The Daily Recap: How Jordan Davis can further boost UGA's defense

Here is the July 29 edition of The Daily Recap presented by JFQ Lending.

How Davis could further bolster the defense

Georgia defensive tackle Jordan Davis is expected to play a pivotal role in slowing down opposing offenses. His size and stature along the interior should attract dedicated blockers, freeing up some one-on-one matchups on the edge.

A season ago, Pro Football Focus graded Davis 76.1 overall, which included an 81.1 for run defense and 60.5 in pass rush. This is good for ninth best among Georgia’s returning players. He’ll hope that final number improves, which would be a tremendous boost for the Bulldogs’ defense in 2021. Brent Rollins and Dayne Young wrote about how Davis can help improve his own game, which in turn would be huge for the overall unit.

"Earlier this offseason, I examined senior Jordan Davis' hidden value, His presence in the middle/interior of the defense helps Georgia's defense in multiple ways, but primarily by allowing the Bulldogs to slow/stop the opponent's running game without committing extra defenders to the box," Rollins wrote. "This, in turn, strengthens the pass defense as the maximum amount of player resources can be focused on the passing game. Thus, while Davis only has eight career tackles for loss or no gain and 16 total quarterback pressures in his 749 career snaps, just know his presence provides great value to the defense on first and second down."

"The stat sheet rarely displays the full impact Jordan Davis has on a football game," Young wrote. "His PFF grades reflect exactly what Davis said of his game at SEC Media Days. He knows he can surge up NFL Draft boards if he can become more ferocious in pass rushing. Davis has transformed his body in his time at Georgia and can now play more frequently with less fatigue. He is a team leader in play, personality, and leadership."

Looking within

During the offseason, Georgia took an introspective approach when it came to improving its inner makeup. Head coach Kirby Smart recently used poet Henry David Throeau’s work as an example of how his team can strive for greater goals.

“Success comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it. Say that again. Success comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it. That's Henry David Thoreau,” Smart said. “For me, that's it. I'm too busy working. I'm too busy trying to do the next thing. I'm too busy trying to take the next step to give our team a competitive advantage to really worry about expectations. … That’s usually what people want to know about. But for me, I'm too busy working to worry about that. We want our team to think the same way. We've taken a very introspective look this year after the season last year,” Smart said. “We did a lot of surveys, a lot of talking to our players, and one of the key words, the biggest thing that came out is connection. When you're on a Zoom with somebody, it's hard to have a connection. When you're not allowed to sit within six feet of somebody, it's hard to have a connection.”

From the top down, it appears this approach is resonating with the Bulldogs.

“The team priorities are the most important thing—establishing a standard of how we’re going to do things,” quarterback JT Daniels said. “Next, it’s establishing the actual core DNA, to really define that and have it written down for practice. I love it. That's been our biggest priority.”

Catching up with Lumpkin

Patrick Garbin caught up with former Georgia running back Kregg Lumpkin about his time with the Bulldogs and his post-football career as a firefighter. Since leaving football, Lumpkin has worked his way to being a training captain with the Newton County Fire Service.

When Lumpkin first went down this path in Clayton County, a familiar face was there to mentor him along the way

“What’s kind of ironic is Michael Cooper (a 2002 Georgia signee, who was a running back with the Bulldogs in 2003 and 2004) was a fireman in Clayton County when I applied there,” Lumpkin said. “So, just like he did when I got to Georgia in 2003, Michael took me under his wing when I first joined the fire department. He taught me a lot of things. To this day, I'm so grateful for him being a mentor to me both in football and the fire service.”

Be like Kevin

TBT

Outside the Vent

Quinn Ewers is considering skipping his senior season and enrolling at Ohio State.

Ewers is unlikely to start a trend with his recent revelation.

Five players who are in need of bounce-back seasons.

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