If Georgia’s defense is the biggest story of 2021, then its depth is the second biggest. Sure, it’s had a major impact in shoring up the injury situation, but on defense, it’s also had the effect of allowing Lanning to rotate the front seven like a madman. That’s meant there are always fresh bodies on the line ready to harass opposing offensive lines and back fields.
It’s also meant something else, as this series of Matt Hinton tweets neatly illustrate.
He’s right, you know.
A few weeks ago, I mocked everyone in the media who left Davis off their preseason All-SEC teams, but I fully expect a few smart asses at season’s end to downgrade Davis because his stats don’t match the conference leaders on defense. (Georgia’s leading tackler at present is Channing Tindall, with… get ready… 29 total tackles. He’s having a helluva year, but the SEC leader is LSU’s Damone Clark, with 68. Georgia’s top player in tackles for loss is Adam Anderson. He’s 24th in the conference. You get the idea.)
Don’t get me wrong. I think this team is brilliantly fashioned, the defense in particular. But don’t be surprised, assuming things hold up, if the best defense in the country and one of the best over the past decade seems underrepresented at season’s end on awards list. Not that anyone of us is likely to care all that much.
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Prime example of the sum being greater than the parts but the parts are all still amazing by themselves.
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I don’t care alI that much but I think the players care. I hope we aren’t underrepresented because they deserve the recognition.
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The other reason for Dawgs not getting a lot of tackles is the other teams’ offenses don’t get first downs. 3 and out—that’s what Georgia’s D does to them. Can’t get a lot of tackles when the Georgia O has the ball. BTW, the reason that LSU f*cker has all those tackles is the LSU D can’t stop anybody and can’t get off the field. Lots of opportunity for tackles when the other team’s O is constantly running the ball.
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Exactly, it’s not rocket science……much like all the teams that UGA plays have shitty O stats after the game.
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Ehhhhggsackly. It’s just like The Ray Guy Award always goes to a player from Directional Wherever A&M University.
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And before anyone says Drew Butler, we went 8-5 that year. So…
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Excellent point, Eric. I was coming here to say something similar. Opponents have combined for 58 total first downs in 6 games (9.67 per game). That translates to a lot of three and outs. Comparatively, LSU is giving up an average of 20.3 first downs per game through 6 games (over 120 total).
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I’m sure that someone can come up with the total snaps the defense has been on the field vs some of the high stat teams. I had not even thought about that until you pointed it out. Heavy rotation with limited snaps will keep those numbers down. It will also keep them healthy for the whole year and their future. It used to be that you had one RB that got umpteen carries a game for several years but was done in the NFL in 3-4 years due to the wear and tear. The defense seems to be heading to this same mentality that you have to keep guys fresh for prevent injury and decline in productivity.
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They’ve also only played two four quarter games. The starting rotation was done by halftime in two of the games and the fourth quarter in two others.
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The only undefeated pro team ever had the “No Name Defense”.
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With 2 UGA players on that No Name Defense – Jake Scott and Bill Stanfill
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TEAM
me
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One of the things I love about this defense it is the “Where’s Waldo Defense”
If you need to name it.
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Great defenses should never rack up huge stats. Think about it; if you’re forcing 3-and-outs and limiting the other team’s offense, you’re gonna have less plays for the defensive players to make plays. You’ll notice that players who lead the conference in tackles rarely come from the top teams.
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Spot on. Hey – look at that guy who had 17 tackles in a game where his team gave up 50 points to Ole Miss. What a player!
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Y’all stole my thunder.
Those stats don’t mean much without “number of snaps played” factored in.
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If it hurts the players come draft time, then it will be a harder sell for the next batch of recruits. But otherwise, I think Kirby has done a masterful job of using ALL the talent he has gathered. And it shows in how we wear people down.
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Pretty sure the NFL scouts will be looking at tape and other measurables before they get to those stats. The flip side is also our guys would be relatively “low mileage”, didn’t play hurt, etc.
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Considering the guy from the Senior Bowl said they just need to send a bus to Athens and they’ll take any defensive player that gets on says a lot.
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When the NFL Draft scouts look at the tape and then look at the relatively low number of snaps each guy has on his body and realizes he’s still got almost all of the tread on his tires? I don’t think it’s going to hurt them very much at all.
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Right a NFL scout said there are 4-5 first rounders on the D line alone. Any scout not noticing the talent is not doing his job. They will see you and they will find you.
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I agree with all the above. The “low mileage” should help all the players, and you have to assume (given the money involved) that the NFL is more diligent in scouting the players/talent.
But we’ve seen some players leaving for more playing time. I suspect we’ll continue to see 1-2 leave each year because of that, but Kirby seems to have his pick from the portal so I guess it all evens out in the wash.
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Exactly. That is the way thinking has gone for RB over the last decade. High mileage in college lends itself to short NFL careers in most cases (there are exceptions). You see much more RB duos or by committee these days.
