Georgia defensive line faces College Football's new reality head on without Bear Alexander

ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia Football saw defensive lineman Bear Alexander hit the transfer portal on Saturday, just hours after a second opening of the portal this offseason. Alexander’s departure came as a surprise to many, especially considering the timing of it prior to the Bulldogs’ annual G-Day spring game. However, Kirby Smart’s reaction was one of seeing it as part of a new reality in College Football.

“You know, that’s the way of the world. It’s who handles it and manages it best,” Smart said, speaking with reporters after the spring game on Saturday. “It’s a new climate we’re in. The window will open and all across the country there will be guys going in and looking for greener pastures. Ultimately the climate we have created and more power to them. We’ve got a lot of guys who have benefitted from the portal and I hope we benefit from the portal. We had a couple guys out there today that came by way of the portal that made really good plays. It’s the climate we’re in and we’ll do the best we can to capitalize on it. But I’m very pleased with what we’ve got on our team and our roster. It’s not a way we’re going to build a team by any means.”

A former four-star prospect highly touted out of Texas, Alexander appeared in 12 of 15 games for Georgia last season as a true freshman. He totaled nine stops including 3.0 for loss with his best single-game showing coming in the National Championship win over TCU. Alexander took down Horned Frog ball carriers in the backfield twice including quarterback Max Duggan once, one of his two sacks on the season with the other coming in the regular-season finale against Georgia Tech.

Alexander was expected to play a big part in Georgia’s attempt to replace Jalen Carter. That will no longer be the case. Instead, the pressure falls upon the likes of Zion Logue, Nazir Stackhouse and Warren Brinson – as it did before with each in at least their fourth season on campus – to bring along younger players in the group like Christen Miller and Jonathan Jefferson. Both players recorded a sack during Saturday’s scrimmage action.

“Christen has come a long way. He’s gotten better,” Smart said. “He’s a really good zero nose and he can stunt and move and he increased his pass rush ability some this offseason. He became better. I’m excited about what he can do and really excited about the group, the depth in that unit. We don’t have any dominant player in that unit but we’ve got really good depth. We’ll do some things with the backers around them to create havoc.”

Georgia also added five-star defensive lineman Jordan Hall in its signing class for 2023. An early enrollee, Hall got his first taste of action at Sanford Stadium with a pair of pass breakups, batting the ball down at the line of scrimmage twice while also recording a single tackle. He too is likely to be counted upon in the effort to replace Carter, and now Alexander.

“Got a ways to go. They’re not ready. They know that. They’re working really hard at it. The sooner they get ready, the better we’re going to be because we’re going to need both those guys to step up and play,” Smart said about Hall, and outside linebacker Damon Wilson who had two sacks on Saturday. “They’re just young. It’s okay to be young. They have a ways to go and I think they’ll get there. I think both of those guys will contribute and help us next season. I’m very pleased with where they are and how hard they work but they’re not there yet.”

Georgia has 10 defensive linemen on scholarship as things stand. Tramel Walthour is the only one however who exhausts his eligibility in 2023 with Logue, Stackhouse and Brinson all able to return for a super-senior season in 2024 should they choose to do so. Along with Miller (RS-Frosh), Jefferson (RS-Soph) and Hall (Frosh), Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins (RS-Soph), Mykel Williams (Soph) and Jamaal Jarrett (Frosh) make up the rest of the defensive line group that will be working with Tray Scott this fall.