Could the Georgia Defense Be Even Better in 2020?
The Georgia Bulldog's defensive unit was the heart and soul of the team this season. All-American, Senior Safety J.R. Reed recently admitted that the defense knew that they would have to shoulder the burden of an offense struggling to sustain drives and score points about game 5 of the season.
A lot of pressure was placed upon the defensive side of the ball and they handled it well. The first year under the combined direction of Kirby Smart and Dan Lanning was very successful, but there are reasons to believe that the 2020 season could be even better.
On the surface in the preseason, it would have appeared that the Dawgs 2019 defense would be a rather experienced one. Georgia was returning 6 full-time starters from the previous season, with pretty substantial name recognition. In actuality, the defense was quite young, often having as many as five Freshmen on the field at the same time in critical situations.
Freshmen and first-year players seemed to be the theme of this Georgia defense outside of staples like J.R. Reed, Richard Lecounte III, Tae Crowder, Monty Rice, and Tyler Clark. Inexperienced, yet insanely talented newcomers as Nolan Smith, Travon Walker, Nakobe Dean, DJ Daniels, Jermaine Johnson, Azeez Ojulari, Divaad Wilson, and Tyrique Stevenson all helped to shape this Georgia defense into one of the more stingy ones in the history of the program. With all of these players and the coordinator returning, the unit could be even tougher to score on.
One reason for teams being unable to score was the Dawgs incorporation of more movement and their ability and willingness to dial up unique blitzes. The combination of these wrinkles stymied opposing teams' running games altogether. 4Texas A&M finished their contest against the Dawgs with -1 yard of rushing. Yes, -1!
Opponents inability to run the ball made it hard for them to sustain drives and even harder to subsequently score points. Despite being as suffocating as it was through 2019, a couple of areas of improvement definitely reared their heads against the Tigers from Baton Rouge.
Kirby Smart talked well before the season about wanting to create more havoc. Sacking the quarterback, getting tackles for losses and forcing turnovers are collectively the epitome of what it means to cause havoc. None of these things were done consistently enough against Joe Burrow, but then again, I'm not sure they will be for the rest of LSU's games with him at the helm either. At times throughout the year Georgia did these things, but the stats show that the young defenders can grow as a unit in these areas next season.
In 13 games Georgia accumulated 28 sacks, recovered 7 fumbles, and had 6 interceptions. These stats currently come in at a national ranking of 67th, 67th, and 111th respectively with only a bowl game left to play.
Smart and Lanning have both publicly lamented the inability to create turnovers. Smart indicated in his most recent press conference that this was an extreme point of emphasis in bowl preparation. The Dawgs will need to create havoc, and specifically turnovers, against a creative and efficient Matt Rhule offense.
It will be interesting to see how these once inexperienced players will use the Sugar Bowl as a glimpse into what could and should be an even better Georgia defense in 2020.
