Georgia football edge rusher Nolan Smith
Georgia football junior Nolan Smith needs to be the head dawg next season and be the guy who makes the sacrifice and comes back for his senior year. He would likely get drafted in the first three rounds this year, but that could increase to early first-round if he came back.
Smith grew as the season went on, and by the end of it, fans began to see that we hadn’t even seen all of Smith’s talent. This young man has a high ceiling, and with one more year learning from linebackers coach Glenn Schumann and defensive line coach Tray Scott, it would only benefit him in the long run.
If he came back, he would be the guy on defense as Georgia is losing field general Nakobe Dean and Travon Walker.
Two juniors who could have come back but understandably are going to the NFL Draft because both will make a lot of money and go early. Smith would succeed in the league if he left, but as he said before the national championship, he wants to leave a legacy, so why not have that be him coming back as Jordan Davis and company did?
Smith finished the season with 56 tackles, nine tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, one interception, one pass breakup, one fumble recovery, three forced fumbles, one blocked kick and 27 quarterback hurries.
Those are decent junior year stats, but they could be that much better next year as a senior. He could be the link that Georgia needs to keep this whole one-unit mindset going.
The Dawgs thrived at that this year, and he was a big piece in all of it. If he comes back, this will be like Davis coming back last year for unfinished business, but this time it would be Smith coming back to try and help the Dawgs repeat.