Georgia football: grading exterior linemen in 2019 recruiting class

The rest of the group

When discussing the rest of Georgia’s front edge, the conversation should begin with Rian Davis, the no. 5 outside linebacker in the nation. At nearly 6-2 and weighting in at around 240 pounds, he’s one of those guys who looked like a college player on high school fields. But it would be surprising to see him shine as a true freshman since he’s coming off a serious knee injury.

If healthy, Georgia will have an energetic young pass rusher who’ll earn valuable playing time as a defensive end. If he’s not quite healthy, we might not see him until later in the year, or he may redshirt.

Georgia also signed two strongside defensive ends in Bill Norton and Zion Logue. Both guys are monsters on the field at 6-6, and around 280 pounds. As the no. 9 SDE, Norton might be more college ready than Logue, but Logue is noted as being smart and instinctive.

The biggest question about them is what position will they play? Will they stick with defensive end, where they played in high school? Or move to defensive tackle because of their size? The answer could be both at Georgia because of their unique 3-4, which isn’t really a 3-4 at all, more of a multiple defense with 3-4 players. When Georgia lines up in a 4-3, Norton or Logue would likely play defensive tackle if they’re on the field. But in a traditional 3-4 look, they’d line up as a defensive end. Which is how Georgia currently uses Tyler Clark.

The final grade for Georgia’s haul of edge defenders is an A, though that could improve to an A+ if Davis is ready to contribute as a freshman. Without him, Georgia still has two new guys who’ll play meaningful snaps all season long in Nolan Smith and Jermaine Johnson.