Georgia football has a loaded linebacker room with tons of talent that is young and old. However, the linebacker group isn’t a concern heading into the 2019 season.
When discussing the strengths of Georgia football’s defense, a lot of questions can arise about how good Kirby Smart’s defense will be in 2019.
With some positions in question, the linebacker group is not one of them.
In 2017, Dawg fans watched possibly the greatest linebacker in school history, Roquan Smith, go to work all season long.
After Smith went to the NFL, it was very noticeable in the following season the Dawgs had lost some valuable assets at the position.
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In 2018, the Bulldogs ranked 31st in the nation in rushing defense which is typically a stat that the Dawgs rank high and have a lot of success.
Headed into 2019, Smart has a lot of depth and more experience to work with at both inside and outside linebacker position.
Guys like Brenton Cox, Adam Anderson, Tae Crowder, Nolan Smith, Nakobe Dean, Quay Walker, Monty Rice, and Robert Beal Jr., are all names that will play significant roles in Georgia’s linebacker core.
There are of course more names that could be added on this list thanks to Smart’s amazing recruiting ability, but these are the names that I feel make the biggest impact.
Crowder, who made the transition from running back to now star linebacker, has started 30 games headed into his senior season along with 60 total career tackles.
Lining up right next to Crowder is rising sophomore Brenton Cox. In just his freshmen season, Cox started in 13 games and racked up 20 total tackles, two tackles for loss, and a sack.
A pretty impressive stat line for a kid who was playing high school the previous year.
Continuing down the list is Monty Rice who will be a junior next season. Rice in just two seasons with Georgia has punished opponents for 81 totals tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, and a sack in two seasons.
It sounds like Rice’s junior year should be a fun one.
The line of experience continues with players like Anderson, Walter Grant, Quay Walker, and Beal who all played in almost every game along with a significant number of snaps played.
Not only are these boys talented and experienced, but a lot of them are very young as well. So not only should Georgia be solid at linebacker for this season but the next few years as well.
The SEC is full of teams who have solid run games, and many also that have a strong passing game.
Georgia’s strong linebacker core though will have the ability to neutralize both the air attack and ground game for any opponent.
The surrounding positions on Georgia’s defense may have some question marks, but one thing for sure is that depth and experience will not be an issue for the Dawgs in 2019.