A 44-41 statement overtime win on the road in Week 3 against Tennessee sure has led Georgia to go 3-0 so far. The Gunner Stockton era finally rolled in with that incredible Hail Mary touchdown in the fourth quarter, and the defense has been what was always expected with Glenn Schumann, calling the plays. Normally, dredging beneath wouldn’t have been required, but with Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss, Florida, Texas, and Georgia Tech stacked in the schedule. The quality comes into question when Max Gilbert might have even won the game for the Vols with just 6 seconds on the clock. That’s something CFB Hall of Famer and former Georgia All-American, David Pollack, rightfully raised, relaying major flaws in the D-line.

To witness the peak of Georgia’s defensive regression, one doesn’t need to go further than UGA’s first quarter against Tennessee. Of course, Joey Aguilar completing all of his 14 passes for 213 yards had a lot to do with the quality of Tennessee’s O-line and the QB himself. But Georgia’s pass rush failing to generate a single pressure and allowing Aguilar to operate comfortably in the pocket has raised some glaring issues. Not to mention cornerback Ellis Robinson getting outmaneuvered for a 50-50 ball for Aguilar’s 72-yard touchdown screamer, due to a lack of pressure on the QB. Now, according to Pollack and his co-host, it may regress even more.

David Pollack and analyst Brent Rollins sat on their 16th September podcast episode and talked about the inherent flaws in the pass rush brought against Tennessee. “Georgia’s pass rush, I was curious, because I know Damon Wilson actually played well from Missouri, and he’s got great nine quarterback pressures, including three sacks and 42 pass rushes as well. Georgia’s other Edge guys have zero sacks and 10 pressures, and their overall team pass Rush Grade is 65th out of 68th,” said Rollins. David Pollack agreed with the data presented by Rollins and urged for improvement at the position.

Interestingly, Damon Wilson is a former Dawg, having played for UGA last year. The 6’4″ and 250 lb defensive end had three sacks in total last year. This year at Missouri, the guy has already accumulated 3 sacks in just the two games he played. Undoubtedly, Kirby Smart would be missing him after losing him to the transfer portal. As for Georgia’s pass rush, defensive tackle Elija Griffin earned a 55.4 pass rush grade, while JJ Hanne got a 55.5 pass rush grade. Elo Modozie particularly had a poor outing, earning a 46.2 overall defensive grade with a 56.0 pass rush grade. Now, according to Pollack, it must improve.

Although Pollack didn’t go as far as to call Georgia’s pass rush ‘poor’, he still urged future changes to avoid getting humbled by teams like Alabama. “Georgia, for a lot of years. Simulated pressers were so good and so awesome, and got guys free. They didn’t do that against Tennessee. Bro. Like Tennessee picked it up and Tennessee made them pay in Tennessee’s…It’d be interesting to watch George’s pass rush. It was their offense the week before that, and now it’s their pass rush that we’re worried about,” said David Pollack.

Despite Georgia coming out with 3 sacks against Tennessee, disrupting Joey Aguilar’s quick release was a major issue for Georgia’s pass rush. For context, Aguilar finished the game with 371 yards, completing 24 of the 36 passes for four touchdowns. “They got punched in the face,” described Kirby Smart about the defensive performance. Moreover, the coverage and pressure unit getting out of sync led to major issues in the secondary, allowing big plays despite Tennessee playing without Rockey Gibson and Jermod McCoy. So, what must change?

Kirby Smart Pushes Back on Criticism of Georgia’s Defense vs. Tennessee

For the coaches watching the Tennessee game tape for Georgia, they would know that Kirby Smart’s defense struggled against mobile QBs like Joey Aguilar. Moreover, the run defense, an essential part of the pass rush, hasn’t forced too many third-and-long situations, which may signal some regression from Georgia’s pass rush. Lastly, losing key players to the portal and to the NFL draft might also have contributed to such scenarios, and Kirby Smart knows that.

“We talked about coming in here and conquering this place, which is not easy to do. When you do something like that, you have to make your own way. You have to absorb blows. I don’t think I had any idea how many blows we’d have to absorb, but we did, and we’ve got a resilient group,” defended Kirby Smart about his team’s overall performance.

All in all, Georgia probably needs to involve players like Raylen Wilson and CJ Allen more in the aggressive blitz packages. “We’ve got to marry the rush and coverage better, especially against a guy like Aguilar who can move,” said defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann. Moreover, accelerating the development of players like Nasir Johnson and Joseph Jonah Ajonye will alleviate depth issues and give UGA better options when things go south. That said, considering Kirby Smart’s later adjustments in the Tennessee game, some improvements must be in the pipeline for sure.