If great teams are built on depth, then Georgia's defense is showing every indication of being elite.
The Bulldogs showed no hangover from last weekend's emotional victory over Clemson. Instead, the starters and then the reserves throttled UAB all afternoon long, en route to a 56-7 victory at Sanford Stadium.
"It does wonders for their confidence," Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said of his young players following the game. "You have to get over the number of times you have made a mistake in a game to be able to grow. I thought some of our young players are starting to grow up. You can only practice so much before they get in the game and have to play."
Early in the game, Georgia flexed its depth along the defensive line. Sophomore Nazir Stackhouse—a contributor but not among the top tier of the defensive line rotation—especially made his presence known.
First, Stackhouse hit UAB quarterback Tyler Johnston as he threw, to force an interception. He also added a sack later in the half and finished the game with two total tackles.
"Naz, he’s always been a guy that’s going to come and work like anybody else on the team," junior defensive lineman Travon Walker said. "He’s a guy that’s going to pay attention to the small details, do everything Coach says technique-wise. That was part of the reason why he got that sack today. He’s going to be a guy that emerges."
Bulldog reserves started trickling into the game later in the second quarter. They then played most of the second half, but the performance didn't drop off much.
For the game, UAB amassed 174 total yards of offense. For the second straight week, the Bulldogs kept their opponent from scoring an offensive touchdown.
Thirty-one different Bulldogs registered a tackle. Freshman linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson also returned an interception for a touchdown.
"Just a great story," Smart said. "He’s a kid from a tough background back home, tremendous family, didn’t get to play football last year up in Maryland. Comes all the way down here, and his first play is a pick-six."
As he's known to do, Smart did find flaws with how his backups performed. Specifically, he said they didn't defend the run well in the closing minutes of the game.
Still, it's only a positive for the reserves to get real, live game experience. They had older teammates, such as linebacker Channing Tindall, on the sidelines encouraging them every step of the way. Tindall said he felt more excitement seeing younger players get in than he did for his own performance, in which he led the Bulldogs with seven tackles.
"Just calm down, just stay composed, do what you know you can do," Tindall said he told his teammates in the second half. "You’ve been doing this all your life. You’re here for a reason—just go out there and show it. We do this all the time in practice, so it’s not like you’re playing up to the player you want you to be. You’re already that player. You’ve done it so many times, just go out there and do it. That’s what they did today."
Smart and his players often talk about playing to "the standard." They set that level of expected performance for themselves every week, and it's up to the players to go out and match it, regardless of the opponent.
Georgia's head coach saw plenty of that from players up and down his defensive depth chart on Saturday afternoon.
"For the opportunity to go out there and play the game, it has to mean something," Smart said. "It has to be enough pride to say, ‘I don’t care what the scoreboard says, this is my opportunity to show my coach that all my hard work has paid off.’ For a guy like Tymon Mitchell, a guy like Warren Brinson, a guy like Chad Lindberg, a guy like Daijun Edwards, they work real hard, too. Believe it or not, they’re good football players."
