Georgia Football: Defensive Players to watch on G-day

Walter Grant OLB

Grant has been very versatile in practice. Based off the reports, he’d been filling the Lorenzo Carter role and playing all sorts of different spots. Sometimes he’s playing ILB, sometimes he’s rushing the passer, other times he’s jumping into the secondary and playing Star.

Right now, I think that Grant is the favorite to win the OLB spot alongside D’Andre Walker. I’m really looking forward to seeing him take on the first team OL on Saturday. That is going to be some grown man football with some really talented guys facing off against each other. I also want to see how he does in coverage. If he’s able to hang with the tight ends like Carter did, UGA could be in a really good spot next year.

Robert Beal OLB

Beal will likely start on the second unit and he’s someone I’m really excited to see for the first time. Coming out of high school he flashed raw potential. From a pass rushing perspective, the guy could be a real weapon, he just needs to keep growing and take his chance. He was one of the most talented pass rushers in the 2017 class period.

It took Beal a while to get acclimatized to being in Athens. He redshirted in 2017 and a lot of that was because he wasn’t able to arrive until the very end of summer. Having moved schools 3 times in his final high school year to attend IMG Academy, it took a while to get his transcripts through.

Because of that, fans have never had a chance to see Beal but he was explosive in high school. I’m really excited to see him for the first time because when I watched his high school film, it screamed ‘wow’. Saturday will offer that first chance and I can’t wait to see what he does.