Georgia's greatest concern in 2026 is not what anyone would expect

It is no secret that Zachariah Branch's departure will really impact Georgia's passing game in a bad way. When any team loses a receiver as dominant as he was, they have a lot of adjusting to do.

Not only that, but five out of the top six receivers in Athens from last season have moved on to the NFL.

With that being said, that glaring and obvious statistic is all that experts and fans can point out as the biggest question surrounding Georgia in 2026. However, it actually is not the biggest question at all. The biggest question facing Georgia is actually on the defensive side of the ball.

Georgia's defensive line remains biggest question surrounding program

Fans tend to forget that the defensive line was a major problem to start the season in 2025. Through the first half of the season, Georgia only had one sack come from a defensive lineman or defensive end. The lack of pressure from the front four was genuinely concerning and was a big reason why the Tennessee game ended in a shootout and why Georgia fell to Alabama in September.

However, the front four were eventually able to turn it around and get pressure towards the end of the season. That amped pressure from key players was a big factor in games such as Texas when Arch Manning had negative 17 rushing yards and the Longhorns only had 23 total yards on the ground.

Look at Georgia's roster now. Christen Miller is gone, and now Jordan Hall and Elijah Griffin are expected to fill that hole. While they are plenty talented enough to do so, they need to get off to a much quicker start than they did a year ago.

The Transfer Portal as well as an extra SEC game on the schedule every year is going to make things much more challenging for this young front. While they got plenty of playing time last season, they cannot afford to get to a slow start again.

Joel Klatt voices his concern for Georgia entering 2026 season

Joel Klatt of Fox Sports mentioned on his podcast how Georgia's issue was the receiver group and how they need to be expected to step up in shootouts. It was also mentioned how they have not had a deep threat since Brock Bowers. While this is very true, the biggest question remains on how big of a shootout the defense is allowing.

In today's college football, everyone has to survive a shootout. In fact, Georgia's 2022 team did it several times on their way to a National Championship. However, shootouts should not mean allowing a score on every single drive in the first half to Ole Miss. It should not mean no sacks by the defensive line in the first half of the season and allowing over 40 points to Tennessee.

Georgia must keep these games closer than that and make their "shootouts" around the 30 point mark. No offense should be expected to score touchdowns on every drive.

That all starts with the defensive line and the pressure they are able to generate without blitzing. Beyond pressure, it also means making an offense one-dimensional and stuffing the run. You cannot rely on an offense to score every touch, and you cannot expect the secondary to have perfect coverage when the QB has forever to throw.

However, you should be able to rely on the defensive line to win the line of scrimmage every single game at a place like Georgia.

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