ATHENS — Warren Brinson knows defensive lineman Elijah Griffin well. The two are both from the Savannah, Ga. area, and Brinson has been following Griffin’s career since the latter was an eighth grader.
Griffin has come a long way since those days. He enters college football as the No. 1 overall defensive prospect in the 2025 recruiting class. He’s the No. 1 player in Georgia and the No. 1 defensive line prospect by all four recruiting services.
Expectations are high. And after Brinson saw Griffin at his first collegiate practice on Tuesday, they might be even grander.
“(He’s) the next Jalen Carter,” Brinson said. “I saw him at practice out there yesterday. He’s legit.”
Carter, like Griffin, was a 5-star defensive line prospect when he entered Georgia as a member of the 2020 signing class. Brinson also signed with Georgia in that recruiting cycle after spending the end of his high school career at IMG Academy.
Carter went on to become a first-round draft pick in the 2023 NFL Draft after earning All-American honors in his final season at Georgia. He won two national championships by playing alongside Brinson and other talented defensive linemen.
The Philadelphia Eagles took Carter with the No. 9 overall pick in that draft and recently won the Super Bowl in part because of Carter’s brilliance.
“Look at the Eagles. How do you beat Patrick Mahomes? Get some Georgia players,” Brinson said following his pro day workout.
Griffin is still a long way from getting to that point, but the early returns on the defensive lineman have been encouraging.
Georgia has to replace four defensive linemen from last year’s team, as Brinson, Mykel Williams, Naz Stackhouse and Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins are all hoping to be taken in this year’s NFL draft.
That does create an opportunity for players like Griffin to carve out a larger role.
“There’s a lot of talented people here," offensive lineman Earnest Greene said when asked of Griffin. “Everybody’s talented here. So it’s just a matter of how people are going to work and what he’s going to do for these next upcoming practices. So yeah, I’m really excited to see what he can do.”
Even with all the losses, Brinson still thinks Georgia is well-positioned to be impactful on the defensive line.
Not just Griffin but factoring in the likes of Christen Miller, Jordan Hall and Joseph Jonah-Ajonye.
“I think the d-line is going to be ridiculous this year,” Brinson said.
If that is to be the case, Griffin will have to be a big reason why. Even Carter found a way to make an impact as a true freshman, finishing with 14 tackles, 3.0 tackles for loss, a blocked kick and a touchdown catch.
Georgia may not ask Griffin to do all that but playing a key part on Georgia’s defensive line rotation is not out of the question, even for someone who has had just one collegiate practice to this point.
