For Glenn Schumann, adaptability and change key for Georgia defense

If you still miss the pound-the-rock, junkyard-style football of the pre-2000s, well, then it’s time to grab a tissue. Football is changing, and there’s no way to stop it. That’s even true for Georgia.

Glenn Schumann, the current co-defensive coordinator of the Bulldogs and Georgia’s inside linebackers coach since 2016, has seen this transformation up close in his time in Athens.

During his press conference last week, Schumann was asked about the diversity of the Bulldogs’ talent on defense and emphasized the team’s role flexibility.

“I think if you watch us playing Nickel, if you look at what our Star is, our Star is really a slot corner which is really how most of the National Football League plays their Nickels, so I think we’re asking them to be inside linebackers,” explained Schumann. “Which in today’s day in age in football isn’t really a box linebacker anymore, it’s an off-ball linebacker. The whole room knows in order to be successful, you have to be able to blitz, you have to be able to cover, you have to be able to play in space, all those factors, traits that in the old school days of 4-3 football you would say ‘that’s what an outside linebacker does.’ That’s basically what you’re asking the whole room.”

The change in the roles of Georgia defenders is again clear when looking at the history of the free safety position for the Bulldogs.

Back in 2003, Thomas Davis, who would go on to have a long and successful career in the NFL, was the starting free safety for the Bulldogs. During his tenure with the Bulldogs, Davis played at 235 pounds.

Just nine years later, Georgia’s free safety, Baccari Rambo, played the entirety of the season at 218 pounds.

This past year, Georgia free safety Lewis Cine, who was known for his ability to come into the box and wreak havoc, played the season at 198 pounds.

The 37-pound discrepancy in just 18 years best illustrates the way that the game has changed, a fact that Schumann, Kirby Smart, and the rest of the Georgia coaching staff are constantly adapting to. The change in weight certainly seems to reflect the coaching staff’s desire to have a safety that can play over the top and track down balls while also being capable of playing wide receivers in isolation. 

That versatile, do-it-all nature is something Schumann pointed to in identifying the skill-set that he requires from each of his inside linebackers.

“In order for us to be successful physically, we have to have a diverse style skillset. We mentioned those guys that obviously have length, that played kind of on the edge in high school. We’re asking the whole room to have more guys that can do those things, that can be good blitzers, can be good in coverage and play in space, we have a lot of flexibility,” Schumann said. “When we get through the two scrimmages, we can identify who are our best players then you’ll see our rotation and the way we use guys in packages take place as we get ready for games. This time right now in camp, it’s a lot of base packages, and then when we figure out our best players and what roles in all rooms, we’ll decide how we use these guys on third down, how we use them on first and second down. You saw every year our packages are a little bit different. I do think fundamentally, the Nickel is a slot corner when you look at the way defensive football is played most of the time.” 

In a 2020 Coaching Clinic hosted by Smart and Schumann, he started the session with the following Charles Darwin quote.

“It is not the strongest that survives or the most intelligent but the one most responsive to change.”

Since he started coaching in the SEC in 2004, Smart has faced and employed nearly every variation of defense known to man.

Now, it’s time to see how Smart and the Bulldogs respond to the change of the 2022 offseason.