Is Georgia Football’s defensive line holding them back?

If Georgia football ever wants to raise a championship trophy again, it has got to start recruiting better on the defensive line.

Since Georgia football switched to the 3-4 defense, the defensive line hasn’t seemed as dominant as it was in the early 2000s.

According to ESPN, six of the last ten (three of the last five) national champions have had top-5 rushing defenses. To win, you must be able to run on offense and have the defense stop the run. This should be priority No. 1.

Here is a comparison between the last two national champions and Georgia football in rushing defense.

2017:

• Alabama 1129 Yards (2nd), 2.8YDS/A (2nd), 94.1 YDS/G (3rd)
• Georgia 1464 Yards (18th), 3.5 YDS/A (19th), 112.6 YDS/G (12th)

2018:

• Clemson 1208 Yards (5th), 2.4 YDS/A (1st), 92.9 YDS/G (3rd)
• Georgia 1698 Yards (39th), 4.1 YDS/A (49th), 130.6 YDS/G (28th)

In the 2017 national championship game, Georgia allowed Alabama to gain 184 yards on the ground. In the 2018 SEC Championship game, Georgia allowed Alabama to gain 157 yards on the ground. In the 2019 Sugar Bowl, the Dawgs allowed Texas to gain 178 yards on the ground.

As you can see, this is not a formula for winning big games.

Georgia switched its base defense from the 4-3 to the 3-4 back in 2010, when they brought in Todd Grantham to fix their defense. Since then they have struggled to recruit any truly elite SDEs or DTs for their scheme.

Over the first five years being in the 3-4 scheme Georgia added:

• DT, Trenton Thompson, 5-star, 0.9992
• SDE, Ray Drew, 5-star, 0.9910
• SDE, Jonathan Ledbetter, 4-star, 0.9680
• DT, Garrison Smith, 4-star, 0.9546
• DT, Mike Thornton, 4-star, 0.9161
• DT, John Jenkins, 4-star, 0.9141
• DT, Toby Johnson, 4-star, 0.9141
• SDE, Michael Barnett, 4-star, 0.9091
• SDE, Sterling Bailey, 3-star, 0.8872
• SDE, Dexter Morant, 3-star, 0.8844
• DT, John Atkins, 3-star, 0.8804
• SDE, Brandon Burrows, 3-star, 0.8795
• SDE, James DeLoach, 3-star, 0.8715
• DT, De’Andre Johnson, 3-star, 0.8628
• DT, DaQuan Hawkins-Muckle, 3-star, 0.8569
• DT, Justin Young, 3-star, 0.8568
• SDE, Chris Mayes, 3-star, 0.8528

An average rating of 0.9058.

Smart has slowly begun to change that though.

Over his first four recruiting cycles Kirby added:

• DT, Travon Walker, 5-star, 0.9901
• DT, Julian Rochester, 4-star, 0.9651
• DT, Netori Johnson, 4-star, 0.9588
• DT, Michail Carter, 4-star, 0.9439
• SDE, Malik Herring, 4-star, 0.9345
• SDE, Bill Norton, 4-star, 0.9326
• DT, Devonte Wyatt, 4-star, 0.9067
• DT, Tyler Clark, 4-star, 0.9066
• SDE, Zion Logue, 4-star, 0.8941
• DT, Tymon Mitchell, 3-star, 0.8870
• DT, Jordan Davis, 3-star, 0.8858
• SDE, David Marshall, 3-star, 0.8762
• DT, Tramel Walthour, 3-star, 0.8582

An average rating of 0.9184.

Not only was Georgia not recruiting defensive lineman at the same level of teams like Alabama or Clemson, but they also are not developing the ones they do get.

Only two of the defensive linemen Smart started with have become draft eligible, Trenton Thompson and Jonathan Ledbetter, but both went undrafted. Neither of which reached their full potential.

There also has not been a defensive end taken in the first round of the NFL Draft from the University of Georgia since 2002. There has not been a defensive tackle taken in the first round of the NFL Draft since 2003.

As you can see, this is not a Smart problem, it has been a problem for nearly two decades.

By comparison, Alabama last had a defensive end drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft in 2017. They have also had back to back years, 2018 and 2019, having a defensive tackle taken in the first round of the NFL Draft.

I believe this inability to recruit and develop Defensive Line talent is one of the reasons that the Dawgs struggles against the run.

In 2017 Georgia’s defense allowed the 4th fewest total yards per game, the 2nd fewest passing yards per game, the 4th fewest points per game, but was 12th in rushing yards allowed per game.

Until Georgia can show the ability to recruit defensive linemen at a high level and develop them to their full potential consistently, I do not see this program taking the next step.

Championships are won at the line of scrimmage and right now the Dawgs haven’t lived up to the potential on the defensive line. Until this changes, Georgia will not catch nor pass Alabama or Clemson.