defenses at Georgia have not been bad, either.
The Bulldogs boasted the nation’s top scoring defense in 2019 (12.6 ppg) and have had the nation’s top run defense in each of the last two seasons (74.9 in 2019 and 72.3 in 2020).
Three games into the 2021 campaign, the Bulldog defense has the look of something special.
Georgia has allowed just one touchdown so far and hjas scored two on a couple of interception returns, one each by Christopher Smith and Jamon Dumas-Johnson.
“We’re definitely focused on having a lot of havoc,” Smith said on Monday. “We’ve been pretty good so far at accomplishing our goals, but like I said, there’s always something we can fix. There’s some things we need to fix as we prepare for Vanderbilt.”
Other coaches throughout the SEC are already taking notice.
During his Monday press conference, Kentucky coach Mark Stoops was asked if Bulldog defensive analyst Will Muschamp was the main reason for Georgia’s success against South Carolina.
Stoops could not help but laugh.
“That’s funny. You think it has anything to do with those beasts that Georgia has on their team? Just a little,” Stoops said. “But nah, very little. I love Will, have great respect for Will, I’m friends with Will. But Georgia’s got pretty good players.”
Gamecock coach Shane Beamer’s incredulous post-game response to a reporter following the Bulldogs’ 40-13 victory last week also made the rounds.
“They’ve got 500 five-star players,” Beamer said. “They have a defensive lineman that weighs 340 pounds and runs better than anyone on this call. They’ve got five-star defensive backs. They’re big and physical and fast. Other than that, they’re really freaking good.”
Smart admits this year’s defense has a special vibe.
“Dan (Lanning) and Glenn (Schumann) and Jahmile (Addae) and Tray (Scott) and Will (Muschamp) have done a really good job of getting players to take on their personality,” Smart said. “They’ve bought into that. It’s been a good vibe on defense. Those guys have really done a tremendous job. This is a different group.”
Lanning spoke to that effect back in August, when he met with reporters for the only time this year.
Although Georgia’s season opener with Clemson was still three weeks away, Lanning felt the offseason work put in by the defense was going to pay off.
“We challenge our players to make this a player-led team, and the more players that are involved, the more it's a player-led team,” Lanning said. “We’ve always said, if you’re good enough, you’re old enough. It doesn’t matter how old you are, but if you play at the right level, with the right intensity, with the right competitiveness and toughness, and you execute your assignment, then we’re going to find a way to get you on the field. I think that will certainly be a benefit this year.”
The statistics show that Georgia’s defense is not a one-, two-, or even three-man show.
Seven Bulldogs already have double-digit tackle totals, led by linebacker Channing Tindall and safety Lewis Cine with 17 each. Of Georgia’s 14 sacks (third in the country), eight different players have contributed.
Nose guard Jordan Davis was asked who the most athletic member of the front seven is. He could not answer.
“That’s hard to put on one guy. We’re all athletes. Everyone on the team is an athlete. That’s a good question,” Davis said. “We all swarm, we all push everyone. But yeah, we’ve got athletes all over the board. I can’t name just one.”
Senior linebacker Quay Walker says the buy-in by players on the defense is unlike something he’s ever seen with the team.
“We definitely feed off each other, seeing someone else make a play. It hypes us up just to see another guy make a play,” Walker said. “This seems this is the closest this team has been since I’ve been here. We’re close as a whole team. It’s something special about it, to be honest with you.”
Davis believes he knows the reason.
During the offseason, Smart made it an emphasis for players to break into different skull sessions, whose purpose was to help players become closer with each other.
Per Davis, that’s proven to be a huge key.
“That’s one of the big positives over this year. People come and go, but the experience is still the same. We want to be sure we play our lights-out defense every week,” Davis said. “We have to get better. But it’s one of those things where it’s more enjoyable this time around, because you truly know your brother, and you know who you’re playing with. That’s one of the biggest things for this year.”
Those sessions also enabled players to stay focused and not buy into comments you’re starting to see when it comes to how good the defense is and will be.
“We don’t pay attention to that, because a lot of that is written by people who are just sitting around and don’t know the background to it,” linebacker Adam Anderson said. “The more you look at it, the more you start thinking about yourself. Around here, we don’t think about ourselves. We think about how we’re going to improve. Every day, we try to improve, even if it’s just one percent.”
That, according to linebacker Nolan Smith, will continue to be the key.
“That’s the standard we hail and one we believe in. We go to the doctor on Monday, and you know, when you go to the doctor, the doctor tells you what’s wrong, what’s right, and what you need to do better,” he said. “So, on Monday, we’ll be grown men and our coaches will tell us what we need to do better, what we did wrong, and how we can fix it. That’s the point of being player-coaches, having that relationship. If he can’t tell me I’m doing something wrong, what is he there for?”