UGA Football Defensive Line "Not Complete" Heading Into Texas
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ATHENS - Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs are sending a beat-up defensive line to Austin, Texas this week.
Georgia’s defensive line hasn’t been fully complete all season, and they still aren’t even close to being fully healthy.
It’s not an ideal situation as they head to Texas to take on the No.1-ranked Longhorns. Still, they have what they have, and Smart is hoping he can get the best out of a banged-up group of veteran Bulldogs.
“We're not complete”, Smart said about the defensive line. “We're not injury-free. Warren's [Brinson] battling injury. Jordan's [Hall] battling injury. Mykel [Williams] has been battling injury. And Christian [Miller] has been battling injury. He's not able to complete the work week every week, in and the week out, but he's able to go out and play.”
“Naz [Stackhouse]has been the most reliable and dependable in terms of staying injury-free, but when you're beat up in one area, it usually means – Xzavier McLeod missed all that time”, Smart added. “There's not really a guy that hasn't missed time at that position. We've been really fortunate to have the numbers we have, even though it's not necessarily the experience we need. It is a lot of big frames and big body types who are getting better.”
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It’s hard to stay consistent when so many guys are dealing with injuries, but Georgia’s defensive line has still played at a high level this season. Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins is in the middle of a breakout season, but the play of experienced starter Nazir Stackhouse has been huge as well.
“He's been really durable. Of all the players we've ever had, I can't remember if this is his fifth year, right? So, I think it's his fifth. I can't remember the guy missing practice. He has tremendous flexibility, which keeps you from getting injured. He has what we call contact balance which means he can strike and not get knocked off when another person hits him on a double team. He can anchor. He's been very durable, and we would be in trouble without him. I thought he had a really, really good year two years ago. He had a pretty good year last year, and then this year he's played better to me than last year. He continues to grow and get better, but he's just been a workload. He's an invaluable leader because he sets an example by the way he practices and his toughness. He carries more reps than anybody, and we've tried to take some of that off of him, too, in practice because he's played so long.”
If Georgia wants to pull the upset on Saturday night, they’ll need a strong effort from the defensive line. The ‘Horns have the 7th best total offense in college football, and the Dawgs will need Stackhouse to be at his best. He’s an older, durable dawg looking to lead a stout defensive line. It’s a battle-tested group, and they’ll have another tough battle on their hands this weekend.
If the Dawgs come out victorious, expect Stackhouse to be a big reason why.
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