3. Defensive Line Coach - Tray Scott
Losses: Nazir Stackhouse, Warren Brinson, Mykel Williams, Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins, Jamaal Jarrett
Returnees/Additions: Christen Miller, Xzavier McLeod, Jordan Hall, Joseph Jonah-Ajonye, Jordan Thomas, Justin Greene, Elijah Griffin*
Georgia’s defensive line will be led once again by Tray Scott, who will come into the 2025 season as the second-most tenured member on Smart’s staff.
Ever since his arrival in 2017, Scott has done nothing but recruit and develop young potential into NFL talent with the likes of Travon Walker, Jordan Davis, Jalen Carter and Devonte Wyatt, just to name a few. However, it remains to be seen if that level of talent will be gracing the halls of Butts-Mere in 2025.
Georgia will enter the 2025 season with major question marks at almost every level on its defense, but none larger than along its defensive line. If the outside linebacker position is taking the biggest hit from a productivity perspective in 2025, then defensive line is taking the biggest hit in mass and experience.
With the exception of Christen Miller, Georgia will have to replace four of its top five defensive lineman from 2024. Gone will be talented upperclassmen like projected 1st round pick Mykel Williams, Warren Brinson, Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins and stalwart Nazir Stackhouse.
In 2024, Warren Brinson, Mykel Williams, Nazir Stackhouse and Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins accounted for 10 of Georgia’s 12.5 sacks produced by defensive lineman, not to mention 93 of the 145 tackles by this group. That is a tremendous amount of production, size, talent, experience and leadership leaving your program.
Although, they were able to win the signature of future star Elijah Griffin, Georgia did suffer some major defensive line recruiting misses in the 2025 signing class. Additionally, Georgia did not sign a zero-technique defensive lineman in 2025.
To run the style of defense that Georgia wants to run, you need bodies, big ones. And they are not easy to find. In 2024, Georgia ranked 36th nationally in rush defense (129.64 ypg). If Georgia wants to get back to their 2022 level of dominance when they finished the season ranked No. 1 in the nation in rush defense (77 ypg), then they can ill-afford to miss on big time players that can help them in the trenches.
Coach Scott has the pedigree and trust of the Georgia faithful, so we will see what kind of defensive front he is able to field in 2025.