Georgia Bulldogs and Kirby Smart have seriously concerning problem after latest Transfer Portal news
The Georgia Bulldogs and Kirby Smart have had a bumpy start to the offseason following a disappointing finish in the College Football Playoff. Yes, they've logged some promising recruiting results, and a couple good players have decided to return to school (like Oscar Delp on Tuesday), but the bad news continues to pile up.Georgia always […]
The Georgia Bulldogs and Kirby Smart have had a bumpy start to the offseason following a disappointing finish in the College Football Playoff. Yes, they've logged some promising recruiting results, and a couple good players have decided to return to school (like Oscar Delp on Tuesday), but the bad news continues to pile up.
Georgia always sends a good number of players to the NFL Draft, and this year is no exception, but what that means for the Bulldogs roster this year is a seriously concerning problem when mixed with some critical losses to the Transfer Portal.
Last week, here at A to Z Sports, we covered emerging star edge defender Damon Wilson's surprise Transfer Portal announcement, but there was always a chance he could just choose to go back to Georgia. Unfortunately that was not the case.
Damon Wilson announced late on Tuesday night that he was committing to the Missouri Tigers instead of rejoining Georgia or going to Ohio State (among a couple other rumored destinations).
Damon Wilson had become the most dangerous pass rush weapon on the entire Georgia Bulldogs team this past season, posting the best pass rush rate stats among all true edge defenders on the team. He was set to become the face of the defense and perhaps Kirby Smart's most important leader on the roster had he returned to Athens.
When you add Wilson's departure to the already massive roster issues via NFL Draft declarations things begin to look bleak heading into spring ball.
It's great that Mykel Williams, Jalon Walker, Malaki Starks, Tate Ratledge, Jared Wilson, Dylan Fairchild, Smael Mondon, Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins and more are all off to the 2025 NFL Draft (for their sakes). However, the Bulldogs are going to have a seriously tough time replacing all of that talent. And the biggest concerning position group has to be the edge defenders, the group Wilson just left.
Now that Damon Wilson is officially gone, that means Georgia is without their top five defenders who lined up at edge throughout the 2024 college football season. Wilson, Mykel Williams, Chaz Chambliss, Jalon Walker, and Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins all logged over 200 snaps as an edge defender. The most experienced returning edge for 2025 is Gabe Harris, who has logged less than 200 snaps at edge defender over the last two seasons combined.
Even former top tier four star edge defender recruit Samuel M'Pemba is gone now too as he just transferred to Texas A&M. Georgia's defensive front might be in major trouble unless Kirby Smart and his staff can fix things, and fast.
The good news is that Coach Smart has recruited the interior defensive line incredibly well, so the replacements and depth there should help. However, it seems indefensible looking back now at the 2024 recruiting cycle as Smart recruited just one true edge defender between high school and the Transfer Portal.
Georgia fans better hope the team can find some talented defenders in the Transfer Portal spring window. Otherwise we might see the worst Bulldogs pass rush in over a decade take the field for the 2025 college football season.
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