GEORGIA: UGA defense has talent, too

ATHENS, Ga. — About the time quarterback Matthew Stafford and tailback Knowshon Moreno started to flourish last season behind a maturing offensive line, Georgia defensive coordinator Willie Martinez had cause for excitement on his side of the ball.

In the off week that followed the 20-17 escape of Vanderbilt in Nashville, Martinez realized freshman Rennie Curran and redshirt freshman Akeem Dent were deserving of more playing time at linebacker and that junior-college transfers Jarius Wynn and Corvey Irvin deserved more opportunities up front. There were six or seven defensive ends he could now play, and more defensive backs as well.

“We had some inexperience early last season, so we had some guys that we were hesitant to play,” Martinez said. “By late October, they started getting the scheme, and we felt a little more comfortable playing them. Depth helped us during our run last November, because we were able to keep guys fresh.”

With a plethora of defenders from which to choose, Martinez orchestrated a unit that was just as responsible for the seven-game winning streak to close last season as any Stafford deep ball or Moreno breakaway run. Georgia sacked Florida quarterback Tim Tebow six times, intercepted Auburn quarterback Brandon Cox four times, held Kentucky to a season-low 13 points and humiliated Hawaii’s heralded offense with eight sacks and four interceptions.

Stafford and Moreno may be the first reasons mentioned when discussing Georgia’s preseason No. 1 ranking, but pollsters have found assurance in a defense returning nine starters and just as many prominent reserves.

“Obviously we’ve got a lot of guys coming back,” junior cornerback Asher Allen said, “and we’ve got a lot of chemistry that is still there. Hopefully, we’ll be able to continue the momentum from last season.”

Said senior defensive tackle Jeff Owens: “We’ve got a lot of speed and a lot of experience back. If we can go out there and play like a bunch of wild hogs, then we’ll be successful.”

The Bulldogs return three defensive tackles — Owens, Geno Atkins and Kade Weston — who have combined for 42 career starts. They have four cornerbacks — Allen, Prince Miller, Bryan Evans and Ramarcus Brown — with a combined 34 starts and have four returning linebackers with multiple starts a year ago.

A potential weakness would be depth behind starting safeties CJ Byrd and Reshad Jones, but the returning components believe this until could rank among the program’s best. The Bulldogs finished 14th nationally in scoring defense and 18th in total defense last season, which are respectable numbers but inferior to Georgia’s 2002-04 defenses.

“We want to play the Georgia way,” said Dannell Ellerbe, the senior middle linebacker and defensive leader. “We want to play the way past defenses have played, and that’s hard, fast and more physical than the other teams. We should have a stellar season on the defensive side of the ball.”

Martinez has heard talk of this being one of the best defenses in program history but shrugs at the notion. With games against Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia Tech at Sanford Stadium, and games against South Carolina, Arizona State, LSU, Florida and Auburn away from home, who’s got time for historical perspective?

“Everybody is obviously expecting a Georgia football team that has experience and high expectations, but that means our opponents will be playing their best,” he said. “There is not a game on that schedule where we can say, ‘Let’s sit here and relax.’ Keeping the competition going and getting as many guys ready to play as we can each week — those are the things we are trying to focus on.

“It’s all going to come down to results and how hard we work.”

Fortunately for Martinez, he has the bodies for the challenge. He believes there is more depth at more positions than he’s experienced at Georgia, and he also admits that this freshman class of defenders has been solid at preseason camp and is showing signs of contributing sooner than later.

In other words, depth could be a better problem than ever.

“In today’s era, that’s the way to get it,” Martinez said. “When the competition is at its best, it motivates guys, and that’s why we want to keep it open each and every day. We have some guys who, based off their past, have been productive players and are ahead at certain positions, but, for the most part, we tell them that if they want playing time or want to keep playing time, they have to compete each and every day.

“That has worked for us, and we’re going to continue to do that.”