ATHENS — Glenn Schumann has only ever worked for two programs.

They’ll meet on Saturday, as Alabama and Georgia meet in the 2025 SEC Championship Game. Schumann is Georgia’s defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach. Before coming to Georgia, he worked as a student and graduate assistant for Alabama, his alma mater.

It’ll be a major test for Schumann. Because as much as Kirby Smart has an Alabama issue, Schumann does as well.

Schumann’s defense allowed 13 third-down conversions in the first matchup against Alabama this season, the most ever in Kirby Smart’s tenure in Athens. In the 2024 game against Alabama, the Crimson Tide put up 41 points.

Alabama had just 27 points in the 2023 SEC Championship Game, but Jalen Milroe did whatever he wanted to that day. Schumann’s defense couldn’t get a stop in the fourth quarter, as Alabama ended the game going touchdown, touchdown, kneel-down on its final three drives.

Since becoming Georgia’s defensive coordinator in 2022, the Bulldogs have lost just five times. Three of them have come against Alabama.

“We did play them last year in a classic game,” Smart said. “We played them this year in a classic game and then you know, multiple years in this game. But I think it’s pretty clear that each and every game has a history in life of its own and you play the game that season with the guys you have and the mindset of the guys you have. So, I don’t think these other games will have any effect on this one.”

Schumann is the longest tenured assistant on Georgia’s staff. He was on the plane with Kirby Smart when he came from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to Athens. He’s been the inside linebackers coach for Roquan Smith, Nakobe Dean and CJ Allen.

“It’s grown tremendously, you know, from the time my freshman year up to now,” Allen said of his relationship with Schumann. “I feel like we have a great relationship, you know, just trust me with more things and obviously I’ve seen more things so he expects more things out of me.”

Schumann is one of the top assistant coaches in the country, making over $2 million as Georgia’s defensive coordinator. Yet for all his success, be it the wins at Georgia or the players he’s sent to the NFL, Schumann didn’t really sniff a head coaching job in this cycle.

Dan Lanning was hired to be Oregon’s head coach after his third season as Georgia’s defensive coordinator. That’s the same amount of time Mel Tucker spent in Athens before becoming the head coach at Colorado.

Schumann is in his fourth season as the defensive coordinator. It seems he’ll be there for a fifth at this point.

In the past, Schumann has been seen as an attractive candidate for jobs. He interviewed to be the Philadelphia Eagles’ defensive coordinator at one point. He was in the running to be the head coach at North Carolina before it hired Bill Belichick.

Yet this year, greater opportunities didn’t come. Georgia’s defense struggled in the early part of the season, perhaps dimming Schumann’s prospects. Youth can be blamed for some of the growing pains, as Tennessee and Ole Miss each scored 35 points in addition to Alabama dicing up Schumann’s defense.

But from the start of the fourth quarter against Ole Miss, Schumann’s defense has taken real strides forward. In the last three weeks, the Bulldogs have given up just one offensive touchdown.

“He’s had to do a great job of deciding what this group does best and try to utilize and improve the skill sets,” Smart said.

Schumann doesn’t have the same toys to play with that his predecessors had. There isn’t an obvious first-round pass rusher on this team, like there was when Georgia had Nolan Smith, Mykel Williams or Jalon Walker. Smart even pointed to the absence of Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins, a fifth-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

So Schumann has had to design pressures and stops with guys like Zayden Walker and Quintavius Johnson. Guys who didn’t play in the most recent SEC championship game loss to the Crimson Tide.

The defense has grown up of late and is playing its best football at the right time.

It’ll need another great performance on Saturday, especially with some of the offensive concerns entering the game.

In the eight games against Alabama since Smart and Schumann came to Athens, only once has Alabama been held to less than 20 points. That occurrence is the only time Georgia beat the Crimson Tide

Much like Saturday will be, the lone victory came in a rematch. Georgia gave up 41 points in the 2021 SEC Championship Game before stifling the Alabama offense in the 2022 National Championship Game.

That defense, coordinated by Lanning before taking over at Oregon, had a lot more talent than this current Georgia group. Those were the pre-NIL days.

Schumann has had to do more with less this season. Perhaps if he and Georgia were able to hoard talent like the old days, Schumann would’ve put together a defense that rivaled what Lanning had and earned a head coaching job.

For now, Schumann remains at Georgia. Still looking for a signature defensive performance against the Alabama Crimson Tide.

If it comes on Saturday, it would help push back against the idea that Georgia has an Alabama problem.

And serve as a reminder to the college football world of why Schumann is one of the most capable defensive minds in the sport.