re: Defense

RE Tackling-

Kirby said multiple times preseason they don't go as hard at practice like they used to, because of injuries that plagued them last year. He wanted to start the season with the healthiest roster possible. So that would explain some of the "softness". It's a balancing act right? You want tough physical players but you also need them on the field and not in the infirmary.

Not sure why it would be other than health issue or weight gain, but he looks slower and less agile than years past.

I’ll eat crow offensively everything is coming together bobo and searles for the last three weeks have been damn near perfect I was wrong and props to coley as well.
Defense the blame goes on Kirby as well because I know he has his hands in it. iDFK what the problem he has if it’s him Schumann Scott idk but it needs to fricking stop or get fixed, it’s not gonna get fixed this year I fully believe it’s week 8 going on 9 what you see is what you get this year and we aren’t getting a lot of it this year.

quote:

---

I’ll eat crow offensively everything is coming together bobo and searles for the last three weeks have been damn near perfect I was wrong and props to coley as well.

---

quote:

---

All our linemen ever try to do is bull rush

---

I've been told that all that our D lineman try to do is long arm the offensive lineman and control them. Which is it?

quote:

---

Not to the extent ours was Saturday. I don’t remember seeing it that off in a long long time, pre-Kirby it seems like. It’s not a talent issue in my estimation

---

Deeprig touched on a big part of the reason above. Kirby always ran physical practices but we can't do that now. So even if a player has been in the program for two years as a backup, they don't get nearly as much full speed, live tackling until they become a starter. And now we're steadily losing depth and game experience to the transfer portal, and replacing those losses with players new to our system. Six of our 43 defensive scholarship players this year are transfers. In 2024 it was three of 41, in 2023 it was one of 41, in 2022 it was one of 40.

To look at team experience another way, I use a statistic I call PrNum, which is the number of completed seasons a scholarship player has been enrolled in UGA's football program. (I don't measure actual time because that would require me to look for precisely when every player enrolled in school, but I believe that PrNum pretty accurately captures full years of program exposure.) A true freshman or a 1st year transfer has a PrNum of zero; redshirt freshman, true sophomore, or 2nd year transfer is one, etc. For 2025, our average defensive PrNum is 0.86. In 2024 that number was 1.07, 2023 was 1.20, 2022 was 1.25, 2021 was 1.61. Based on that trend, you can see our level of defensive experience (measured as seasons at UGA) has been steadily decreasing over that time frame. This year's scholarship defensive players have on average three fourths of a season (1.61 - 0.86 = 0.75) less exposure to Kirby's defensive system than the 2021 defense. In 2025, we have zero defensive players with a PrNum of 4 (redshirt seniors), and only 3 defensive players with a PrNum of 3 (true seniors or redshirt juniors): Christen Miller, Jacorey Thomas, Daylen Everette.

Based on the trends above, UGA may have to continue increasing use of the portal to maintain a reasonable level of experience, which means less time (on average) in UGA'S system. That trend in roster turnover makes outcomes less predictable, which is a big reason why a large percentage of games in the SEC (not just UGA games) this year feel like a coin toss.

Our defense has looked slower this year than I can remember in recent history, notably our LBs. They seem to be waiting to react other than knowing inherently where the play is going. Can't remember the last time I saw them routinely blow up multiple plays in a game. Maybe it's due to pre-game prep/teaching but something is missing there.

Also there has been a overall noticeable drop off in tackling and in-game intensity ever since Kirby shifted his philosophy away from "Bloody Tuesday" mentality. I realize he did it out of health/injury concerns but the old maxim "You play like you practice" still holds true and it's evident the softer practices have negatively impacted play to a significant degree.