re: DL push

I think that’s a good question.

I think the Transfer Portal (more-so than NIL) makes it very difficult to convince talented underclassman to “wait their turn”.

Teams are spending roughly 90% or more in NIL on their top 50-60 players in order to get the best talent available.

I think it’s closer to the NFL now, when it comes to depth.

That makes losing guys like Hill, Zulu and Green (3 impact players on the DL) that also keep #0 and #1 fresh and not having to play every Down, that much more devastating.

I have no doubt that if Green hadn’t gone down, and just 1 out of Hill/Zulu were healthy, then Georgia only gets to 3 or 7 points in the 2nd half instead of 10.

Still, #5 cannot give up 3rd and 17 and 3rd and 22 period. That led to all 10 points Georgia score in the 2nd half, and it ran off an additional 8-9 minutes off the clock.

Bama plays more players on Defense than just about any team you will see:
CB: #5/ Chuck McDonald
Nickel: Red Morgan/ Zay Mincey
F/S: Sabb/ Ivan Taylor
S/S: Hubbard/ Dre Jr/ Jireh Edwards
Edge: Pierre/ Zulu/ J Hill
DT: Green/ Beaman (injured) / Bingley-Jones
Shade: L Simmons/ Faga
DE: Thompkins/ Latham/ K Henry

All the Backups are on the field rotating in regularly unless they we injured and/or redshirting

Been busy - finally got around to watching some of the All-22 videos on X. Yikes. Our DL (particularly 90 / 94 / 22) got absolutely handled in the run game. Just moved off the spot by a single blocker with what looked like ease on 5-6 big Uga run plays. Their guards are some good frickin players. They whipped the shite out of our guys up front. Really, their entire OL is very good to elite.

We also had some very bad run fits by LBs and secondary, but the interior of our DL got manhandled.

20, 94, 22 and 14 all on the field at once in crunch time vs. UGA is… troubling.

A lot of really good insights on this thread.

I think it ultimately comes down to this: our current staff still only has 2 recruiting classes on this team + transfers. Kirby's been at Georgia for forever now. That whole roster is a Kirby roster from top to bottom.

Where this shows up is our lack of depth at certain positions - the reserves just aren't there. Also our upperclassmen that have the most knowledge/experience are not the most talented players. You can see this at safety where Jireh Edwards is easily our most talented safety but he's a true freshman. Xavier Griffin is our most talented LB but also a true freshman learning the defense, and so-on and so-on.
Our 2 best RBs are both freshman still learning the damn offense. Our QB is a first year sophomore.

It just shows up on film. You can tell that every single player on that Georgia team got the Kirby Smart stamp of approval, and it makes a big difference. They all fit together as one cohesive unit.

We're definitely getting there, and I really believe in this staff's ability, but this is year 1 where this team is good enough to actually be a contender. Year 2 and 3 are going to be better, and then from there on.

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Yea I was surprised how easily they blew us off the ball in the run game… didn’t see that coming

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I really didn't think that they easily blew is off the ball for the most part. Maybe on a few plays, but it seemed to me like our second level was getting pushed out of their lanes by downfield linemen, as well as them straight up missing assignments and defending the wrong gaps.

On the big run by Walker on the sideline, 3 and 2 just made really bad, undisciplined plays. 2 was in position to make a TFL but took a horrible angle and let the guy run right around him. 3 went way too far inside and was of no help pushing the back to the sideline.

But lets tip our hats to UGA's oline as well. They were very sound in their technique and assignments on those big chunk plays.

I had no confidence in stopping the run in the second half … 4,7, and 18 had some timely missed tackles

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They had fewer than 50 rushing yards before Terrance Green re-aggravated his injury. They rushed for 150 yards after he left the game.

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This is true. We need more Greens. Our depth is clearly not cut for big boy ball. I understand this is NIL era and stacking rosters is not a thing anymore. But a playoff caliber team has rotational pieces that are at least serviceable and can maintain the integrity of the defense.

UGA had London Simmons - who is supposed to be one of our more reliable players up front - on skates far too many times.

If one guy is the difference between 100 yards a game on the ground and 300, we have big problems. Don’t know how to fix the issue mid-season, but we need an Adrian Klemm-like hire on the DL in the offseason.