Kirby Smart not buying into national narrative surrounding Georgia defense, potential drop off

The national narrative about Georgia Football in 2022 is that the defense won’t be quite as good as it was in 2021. After all, the Bulldogs were generational and saw eight players from the unit get drafted into the NFL. Kirby Smart isn’t believing that though. He thinks that there’s enough talent stockpiled on his team to replace what’s gone.

“My expectation for our defense is to be fast and physical,” Smart said on Wednesday at SEC Media Days in Atlanta. “Look, we don’t shy away from the fact that we’ve had success on defense. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to recruit a kid, they said, ‘Well, they told us y’all weren’t going to be good on defense this year, you’re losing to everybody.’ They said that last year, two years ago.”

“Look, if you go recruit really good football players, you’re fast and physical, you’ll play good defense,” he continued. “‘Good defense’ sometimes is a loose term in college football right now because giving up 20 sometimes is a good defense. We don’t like to change our standards. We know we’re going to have a good defense year in and year out. We’re going to have different strengths and different weaknesses.”

Smart certainly is right about recruiting talented players. On the defensive side of the ball alone, Georgia signed four five-stars in the Class of 2022. Their top six signees in the class were on defense, and in total, nine five-stars and 16 top-100 players in their recruiting classes will suit up for the Bulldogs’ defense this fall.

One of those is Nolan Smith, the No. 1 overall ranked player for the Class of 2019. The Savannah, Ga. native returns for his senior season as potentially the most vocal leader for Georgia, not just on defense but the entire team.

“I feel like Coach Smart develops us in a way that you play for each other,” Smith, one of Georgia’s three representatives at the conference’s kickoff event, said when asked if this year’s defense could be as good as last year’s. “Once you realize that, that’s when the great defenses happen — when guys play for each other, when guys put the egos aside and just come out and just play football.”

“I’m ready to see our young guys play football because, like myself, when I watched Azeez (Ojulari) in front of me for those two years and I sat on the bench and people thought, you know, maybe he’s not good, maybe he’s washed up. I was just awaiting my opportunity and waiting my turn, and a lot of guys, that’s just how it is,” he added. “We have so many good players, and some guys have to wait their opportunity, some guys have to wait their turn. Some guys actually respect themselves not to jump in the transfer portal and want to be at a university and want to be there and be a part of something, I think, bigger than myself.”

Jamon Dumas-Johnson and Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins are two that he specifically pointed to as individuals that have waited their turn and are ready to burst onto the scene. Dumas-Johnson is expected to start at inside linebacker where Georgia had three players picked in the first three rounds of the 2022 NFL Draft while Ingram-Dawkins tries to go about replacing the No. 1 overall pick, Travon Walker.

“There’s a hunger among this group. A lot of guys want to prove that they can replace the other guy. They don’t want to be the other guy, they want to be the next guy,” Smart said. “You look across the board, we had some high-profile players on defense and offense when you count the backs and receivers that we have to replace those guys. The hunger comes from the opportunity the talented players behind them have. I’m excited. Complacency is something that happens to people, they don’t look what’s going on. We don’t have that problem. There’s not a day we don’t wake up and think what can we do to make our program better, and our players are doing that right now.”