JJ Hanne: From Germany to the Georgia Football Defensive Line

One of the beautiful things about sports is that it brings people together from different walks of life. It just so happened to bring JJ Hanne from Germany to Athens, Georgia.

Hanne is a sophomore defensive lineman for the Georgia Bulldogs and one of two players on Georgia’s defensive front that is from Europe. Kirby Smart and the staff will leave no stone uncovered in recruiting, as they have said.

It wasn’t too hard to find Hanne. He moved to the United States in high school to play at Santa Margarita Catholic in California.

“I grew up in Berlin, Germany. Played soccer growing up, a little bit of pickup basketball, but I'm not really a hooper. Then I played some flag football. I was actually a cornerback but never really tried real football because you have to be a certain age. But then I got the opportunity to play out in California. My mom let me go and it took a lot of convincing, but eventually she came around to it. Got to California, just started working with my defensive line coach. He helped me grow a lot, and then doing the college tour with Brandon Collier, and this being one of the spots where I toured at, I did a workout, earned an offer, and really knew I wanted to come here” Hanne said.

Hanne is already getting an opportunity to start in just his second year of college football. Part of that goes to show the natural ability, some of it is attributed to the multi-sport background and some of it is due to the development at Georgia.

He is part of a defensive line that is contributing to a unit that is elite at stopping the run so far. Hanne has six tackles on the season. There is only one player on Georgia’s defensive line with more tackles than him through four games.

He fell in love with Georgia pretty quickly in his American adventure. Defensive line coach Tray Scott had a lot to do with that, but he didn’t get an offer immediately.

“After getting the tour, I didn't get offered right after the camp, so I was thinking, oh, am I gonna get the offer? Was I good enough? And then after I did get the offer in I knew I wanted to come here. I knew I wanted to play for Coach Scott because I felt it when I walked into the indoor facility,” Hanne said.

Eventually, he did get the offer to what became his dream school, and he hasn’t forgotten that moment.

“That day has truly been surreal. I remember it. It was May 30th, 2024. I woke up. I couldn't really sleep the night before because I was nervous. I remember watching the 2022 National Championship game, and I've said to my host family that I really wanted to play in Georgia. To just come in here and see when everything in person was truly amazing for me. And then just working out and being around a bunch of other guys and having the players and coach Scott helped me coach me up has been amazing,” Hanne said.

Smart is happy to have him. He was very complimentary of Hanne on Monday when he met with local reporters.

“He plays with the right energy and tenacity. He’s always got a smile on his face. His experience in life puts him ahead of other kids. He does not take for granted this opportunity,” Smart said.

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