Georgia’s fall camp begins later this week, which means the season is basically here. It has been a long wait, but we’ve made it.
Great job, everybody.
We’re also experiencing the final moments of the so-called “talking season,” and an interesting trend is emerging around the UGA defense. That unit is suddenly receiving quite a bit of praise.
Pro Football Focus recently ranked the Bulldogs its No. 4 defense for the upcoming season. Not to be outdone, ESPN touted Georgia linebacker CJ Allen as possibly the top draft-eligible linebacker, and, in perhaps the boldest prediction of all, SEC Network analyst Cole Cubelic has made the case for Army transfer Elo Modozie to become the SEC’s defensive player of the year in his first season with UGA this fall.
Of course, all of these predictions might not come true, but it’s a good reminder that prominent voices have big expectations for Georgia’s defense, and if the unit truly shows some improvement, a deeper run in the College Football Playoff is certainly possible.
Enjoy the rest of the news in our coverage below.
Trivia time
Who led Georgia’s entire true freshman class in total tackles last season?
Answer is at the bottom of the newsletter.
Safety to safety: What Kirby needs from KJ
Neither KJ Bolden nor Georgia’s defense can afford a sophomore slump in 2025.
The former five-star safety showed out in his true freshman season, but more will be required from him this year than elite athleticism in the secondary.
As a veteran in the defensive backfield, the 19-year-old will need to communicate more. But Kirby Smart has an even bigger challenge for Bolden.
“KJ Bolden played a lot of snaps last year. He’s coming back,” Smart said at SEC Media Days. “We need him to be a leader. We need him to help set the tone for how to go about things.”
Georgia has lost plenty of leadership from its defense at all three levels. Several starting defensive linemen and linebackers moved on to the NFL, along with both of Georgia’s starting safeties from 2024.
That means Bolden has big shoes to fill, both as Georgia’s last line of defense in the passing game and as a physical force against the run.
Meet UGA’s next recruiting target: Athens’ AJ Lonon
Recruiting talk will start to wind down as we move into high school football season, but Georgia still has a few battles to win on the trail.
The next big one will come Saturday, when Clarke Central High School’s Anthony Lonon Jr. announces his decision.
It’s a rare instate recruiting battle for the four-star defensive lineman at the next level. “AJ” Lonon will pick between UGA and Georgia Tech at 1 p.m., just 12 days before the first game of his senior year.
“Around, I want to say, eight months ago, I had zero offers,” Johnson said. “No stars or anything. I want to say most of my recruiting really just came from me sending out film. I sent film to at least a hundred schools. I know for sure. I was just sending film. Emails. Twitter DMs. Everything.”
“I started getting offers. Everything. It came up, and within seven months, I had 28. So I feel like that was the main thing that really got my stock up.”
Georgia offered later than Tech did, but recent industry predictions have the Bulldogs winning Lonon’s commitment. UGA would instantly win one of the most versatile defenders in its recruiting class.
“The plan at Georgia would be that, once again, I can do anything from a nine-tech to a three-tech,” Lonon said. “I’m young. I just turned 17 a couple of weeks ago. So, depending on how I grow into my body, it depends on if I become a natural 3-tech only or if I can still keep my speed and athleticism and all that, and play from a nine-tech to a three-tech. So that’s how they are looking at me.”
Georgia finishes dead last in SEC “Continuity Table”
It’s nothing new for Georgia fans to have to learn new faces all over the field on an annual basis.
After all, UGA has broken NFL Draft records with the amount of players it has sent to the next level in recent years. Combine that with the transfer portal attrition that every top-end roster is enduring, and you’re bound to have plenty of yearly turnover.
ESPN’s Bill Connelly just released his SEC preview, giving fans a sense of the conference’s layout with massive statistic charts. One such chart is his “Continuity Table,” which shows how much returning production each school has from 2024.
Unsurprisingly, Georgia is not near the top of the list. But the Bulldogs being in dead last in the SEC at 46% is a little unusual.
The Bulldogs are ranked 96th out of all 136 FBS teams in the stat. The only other team under 50% was Ole Miss, known for its massive annual roster overhauls via the transfer portal, at 47%.
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Photo of the Day
At SEC Media Days, Kirby Smart said to expect a lot out of safety KJ Bolden (4) this year.
Credit: Jeff Sentell
Quote of the Day
UGA QB Gunner Stockton on how safety KJ Bolden has matured this offseason:
“Just seeing him grow and just little stuff like the weight room, him getting bigger, faster and stronger. Just seeing him grow up has been a great thing, and just being able to say he’s my teammate is awesome.”
