Spring Preview: Defensive Line Will Need Guys to Step Up

Over the past few seasons, Georgia has been one of the best teams in the country at developing and getting production from their defensive line. Last season Jalen Carter was the talk of the town for pretty much the entire season. Some people regarded Carter as not only the best defensive lineman in college football but maybe the best player in the entire country. Those are some big shoes to fill for the new group of Dawgs. There’s one thing for sure, talent is not the issue for that problem.

Mykel Williams is coming off a tremendous freshman season. He recorded 15 tackles and 4.5 sacks. This season is going to be all about him. He will have an entire off-season to work on his craft and learn more about how to not rely just on pure talent, but also technique and craft to get to the quarterback. Once he does that, it’s going to be very scary for opposing quarterbacks.

Nazir Stackhouse is going to turn a lot of heads this spring. Last season, he got a lot more playing time and he turned in 33 total tackles, and 16 solo tackles. Stackhouse hasn’t gotten the sack production Georgia wants out of him yet, but it's hard when you have had to sit behind three first-round draft picks in your career. This season Stackhouse is going to get those opportunities and a lot more of them. When you turn on the tape, there isn’t a rep where he isn’t either at the line of scrimmage or behind the line of scrimmage in the backfield.

Bear Alexander is a name that coaches are very excited about. He got a lot of game reps last year, appearing in 12 of 15 games and his most notable performance was in the National Championship game where he recorded two tackles and a sack. He showed flashes of how talented of a pass rusher he is. He is quick for his size, but can also use his strength to penetrate the inside of the line of scrimmage. Alexander knows that he has a challenge ahead of him in replacing Jalen Carter, but he is looking forward to it.

Christen Miller is a name that Georgia fans are most likely very familiar with because of his recruitment. He was one of the top targets for the Bulldogs in the 2021 class, and everything was looking good until he got a load of predictions to USC after he took an official visit there in the summer. From June all the way to October it looked like the Trojans would sign Miller. A late push from Georgia ended up getting Miller to sign with the Bulldogs. He ended up on campus at UGA but only got in four games last season. He only recorded one stat in those four games and that was a QB hurry against Samford. Miller has some work to do with his technique, but with positions open on the defensive line, he will have plenty of time to do that and he should have time to showcase what he is capable of.

This is the first time in quite a few years that Georgia is figuring out what they need to do on the defensive line. Last year they had Jalen Carter, the year before that they had Jordan Davis and Devonte Wyatt. Tray Scott has a loaded room with talent, let’s see how he can translate that talent into production on the field.

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