Jordan Davis is the engine that moves Georgia’s defense. It’s evident that when he’s on the football field, it’s much more difficult for opposing offenses to move the ball. In the run game, he’s a monster. In the passing game, not only is Davis a space eater who frees up his teammates; he can bulldoze his way through double teams to disrupt the passer.
The midseason hype advocating Davis to be considered for the Heisman Trophy is warranted. While Davis, as a defensive tackle, isn’t going to put up gaudy numbers, what he brings to the Bulldogs can’t be stated enough.
Yet there’s another defender who deserves just as much love as the big, dominant defensive tackle.
Linebacker Nakobe Dean has been about as consistent as it gets through Georgia’s 10 games. In a defense that has the depth to rotate players as frequently as Georgia does, Dean has produced several big plays. His top highlight of the year would be the pick-six he had against Florida, where he expertly read Anthony Richardson’s pass and took it 50 yards for a touchdown.
Dean does a little bit of everything. As a linebacker, he can cover receivers and tight ends in the passing game. He’s stout against the run. He’s great at rushing the passer when called upon. Dean has emerged into not only one of Georgia’s best defensive players, but arguably the best inside linebacker in the nation.
The last time a Georgia linebacker received some love for a prestigious award like the Heisman Trophy was Roquan Smith in 2017. Smith was brutal to opposing offenses, disallowing plays to break the edge and running down ball-carriers from one side of the field to the other. The only noticeable difference between Smith in 2017 and Dean this season is the fact that Dean hasn’t had to play nearly as many snaps. With Georgia blowing almost everyone out on its schedule, combined with the great depth it has at linebacker, Dean has sometimes played as few as 50 percent of the game’s snaps on defense.
Here’s a look at how Dean, through Georgia’s 10 games this season, compared to Smith through his first 10 games of the 2017 season.
Smith: 82 total tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, 2 pass breakups.
Dean: 49 total tackles, 7 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, 2 interceptions, 1 pass breakup.
The only discrepancy is the total number of tackles. Otherwise, Dean is in excellent company when you’re talking about a former Georgia linebacker who was drafted eighth overall in the 2018 NFL draft.
In a college football season that doesn’t appear to feature a clear-cut offensive player who definitively deserves the Heisman Trophy, why not take a harder look at some of the better defensive players in the nation? While Davis is considered Georgia’s best player, a case could be made that Dean has been equally as valuable.
Smith finished 10th overall in Heisman Trophy voting in 2017, which was the year former Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield won the award.
Dean deserves more national attention for the season he’s having, even if his name doesn’t end up alongside Davis’s in the Heisman Trophy conversation. He’s having one heck of a season and should be recognized for it.
A slow death
During Georgia’s win over Tennessee, I received a text message from a friend who wrote that playing the Bulldogs must be akin to suffocating. In recent weeks against better opponents, Georgia hasn’t been a team to jump out and foot-stomp teams from the start. Its style of play has been much more gradual, to slowly take the breath out of teams and reducing the sounds they make to a whimper.
I responded and stated that it’s like bleeding a slow death, while knowing no one is coming to help. That’s how it looked like for Tennessee at least.
When the Volunteers jumped out to a 10-7 lead, it seemed as if this could be Georgia’s first true challenge since the opener against Clemson. The Bulldogs adjusted and accounted for Tennessee’s attempt to hit the edges in the receiver screen game, as well as with taking shots down the field. The next thing you know, Tennessee’s effectiveness began to diminish. And Georgia started scoring points. The atmosphere at Neyland Stadium deflated a bit more each time the Bulldogs turned the knife.
Georgia won’t have to worry about slowly pulling away from anyone on Saturday with Charleston Southern coming to town. They should take care of business handily before the annual rivalry with Georgia Tech the following week.
But for all the joy Georgia and its fan base have experienced this year with the wins, they can all probably take satisfaction in the agony each opponent has endured and the Bulldogs have handed out. After all, look at all the teams Georgia has broken since its win over them—with Florida standing out the most.
