ATHENS — Georgia knows it has a pass rush problem entering 2026.

The Bulldogs had only 20 sacks last season, the fewest of any team to make the College Football Playoff in 2025. It also marked the lowest total of any Kirby Smart-coached team at Georgia.

That’s why it wasn’t all that surprising to hear Smart clarify the pass rush as an area of defensive focus during spring practice. Georgia linebacker Raylen Wilson harped on the issue as well.

“Well, our main goals on defense for this spring is to get better at creating havoc in the backfield,” Wilson said on Tuesday. “And really playing together, everybody being on the same page. I mean, if we get that accomplished, I feel like we’d have a great spring.”

Georgia will have to replace linebacker CJ Allen, who ranked second on the team with 3.5 sacks last season. He is the only player from last year’s team who had multiple sacks that needs to be replaced.

Wilson figures to fill some of the void left by Allen. Georgia has always used its inside linebackers to generate pressure.

One hopeful change for next season is that the Bulldogs get more out of their outside linebacker room. The position generated just 3.0 of Georgia’s 20 sacks last season.

The Bulldogs return plenty of pieces in the room, though it won’t have Gabe Harris this spring. He’s still recovering from toe surgery he had after Georgia’s SEC championship win over Alabama.

Harris expects to be back by the time fall camp rolls around. His absence this spring creates an opportunity for some of the less proven players to get acclimated.

“We’ve got three young guys that didn’t get a lot of playing time last year. I wanna see where they are,” Smart said. “Q (Quintavius Johnson) is continuing to grow. So with Gabe (Harris) out, it’s gonna open a door for a lot of guys to get reps and grow and play. And I kinda wanna see what they can do. Khamari (Brooks)’s here, he’s a mid-year freshman. So we wanna see the growth in that room and see those guys continue to get better.”

Two of the bigger talking points when it comes to the outside linebackers and the pass rush this offseason are two new arrivals. On the player side, Auburn transfer Amaris Williams was spotted at practice working with the outside linebackers.

Georgia knows Williams from his time as a top-100 recruit and for game-planning against him when he was at Auburn. He’s got two seasons of eligibility remaining and looks to do much more for Georgia than he did for the Tigers.

“We’ll find out what he can add,” Smart said of Williams. “He’s certainly a quick and twitchy guy that we recruited out of high school. We know a lot about. He’s gotta be able to play within our system, understand our system. But add value, he can start by taking the reps he’s gonna get this spring.”

Wilson praised Williams’s effort and intensity level, noting how the Auburn transfer always plays fast.

The other notable addition to the outside linebacker room comes in the form of assistant Larry Knight. He takes over for Chidera Uzo-Diribe, who was hired by the Dallas Cowboys this offseason.

This is Knight’s first on-field coaching job in the SEC as he previously worked at Arkansas State, Georgia Tech and Georgia State. He was set to coach at West Virginia this year before Smart hired him away for his pass rush acumen.

“Very detailed in terms of things he believes in,” Smart said of Knight. “He’s worked with some really good coaches, and he’s getting to know the guys still. He’s been in workouts with them for a couple weeks now, and getting on the grass should be fun for him to get to coach those guys and get to know them. He’s been around defenses similar to ours, and he’s very intelligent. He’ll pick up on the defense quickly, and do a great job helping our unit perform.”

Georgia had a lot to replace off its pass rush last season, with Jalon Walker and Mykel Williams being first-round picks in the 2025 NFL Draft. Chaz Chambliss ended up on the Minnesota Vikings, while Damon Wilson left for Missouri.

The Bulldogs bring back a lot more on the defensive front this year. Not just at outside linebacker, but at inside linebacker and along the defensive line.

Georgia has the talent to be a more disruptive defense. But with Knight on board, the Bulldogs are making subtle tweaks to the way they want to attack defensively.

The mesh of talent and a new approach hopefully, turns a weakness into a strength for Georgia in both the spring and fall of 2026.

“I feel like they’re doing a good job changing stuff to make stuff more simpler on the defense to where people can just go out there and play fast,” Wilson said.

“Yeah,

“Larry’s come in and done a great job really quickly. He interviewed. We thought he did an outstanding job in the interview.