Explaining what Nakobe Dean meant to Georgia’s defense goes way deeper than reciting his stats.

To give him his proper due, you have to not only mention what he did from the standpoint of setting the defense on the field, but what Dean meant as one of the best overall leaders on last year’s team.

Those are the cleats sophomore Jamon Dumas-Johnson, who Monday was one of 51 players named to the Watch List for the Butkus Award, hopes to fill this fall.

The expectations are certainly there.

As a freshman, Dumas-Johnson flashed potential, totaling 22 stops with two sacks and a Pick-6 in 14 games.

Bulldog senior Nolan Smith has already offered the Maryland native a piece of advice.

“I told him that it took time. Me and Nakobe started on dime reps together, and we weren’t talking, we were just out there trying to play. I told him just to trust himself. He’s definitely an amazing player and he knows the playbook like the back of his hand,” Smith said. “I told him just to trust in himself.”

Apparently, head coach Kirby Smart already does.

During the spring, Smart said the player, known around the team’s football facility as “Pop,” is doing everything necessary to take advantage of the opportunity that sits in front of him.

“Pop’s done a good job, he’s getting opportunity, that’s the biggest thing. You could make the case that he’s probably where all those guys were – Quay (Walker), Channing (Tindall), Nakobe (Dean) it was their second year – when really, he’s still in his first year if you really want to look at it in the grand scheme of things.”

Dumas-Johnson did not play high school football his senior year due to Covid and spent the early part of last year getting into shape.

Once he did, Dumas-Johnson showed he can make plays.

“He came in a little heavy, he’ll be the first to tell you he was too heavy when he first got here. He had not played a season, so he was rusty, but he helped on special teams, played sometime in games when we had leads,” Smart said. “But he’s trying to take on a leadership role. There’s a real big void, and this common theme you’ll here is there’s a void there because of all the guys who left.”