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I think Kirby’s proof point is this. The kids who left the program because they couldn’t break the starting lineup got more attention elsewhere (see FSU), however our kids will go higher in the draft with less tape and less wear on their tires.
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I’d like to see the whole D get the Heisman. The Atlanta Hawks starting 5 all shared player of the month honors a few years ago.
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When he says “star” is he talking a featured player? Bowers was featured the first 4 games but has been a bit more quiet as of late (primarily because we ran the ball all four quarters against Arky).
The depth is massive on both sides of the ball. It’s a glorious thing to have good recruiting at all levels of the game.
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To paraphrase the old saying; “it’s amazing what you can accomplish when no one cares who gets credit”.
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I came here to post this same phrase. Believe it was a John Wooden quote.
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What exactly is Matt Hinton’s definition of a “star”? Because unless it means “a player on offense who finishes the year with 20 touchdowns” I’d argue that our team has plenty of stars, they play in our defensive front 7. If you can watch Jordan Davis run from the defensive tackle spot and make a tackle for no loss on the sideline and then hear him interviewed after and not think the man’s a star, I can’t help you. And then you realize that Jalen Carter might be just as good? Come on.
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Exactly this. the team “star” to me means someone who makes big plays when given the opportunity. Not padded stats. Our defense is full of guys who make great plays when they’re on the field.
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His definition is the typical definition that sportswriters (and fans) have used for years. Open the stats page, look at who’s at the top, those must be your stars! But on our team, the wealth is spread out so no one player sits at the top of the stats.
Socialism for our Dawgs! Who woulda thunk it?
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The last few years I felt we had a no-name defense because we had lots of good but not great players. This year we have a no-name defense because there are so many elite players that it’s hard to stick out. Kirby’s finally turning all these five star defenders into monsters.
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ALL of them are “stars” but because we have so many, none stands out in relation to his peers.
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The stats nerds are already heavily spotlighting the unit. Next phase of that will be exploring the pieces and parts most crucial for its success.
These guys are about to get some serious media attention.
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The fact that we have an embarrassment of riches, to the extent that CKS can preserve and protect Jordan Davis so he’ll likely be in prime mid-season form during the CFP, should strike fear into the heart of every other CFP contender.
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This is why Texas A&M almost lost. Their starters were exhausted by the 4th Quarter against Bama because they didn’t have quality subs. We won’t have that problem.
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I think our defensive guys will get some of the best end of the year awards available….$$$$$ that comes with being first round picks.
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Davis has only been in on 35 plays?! Hell…he does that much in practice. Like Saban says, “Work during the week so Saturday is your free day.”
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I think the only hardware anyone on this team truly cares about is that national championship ring, and it shows. Selfless play all over the place. But Kirby can’t coach so I guess he’s just done a helluva job recruiting dudes who were just born as exceptional athletes who also believe there’s no me in team.
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The recruiting pitch “Come here to win and to play and to learn. The scouts will notice you big time. A huge bonus to you is that you will not wear out your body in college. You will leave here with your best playing days ahead of you which means more money in the long run.”
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Winning helps to maintain depth. Everyone still wants those SEC and NC rings. A kid is more willing to sit at a school that is in the chase every year than a middle of the road team. On top of that, if you continue to rotate that depth in they will all get a lot of meaningful field time. Yes you will lose a few here and there that want to be THE MAN but winning cures a lot of that. QB’s are not going to fall into that same category. Keeping a stable of them is a LOT more difficult.
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Believe me the NFL scouts take notice. Come to UGA and you DO have a chance being at the next level. I expect at least 7 to 8 guys drafted of this defense
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Is there a Roquan Smith on this defense? I dont think so.
Is there a Todd Gurley on the offense? Probably not.
Is there a Hot Rod on special teams? no.
Do you get bonus points for having stars? Not at all.
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The only downside of the rotation of players is what is called the game physical shape. Saving a player like Jordan, having only a limited number of snaps, means that if he had to go the full game he could get gassed sooner. The only unit on the team that goes the full game is the Oline, at least until the game is a blow out. We’ll see how it goes if and when we are in a real slobber knocker ( UF, Bama). Not looking past UK but their losses on the Dline are going to hurt them.
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I still don’t see that as an issue unless injury thins the rotation. Even in a slobber knocker, we are not going to have (for example) Jordan Davis playing a considerably higher percentage of the plays. When you have this quality of depth, there would be no need to play Davis more and Carter less for example.
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I don’t believe Florida is going to be a slobber knocker. I believe Georgia is going to embarrass them.
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I get the point but also firmly believe that there are a few stars on the D and that’ll be proven in the draft. The rotation prevents the stats but the plays made show the star power.
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It’s hard to stand out as a “star” or “superstar” in this crowd because the guy lined up next to you and behind you or subbing for you is just as good.
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Very true!
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Go be part of a team that attracts Gameday every other weekend. A team that becomes the featured team on TV most weekends. A team that wins championships. That’ll get you plenty of attention without being a “star.”
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