Kirby Smart details what he wants to see from Georgia defensive line

During his time as the head coach at Georgia, Kirby Smart has put together several excellent defensive lines. In the last two seasons, those lines were key factors in the two national championship runs that Georgia put together. However, with many key players moving onto the NFL, there are some questions to answer.

Smart praised the effort from the defensive line unit, explaining that he wants the unit to live up to the core values of Georgia’s defensive program.

“We’ve got some really tough, hard workers in there,” Kirby Smart said. “I don’t know that we have a dominant, disruptive, super hard to block guy. I think we’ve got to create that through our athleticism on the perimeter and our athleticism at backer, but we have some guys who believe in the core values of our defensive program, which is to strike blockers, knock the hell out of them, knock them back.”

One young player who Kirby Smart did single out is Jordan Hall. A five-star recruit in the Class of 2023, Hall has a ton of raw talent and potential. However, he does need to continue to mature. After him, there are plenty of more experienced and talented Bulldogs.

“I think Jordan Hall is coming along. I mean, he had a tough day today. He’s got to grow up and be able to help us and play and be disruptive,” Smart said.

“But we have very good experience there and we have very good toughness there when you count Naz [Nazir Stackhouse], C-low [Clinton Barlow], Warren [Brinson], and Jonathan Jefferson. Those guys have really pushed hard and given us more quality SEC players in there to help us.”

Kirby Smart wants depth across the line of scrimmage

One place where Kirby Smart has emphasized the need to develop depth is across the line of scrimmage.

“We’re not as deep as we’ve been. We don’t have the depth that probably we have had. Maybe that’s a luxury compared to other people. I don’t know. I think we’ve got to get deeper at that position,” Smart said.

“The only way to get deeper at the position — you can’t get anybody at this point. There’s nobody coming out for waivers. So, what you’re trying to grow the younger players and get your higher players to play at a higher level and even be able to play more snaps. Without the same depth we had last year, we’re going to have to be in better shape and we got to get the freshman ready to play.”