It was my easiest prediction for five years running. Proclaim that Georgia would field an elite defense and I could never be wrong. Kirby Smart set a standard that his defense surely would meet no matter how many stars went on to the NFL.
Then Georgia’s defense slipped last season. Smart’s team has the least production returning on defense since the 2022 season. Now, I’m no longer assuming that the Bulldogs will maintain the standard with top-notch recruiting, player development and leadership.
It might seem harsh to declare that Georgia’s defense wasn’t up to snuff in 2024, considering it was good enough to win an SEC championship. But Bulldogs defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann sees it the same way.
“I don’t think we were consistent enough to meet the standard,” he said. “That’s just the reality.”
There was a time the Bulldogs could be expected to plug any roster holes on defense and keep playing great. ESPN analyst Bill Connelly calculates a returning production percentage for each team by weighing several predictive variables. Georgia returned only 39% of its defensive production in 2021 and 44% in 2022, when five ex-Bulldogs defenders were picked in the first round of the NFL draft.