By all accounts, last season was a good one for the Georgia Bulldogs. They won 12 games, took down longtime foe Alabama to win the SEC and made it back to the College Football Playoff for a fourth time in five seasons.

But good isn’t good enough at Georgia, Kirby Smart knows this, having set expectations so high.

“Apparently all we can do is win the SEC championship right now, so that’s not good enough, but you know those are good teams,” Smart said in a May appearance on the Paul Finebaum show. “We got beat by the team that we beat. It’s hard to beat a good team twice. They beat us, and Notre Dame was a really good team. I got a lot of respect for them, so we did not play well, and that falls on me.

If Georgia is going to top its 2025 season, the Bulldogs need to elevate from being a good team to being a great one.

With that in mind, this week at DawgNation will be Leap Week, where we take a look at various areas on the roster and look at how much of a leap is needed for the Bulldogs to reach their goals.

Of the positions on Georgia’s roster, there’s no group that needs to make bigger strides from last season than at the outside linebacker position.

The biggest statistical weakness for Georgia last season came in its inability to get to opposing quarterbacks. The Bulldogs had just 20.0 sacks on the season, the fewest ever in Smart’s 10 seasons in Athens.

Georgia’s outside linebackers last season combined for just 3.0 of those sacks. The Bulldogs have more often than not had an inside linebacker lead the team in sacks, but Georgia’s outside linebackers have been productive players in the past.

Georgia knew it was going to be in a state of transition last season at the position. Chaz Chambliss, who led Georgia with 6.5 sacks in 2024, was on the Minnesota Vikings. Damon Wilson transferring to Missouri just before the winter transfer portal closed put Georgia in a further behind.

The addition of Army transfer Elo Modozie didn’t work out for the Bulldogs, as he finished with no sacks.

Georgia did see some strides late in the year at the position, with Quintavius Johnson and Gabe Harris emerging late in the season. Johnson was in his second year in the program, while Harris bounced between the defensive line and outside linebacker spots.

A big reason for the November surge was because of the improvements of Johnson and Harris. The absence of Harris was very much felt in Georgia’s loss against Ole Miss, where the Bulldogs failed to take down Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss.

Harris missed spring practice recovering from a toe injury. He’s expected to be back to full strength when the Bulldogs begin fall practice.

“He’s just got great toughness. He’s got great pass-rush ability and, shoot, he was back out there at the end of spring going through things without pads on trying to compete against our guys,” Smart said.

The absence of Harris this spring did create an opening for some of the younger players on the roster. Freshman Khamari Brooks impressed during the spring game, as he notched 2.0 sacks in what doubled as Georgia’s final spring practice

But the real star at the position for Georgia this spring was Chase Linton. He’s now generating national buzz.

Linton missed time at the beginning of his freshman season due to a leg injury. That stunted his development last season, though he did make some headway during Georgia’s bowl practices.

Those gains carried over into spring practice, where Linton was a frequent talking point.

Linton isn’t the only second-year outside linebacker the Bulldogs will count on this fall, as Isaiah Gibson and Darren Ikinnagbon loom as options.

Knowing the Bulldogs needed more from the outside linebacker position, Georgia did add Amaris Williams out of the transfer portal. However, he’ll have to wait to show what he can do after suffering an ACL injury in April. There’s a chance he doesn’t play at all this fall, though Smart didn’t rule out a return either.

Georgia will be expecting improved performance from this group in particular, as Smart frequently drew attention to the need to improve the pass rush this spring. That will put new outside linebackers coach Larry Knight under somewhat of a microscope. Knight replaces Chidera Uzo-Diribe, who took a job with the Dallas Cowboys.

The outside linebacker room isn’t the only position group that faces questions entering this coming season. But with proven production returning and high-ceiling players like Linton waiting to take the field, no group has more room to grow in 2026 than the outside linebackers.

Having a season as they did in 2025 is not an option for this group. If Harris, Johnson, Linton and others play to the caliber of the rest of the Georgia defense, this could very well be one of the best units in the country.