Bulldogs looking at total rebuilding job on defense in 2013
Who replaces this guy for the Bulldogs next season is a huge question mark. (AP photo)
It’s pretty clear that Georgia’s offense will be reloading next season. Depending on the decision of quarterback Aaron Murray — it’s not as cut-and-dry as you might think — the Bulldogs should be returning 10 starters (only WRs Marlon Brown and Tavarres King graduating).
The same can’t be said of the defense. In total, defensive coordinator Todd Grantham is expected to lose 12 players who started games for him this season. Three of those are underclassmen who I expect will turn pro shortly after the Jan. 1 Capital One Bowl: outside linebacker Jarvis Jones, inside linebacker Alec Ogletree and defensive lineman Kwame Geathers.
The other nine are seniors who have exhausted their eligibility: Safeties Bacarri Rambo and Shawn Williams, cornerback Sanders Commings, noseguard John Jenkins, defensive ends Abry Jones and Cornelius Washington, linebackers Christian Robinson and Michael Gilliard, and versatile defensive back Branden Smith.
So Georgia will be totally rebuilding on defense. It’s no wonder the Bulldogs already have 17 defensive prospects committed in recruiting, with more expected to come between now and national signing day.
Here’s an early look at how the defense might stack up next season. This was done without the consultation of Grantham, who’s not known for his penchant for sharing, so it’s just an educated guess. Feel free to agree or disagree and add your two cents worth. . . .
GEORGIA DEFENSE
2012 season (starter; backup) – 2013 season (starter; backup)
DE
Garrison Smith, Jr.; John Jenkins, Sr. – RETURNING STARTER, NEW BACKUP (Jr. Mike Thornton or So. Sterling Bailey)
- Comment: Smith is a budding all-star. Dogs in good shape here as long as he remains healthy.
NG
John Jenkins, Sr.; backup Kwame Geathers, Jr., – NEW STARTER (RFr. Jonathan Taylor), NEW BACKUP (Incoming freshman or JUCO transfer)
- Comment: That’s right, not expecting Geathers to return. A Geathers has yet to complete his college eligibility. But coaches very excited about Taylor.
DE
Cornelius Washington, Sr.; Ray Drew, So. – NEW STARTER (Drew, Bailey or Thornton), NEW BACKUP (same)
- Comment: Very suspect situation here. Undersized on current roster (see Alabama game). Opportunity for incoming players.
OLB
Jarvis Jones, Jr.; Ramik Wilson, So. – NEW STARTER (Jordan Jenkins), NEW BACKUP (Sr. T.J. Stripling, So. Josh Dawson, or So. James DeLoach)
- Comment: Jenkins switches sides to become Bulldogs’ primary pass rusher, ie: Jarvis Jones
OLB
Jordan Jenkins, Fr.; backup Josh Dawson, Fr. – RETURNING STARTER (Jenkins switches to Will), NEW STARTER (Sr. Chase Vasser, Dawson or DeLoach)
- Comment: Experience in Vasser augmented by developing talent.
ILB
Amarlo Herrera, So.; backup Michael Gilliard, Sr. – RETURNING STARTER, NEW BACKUP (Brandon Burrows, Kosta Vavlas or incoming player)
- Comment: Herrera an exemplary player but depth needed as he’ll need to be spelled
ILB
Alec Ogletree, Jr.; backup Christian Robinson, Sr. – NEW STARTER (Wilson?), NEW BACKUP (Incoming player)
- Comment: If “Tree” enters draft as expected, Georgia can expect significant drop off no matter who fills in here.
CB
Sanders Commings, Sr.; Devin Bowman, RFr. – NEW STARTER (Jr. Damian Swann), SAME BACKUP
- Comment: Swann will move from nickel to boundary, the most physical of corner positions
CB
Branden Smith, Sr.; Damian Swann, So;. – NEW STARTER (So. Sheldon Dawson), NEW BACKUP (Bowman or incoming player)
- Comment: Coaches excited about Dawson’s potential.
