As the Georgia Bulldogs march on to Starkville, they will have to navigate a tough injury the defensive line sustained in the first quarter of The Cocktail Party. Defensive tackle Jordan Hall has now been ruled out for the season. He suffered a knee injury when linebacker Raylen Wilson accidentally got tangled up with him. For this injury to have happened in Hall's hometown of Jacksonville was rough.
Moving forward, Georgia has four games left, three against Power Four teams, two in SEC play, and two that could seriously impact their playoff positioning. On the road at Mississippi State may be giving off the ultimate trap game vibe, but this is the second easiest remaining game on the schedule for Georgia. They host Texas at home in primetime next week and finish the season vs. Georgia Tech.
As long as Georgia wins two of those three games, as well as not somehow stumble at home vs. Charlotte, the Bulldogs should be a lock to make the College Football Playoff in some way, shape or form. Regardless, Georgia has not had a good pass rush all season long. While they can stop the run at times, this Glenn Schumann defense comes and goes, with or without Jordan Hall playing his role.
That being said, Georgia needs to look at these three players to help offset that big injury for them.
3. Georgia Bulldogs defensive tackle Xzavier McLeod
Connor Riley of DawgNation wrote about how Georgia could offset this major injury to Hall earlier in the week. The first of two players he mentioned will directly benefit from Hall being down for the count in terms of an overall snap count would be defensive tackle Xzavier McLeod. According to Ourlads, McLeod is listed as the backup defensive tackle to Christen Miller in the trenches for UGA.
This probably indicates that it will be more of a defensive line by-committee approach. Miller may be the driving force of the defensive line, but he will need some help. McLeod is a redshirt sophomore who has been seeing some action so far in a rotational role. He played the second-most snaps of anyone along the defensive line vs. Florida in The Cocktail Party. Look for his playing time to grow.
McLeod should have a huge impact in the trenches for Georgia, but others will need to step up more.
2. Georgia Bulldogs nose tackle Elijah Griffin
The other name mentioned by Riley is nose tackle Elijah Griffin. While he is only a true freshman, he was a mega talent coming out of high school. Even more so, he was serving as the primary backup to Hall at nose tackle coming into this week. Riley pointed out that he played the third-most snaps of anyone in the trenches last week vs. Florida. It may be a big workload for him, but Georgia needs him.
Yes, there are two others players who are starting to become more valuable in the extended defensive line rotation in a pair of redshirt freshmen Joseph Jonah-Ajonye and Nnamdi Ogboko. However, Jonah-Ajonye is more of a defensive end and Ogboko is situated directlry behind Griffin on the depth chart. All three of them will have to make an impact in Hall's absence, but Griffin the most.
Now is the time for Griffin to really show all of Dawg Nation and the SEC at-large what he is all about.
1. Georgia Bulldogs linebacker CJ Allen
This is not a cop-out more than it is reality. No, this is not one of the best defenses we have seen out of Georgia in recent memory. However, the unit's most important player this season is linebacker CJ Allen. He is a tackling machine and the on-field general this team has desperately needed. 10 weeks in, he was listed as a Butkus Award semifinalist. Not sure he will win it, but Allen is still in the mix for it.
What has been fun to watch when it comes to this year's Georgia defense is nobody is pointing fingers at anybody else. It is an interesting combination of younger players who are not quite there, as well as older ones who have largely hit their ceiling already. So where is their star? Well, for the time being, Allen is the best thing Georgia has. He will prove to everyone that he will be a first-round pick.
The reason why Georgia fans can rest easy knowing Hall is out is Allen is still a part of this team.