ATHENS — Georgia defensive tackle Elijah Griffin and Sabrina Carpenter could not be more different. The latter is an internationally known pop star who regularly makes note of her lack of height.
The former is a 6-foot-4, 310-pound defensive lineman. He’s already the strongest player on Georgia’s team and he’s only entering his second year in the program. He’s an ascending star in the sport, yet not the college football equivalent of Carpenter.
But because of the phrase manchild, the two share a connection. For Carpenter, it was a hit song off her most recent album that earned her four Grammy nominations.
For Griffin, it’s a moniker. Georgia hopes the defensive tackle can achieve similar levels of success to that of Carpenter in his second season in Athens.
“Elijah Griffin, we call him manchild,” former Georgia defensive tackle Christen Miller said. “We call him broly, he just, he different, he different.”
Griffin arrived at Georgia with massive expectations. He was the No. 1-ranked defensive player in the 2025 recruiting cycle and a consensus five-star prospect.
Georgia leaned heavily on Griffin as a freshman, though not just because of his raw talent. Georgia’s defensive line was very young last season. Miller is the only contributor from last year’s group who departed over the offseason.
Because of the growing pains from last season, the defensive line expects to be a strength for Georgia this season. Griffin can be the centerpiece of the unit.
Not since Jalen Carter, a first-round pick, has a defensive lineman occupied such an integral role on the defensive line as a first-year player. Griffin earned Freshman All-SEC honors, appearing in every game while notching 22 tackles.
Heading into his second season, Griffin has a clear area he wants to improve. The Bulldogs would love him to become a truly dominant and disruptive force on the team’s defensive line.
“Yeah, disruptive, twitchiness, giving him opportunities to move and beat guys with his quickness and make plays in the backfield. He’s very strong for his age,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “He’s very quick for his size, and just being unblockable is what we’d like to see, and playing with a high motor and a destructive attitude.”
Griffin had only 2.5 tackles for loss last season and just a single sack. Griffin did force a fumble against Ole Miss in the team’s College Football Playoff loss, giving the team a taste of what he might be capable of as he continues to grow as a player.
“Looking at last year, we didn’t really have a lot of production sack-wise,” Griffin said. “And, just attacking the spring ball and obviously following into fall camp, we just want to do that collectively as a group because, I mean, we want to be the best SEC team in the league.”
Georgia ranked 107th in the country last season in sacks and 119th in tackles for loss. There’s a teamwide initiative to be more disruptive, while maintaining a dominant standard against the run. Griffin played a key role in Georgia’s defense, finishing fourth nationally in run defense last season.
Even with so many returning pieces on the defensive line — Xzaveir McLeod, Jordan Hall, Joseph Jonah-Ajonye and Gabe Harris are all back — Georgia knows there’s something that puts Griffin in a class of his own.
“The one trait that I think I’ve always found in defensive linemen, and I tell the players this, is are you hard to block? And people that are hard to block, number one, they usually make a lot of money, but number two, they also cause a lot of disruption. So he’s growing into that,” Smart said.
“I wouldn’t say that he’s that yet, but the better he gets, he’s got the capabilities of being an elite player.”
The Georgia coach hopes Griffin proves him right in 2026. The best Georgia teams have always been led by their defensive lines. Carter powered the 2022 defense to a national championship, while Travon Walker, Jordan Davis and Devonte Wyatt ultimately defined the 2021 Georgia defense. All four of those players went in the first round of their respective drafts.
Griffin is still a long way from even thinking about the NFL draft. But because of the freaky abilities, it’s hard not to wonder what his ceiling might be for the Bulldogs.