FS
Bacarri Rambo, Sr.; Connor Norman, RSo. – NEW STARTER (Corey Moore or Norman), NEW BACKUP (Norman or incoming player)
- Comment: This is where Georgia could use a newbie to come through big.
SS
Shawn Williams, Sr.; Corey Moore, So. – NEW STARTER (Moore or Josh Harvey-Clemons); NEW BACKUP (Jr. Marc Deas or incoming player)
- Comment: See above. Lots of options for secondary coach Scott Lakatos.
NB
Damian Swann, So.; Josh Harvey-Clemons, Fr. – RETURNING STARTER (Swann switches to boundary corner; Harvey-Clemons takes over.); NEW BACKUP (Swann, Bowman or incoming player)
- Comment: Intriguing possibilities here. Grantham tweaking nickel into “Star” position specially for Harvey-Clemons, who should be able to stay on field in all situations.
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266 comments Add your comment
Columbus Dawg
December 12th, 2012
11:46 am
Physically, Mason sure does not look like he has been at Georgia as long as he has. If he wants to be the starter, he had better spend much of his free time in the off season in the weight room. He looked frail sitting on the bench the other night at the dome. He will not withstand the same punishment that Murray has endured without adding some muscle. In the limited snaps I have seen him play, he does not seem to put the kind of zip on the ball needed in the SEC. Most intermediate passes seem to have a kind of loft to them, making them easy pickin’s for an experienced DB. Also is very slow, looks as if he would be easy to sack as well. Just my observations.
sflanagan21
December 12th, 2012
2:59 pm
Columbus Dawg, that is a GREAT observation of HM!!! He is no where near the QB AM is and I hope and pray that AM sticks around another year. If AM does go to the NFL then there will be a QB battle at UGA between HM and BR. I’m not sure if LeMay will stick around but I don’t see him ever picking up our offense so I would bet he goes to NC.
I have watched BR play a few games this year and the kid has an absolute cannon!!! I wish they threw the ball more though… He seems to be a very smart kid and I can see him starting over HM if he has time to pick up the O. Call me crazy but I have very little faith in HM but I’m also optimistic that if AM does go to the NFL that HM will step his game up.
Either way we have Gurley and Marshall in the backfield and Tramel Terry is a play maker and he will have some big plays if we can get him the ball out in open space. Our O will still be good no matter who is our QB, obviously we will be way better then good with AM.
Not even worried about our D at all. I’ve said it before and I will say it again, we have a lot of young talent on D and they will step up play great D. Our D wasn’t always great this season so it’s not like we are loosing a 14 point D. Jones and Tree are going to be hard to replace but I still feel like we are going to be strong enough on D to beat Clemson and SC and by the time we get to the LSU game our D will be hitting on all cylinders.
I love the Dawgs and I would never even consider us loosing 2, 3, 4 or 5 games next year like some of you so called Dawg fans!!!! Go Dawgs
My-Guy
December 12th, 2012
4:18 pm
Yeah, next year, we’ll have a lot of seniors on the O-line including soph. John Theus, senior QB Aaron Murray (if he returns), the Gurley/Marshall duo, and the wide receivers. Keep in mind there will be sophomores & juniors on our defense next year who’s been on the sidelines that’s been watching our defense perform all year long. Georgia will be find in 2013, 2014 will be a rebuilding year for the entire bulldog team!
LogicalUS
December 12th, 2012
4:31 pm
“Jones and Tree are going to be hard to replace but I still feel like we are going to be strong enough on D to beat Clemson and SC and by the time we get to the LSU game our D will be hitting on all cylinders.”
Why? The defense wasn’t much to right home about with NFL upperclassmen at nearly every position but now suddenly is going to be “clicking on all cylinders” and enough to beat SC for some reason with newbies some of whom are not even on campus yet?
Does anyone have to point out that the “great, mighty Gurshall” did nothing against SC last season and was outran by their QB? The defense was good enough this year to give up 35pts to SC which could just have easily been 48 but Spurrier called off his dogs? What is obsession with UGA fans just writing off SC as a win considering that SC is going for their 4th straight victory?
