New season, new faces does not change Georgia’s defensive ‘standard’

ATHENS — For Georgia’s defense, “the standard” is the competition.

The Bulldogs certainly will get all they handle from Clemson in the opener on Aug. 31, not to mention the offensive arsenals that await at Alabama, Texas and Ole Miss and throughout the gauntlet that is the SEC schedule. But measuring up to internal expectations and the weights and measures established by a defensive-minded head coach over the past nine years, that’s where the real pressure is.

And, yes, there was some of that felt this summer inside the defensive meeting rooms within the Butts-Mehre football complex.

“We really appreciate having that standard here,” junior defensive end Mykel Williams said. “It gives us something to grasp, something to aspire to. The standard helps us play to our full potential and be who we’re going to be.”

Preseason camp opens Thursday on Woodruff Practice Fields. For Georgia’s defenders, that means it’s time to demonstrate what they’ve learned from seven months of self-analysis, physical training and rehearsal.

There’s excitement – and maybe even a tad bit of apprehension – about that. The 2024 group feels like it has something to prove.

“Be hungry, be who we are, be the standard that Georgia was built on,” junior safety Malaki Starks said. “That’s the biggest thing. I came to Georgia to play defense. Georgia has always been that school. When you look at defense, that’s who you want to be.”

The external narrative is Georgia can’t be what it has been on defense. And to some extent, that’s been the case the past couple of seasons.

Since the Bulldogs posted those insane defensive numbers that they did in 2021 – 10.2 points, 265 yards per game – they have struggled to reproduce them. Then, again, any defense would. That was a generational group led by the line of future NFL players Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Travon Walker and Devonte Wyatt.

So, slight though it has been, there has been some statistical regression the past two seasons. But it’s all relative when you’re winning 47 of your past 49 games, as Georgia has under Kirby Smart.

The fact is, the Bulldogs’ defensive performance over the past five years is unmatched in college football. Over the span, no team in America has been stingier on defense than Georgia, who has allowed a mere 14.1 points and 290 yards per game.

“That’s consistency in performance,” Smart said last spring. “And it’s not just game by game. Sometimes it’s series by series; sometimes it’s day to day; you want it to be from play to play.”

Georgia is expected to be ranked No. 1 when the Associated Press preseason poll is released in August. That will be the second year in a row for the Bulldogs. But when doubts are expressed about Georgia’s 2024 prospects, they tend to be associated with the defense.

That’s understandable considering that’s where the Dogs are dealing with the most talent turnover. They’ll enter camp this week needing to replace three-fifths of the secondary and nine one-time starters overall. With four more Georgia defenders chosen in the 2024 NFL draft, that’s 38 over the past four seasons.

Julian Humphrey and Daniel Harris will battle for the cornerback duties opposite Daylen Everette, and a host of defensive backs will vie for the safety positions abandoned by Javon Bullard and Tykee Smith. Among them are some 5-star freshmen, including K.J. Bolden and Ellis Robinson IV, and second-year players such as Joenel Aguero and Justyn Rhett awaiting their opportunities.

Until they play those positions at a winning level week-to-week, the replacements will be unproven. But even proven lettermen aren’t taking anything for granted and are approaching camp with an air of uneasiness.

“Complacency gets you passed up,” said Starks, a junior All-American coming off shoulder surgery. “If you’re flat-lining, people who are consistently growing are going to pass you at some point. And that’s the goal – to not get passed, to keep growing.”

There is concern among the front seven as well. Run defense is an area where Georgia fell significantly short of the standard last season. After allowing fewer than 77 rushing yards per game the previous two seasons, the Bulldogs gave up an average of 113.6 in 2023 and saw opponents score touchdowns 13 times.

Most of the defensive linemen manning the trenches are back. Those that filled starting roles are going to have a play at a higher level, and those who toiled in backup roles will need to make the next step.

“Christen Miller, Warren Brinson, (Nazir) Stackhouse, Jordan Hall, all those guys have been here,” Williams said. “I feel like they’re going to step up and make it happen.”

Williams in particular is a player the Bulldogs expect to make things happen. The 6-foot-5, 265-pound junior defensive end has been cross-training as a “Jack” outside linebacker. The hope is that Williams, a projected NFL first-round draft pick, can help generate more pass rush and more dynamic plays in general. Georgia’s havoc rate last season fell short of the standard.

There’s a changing of the guard at inside linebacker as well. Jamon Dumas-Johnson is off to Kentucky via the transfer portal, and the status of junior Smael Mondon is uncertain between offseason shoulder surgery and another run-in with the law. But CJ Allen, Raylen Wilson and Jalon Walker are expected to offer some schematic alternatives to what the Bulldogs have been doing between the tackles.

That’s been another key to Georgia’s defensive success. While the standard never changes, the means to that end does. Accordingly, the Bulldogs plan to offer some defensive wrinkles.

“We’ve got a lot of defensive calls, a huge, crazy package,” Williams offered during SEC Media Days this month.

Said Smart: “You’re always adapting. You have to adjust (to offenses), but you have to dictate to them as well. If you sit back nowadays and let offenses dictate to you, they can do enough things to drive down the field and be explosive and make big plays and score quickly that it can become frustrating.”

Smart feels like he has one of the more innovative defensive coordinators in the business in Glenn Schumann. Smart’s longest-tenured assistant at nine years enters his sixth season running the defense. Schumann shares that responsibility this year with first-year co-coordinator Travaris Robinson. Robinson, who replaces Will Muschamp, will be joining forces with former USC defensive backs coach Donte Williams in overseeing the Bulldogs’ secondary.

Added together, that’s a lot of newness on the defense. But none of that changes the standard.

“The standard is something we always try to live up to,” Stackhouse said last spring. “No matter who we’re playing against, we’re always playing against the standard.”

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