Georgia Bulldog OLB Nolan Smith Looks To End Career On a High Note
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ATHENS - As crazy as it sounds, we’re in the second half of the 2022 season with just five games remaining on the regular schedule.
That means that senior captain Nolan Smith is in the final stretch of his outstanding Bulldog career. He may not have lit up the stat sheet in his final season, but make no mistake, Nolan Smith is the heart and soul of the Georgia Bulldog defense.
The former 5-star prospect out of Savannah was a top Bulldog target in the 2019 recruiting class and has played like a five-star in Athens. Regarded as one of the top outside linebacker prospects available to enter the 2023 NFL Draft, Smith could’ve left early after last season, but came back to be a “Georgia legend”.
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart spoke to reporters this week about what makes Smith such a major part of this team in his final season.
“Leadership and toughness”, Smart said.
“Nolan is a natural leader. He's been that way since I met him when he was in eighth grade and he came up here to camp. He's been a natural leader, comes from a great family, but his leadership is more important than his ability and his ability is pretty strong. He creates a toughness about the he holds people to a standard of the way you strike blocks, the way you close on counters, the way you rush with effort, special teams, I mean, he plays on all special teams. He's just a core guy.”
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Again, the numbers don’t tell the complete story here. He has 16 tackles on the season and leads the team with three sacks, but he does so much more than that. He sets the EDGE against the run as well as anyone in the league. He creates pressure on the quarterback on a consistent basis and has them running for their lives every weekend.
Smith dominated the Gators last year in arguably his best game as a Bulldog, making four tackles, forcing a key turnover, and picking off a pass late in the 1st half that helped Georgia take a commanding lead into the half.
He embodies everything that Kirby Smart wants from his defense. Toughness. Loyalty. Discipline. OF course, he’s extremely talented and consistently does his job every play.
It’s time for Nolan Smith to make some money. If Smith continues to play well against Florida, Tennessee, Mississippi State, and Kentucky, while possibly leading Georgia to another championship, not only will Smith leave a Bulldog legend, but he has a chance to hear his name called very early in next April’s draft.
It’s Nolan Smith’s time to shine, and it starts this weekend against the Gators.