LSU will be just as big a test as Bama was this season except UGA will be playing them in the midst of a stretch of Clemson\SC\LSU\UT, which makes them doubly dangerous.
Geez…
sflanagan21
December 12th, 2012
6:31 pm
LogicalUS- Thank God the kids get to play the games or else we would be 8-5 in your books!!! Let’s chat this time next year my man…
Doug
December 12th, 2012
6:58 pm
Too Late…..You have to recruit for these losses at least 2 years ahead. You may sign 20 guys that will end up in the NFL but they are going to stink it up until they are Juniors.
Doug
December 12th, 2012
7:21 pm
Murray ain’t going to the NFL. To short and too mechanical. He still needs to move around some in the pocket even if he is not under pressure. He is stiff then he throws. He needs to move his arms, feet and head. This keeps DBs off balance. This is why DBs jump his routes.
He will be swept away in the NFL.
Return to Glory
December 12th, 2012
8:13 pm
Well all the NFL talent this was average at best, kind of a scary thought…well TG either earns his money next year or adds to the he is over paid feeling. I still want to see his defense stop a big time team. Seems like we give up 30 plus points everytime we play a quality team.
baddawg
December 12th, 2012
8:23 pm
Cant afford for any of these knuckle heads to get suspended this off season! Not much depth or experience here. Instead of trying to shut people out this year Grantham should have been playing his backups more often in the blowouts.
hahaha
December 12th, 2012
8:25 pm
Ahh this defense sets up nicely for Richt to make excuses when they lose next year.
Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray ‘definitely going to think about’ NFL draft | UGA sports blog
December 13th, 2012
12:57 am
[...] Georgia prepares for total rebuild job on defense [...]
Notebook: Bulldogs still hoping former starting DE Abry Jones can return | UGA sports blog
December 13th, 2012
8:30 am
[...] Georgia prepares for total rebuild job on defense [...]
LogicalUS
December 13th, 2012
11:49 am
“Let’s chat this time next year my man”
Gladly, I said last summer that SC would handle UGA with ease this season as well as predicted that UGA would struggle mightyly with UT because their secondary would miss playing together for the first 4 games. I also said that UGA would rely on LSU and others to get them to the SECCG where they would lose to the West representative. Alot of UGA disneys were upset then too when I rightly pointed out that if the SEC office had not replaced UGA scheduled trip to Tuscaloosa in September that they would not be anywhere near the SECCG but that in the end it would only postpone the loss to the SECCG instead.
Easy to see without the emotional binders these things are highly likely to occur.
sflanagan21
December 13th, 2012
12:30 pm
Emotional binders? Do you watch college football or just make predictions? I bet ya even said A&M would beat Bama and USC would drop 5 and Florida would be a 1 loss team and I know you had ND going undefeated and playing in the NC! And you realize that if CMR would have let AM spike the ball then AM would have been able to settle down his emotions and the receiver coach would have reminded everyone to NOT the catch the ball unless you are in the end zone or you know for a FACT that you can walk in! Yea the ball could have still been tipped but as a former HS QB on a state championship team I would have wanted to spike the ball so I could recompose after a long drive like that. A spiked ball could have changed your predictions…
And for the record, I knew we would struggle with SC and I assumed Bray would have a good game against our secondary. But as a 33 year loyal fan I will go into every season feeling optimistic (some seasons more of a realist than an optimist) that the Dawgs will have a great season. And in 13′ I feel more optimistic about our chances of winning it all then I ever have as long as we get AM back. If we don’t get AM back then we may struggle out of the gate but I feel like we will still handle Clemson and I hope Gurley has the game of his life against SC.
GO DAWGS
sanjosemutt
December 15th, 2012
1:23 am
Dawgs will be ok in ‘13..or better! OFF has lost nothing and D will rebuild!
1dawgfan
December 15th, 2012
9:29 am
Seriously folks we are missing the point. All of this NFL talent and SC plus Bama shoved the ball down our throat. Not to mention a very poor TN team put 40+ on the D. Either these guys really are not that good or the D coordinator needs to go back to coaching HS football. This was out year but once again the current administration can’t win the “Big Game”.