2021 Georgia defense challenges 2011 Alabama as best, most talented in modern era

ATHENS — The 2021 Georgia football team will certainly go down in history as boasting one of the greatest defenses of all time, and a recent ESPN NFL draft projection shows why.

The 2022 NFL Draft takes place April 28-30 in Las Vegas (TV: 8 p.m. Thursday, ESPN, ABC, NFL Network).

The Bulldogs are projected by analyst Todd McShay to have seven players selected in the first 43 picks, six of them off a defense that allowed fewer points through the regular season (6.9) than any college team since 1986 Oklahoma.

Team captain Jordan Davis explained the team embraced a “No-Name” defense nickname, placing a priority on being assignment sound with none of the players concerned about individual credit.

Davis proved an example of how playing team defense could pay off, as he won the Outland Trophy and Bednarik Award despite having only 32 tackles and 2 sacks at nose tackle.

Dean, who had 72 tackles and had 6 sacks, was the Butkus Award winner.

Here’s a list of the Seven Georgia players projected in the first two rounds in the ESPN pay-site article:

No. 2 DE Travon Walker, Detroit Lions

No. 19 DT Jordan Davis, New Orleans Saints

No. 21 LB Nakobe Dean, New England Patriots

No. 27 DT Devonte Wyatt, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

No. 38 LB Quay Walker, New York Jets

No. 42 WE George Pickens, Indianapolis Colts

No. 43 FS Lewis Cine, Atlanta Falcons

It was a Bulldogs’ defense that carried the team throughout the season.

Georgia’s defense crushed Michigan in the Orange Bowl CFP Semifinal with four sacks while yielding just 88 yards rushing before holding Heisman Trophy-winning QB Bryce Young just one TD in the 33-18 CFP Championship Game win.

Georgia finished the 15-game season 14-1, allowing just 16 touchdowns, 268.9 yards and 10.2 points per game.

Many had considered the 2011 Alabama national championship team, which featured Kirby Smart as the defensive coordinator, as the greatest defense of the post-BCS (1998) era when the college football bowls were united.

That 2011 Tide team allowed just 183.7 yards and 8.2 points per game during its 12-1 campaign, and like 2021 Georgia, featured three shutouts.

That Alabama team, however, had the benefit of not having to play in the SEC Championship Game before playing in the BCS Championship Game.

It faced a defensive-oriented LSU team that ranked only 86th in the nation in total offense (355.07 yards per game) in the national championship game, winning 21-0 after losing to those same Tigers 9-6 earlier in the season.

That LSU team, amazingly, beat Georgia in the 2011 SEC title game 42-10 despite being out-gained 296-237. All-time SEC passing leader Aaron Murray was held to 16-of-40 passing for 163 yards with 2 interceptions and a TD.

The 2021 UGA defense, meanwhile, faced a Tide offense twice in the postseason that featured the nation’s No. 2 passer in Young (4,872 yards) directing an offense that ranked seventh in the nation in total offense (488.2 yards per game).

Smart compared the two defenses earlier in the 2021 season.

“A lot of similarities, we’re maybe not as big as we may have been in the past,” Smart said. “But we’re much quicker, we’re athletic, we’re built to handle some of these offenses today, the ones you see.

“At the end of the day, it’s all about the execution of the plan.”

Smart was right about the speed: defensive tackles Devonte Wyatt and Davis stunned onlookers with 40-yard dash times of 4.77 and 4.78 seconds.

Defensive end Travon Walker ran a 4.51, linebackers Channing Tindall and Quay Walker turned in times of 4.47 and 4.52, respectively, and Lewis Cine was clocked at 4.37.

Here’s a look at where players off of the 2011 Alabama defense were selected in the 2012 NFL Draft:

2011 Alabama

(2012 NFL Draft)

(1) No. 7 SS Mark Barron, Tampa Bay

(1) No. 17 CB Dre Kirkpatrick, Cincinnati

(1) No. 25 LB Dont’a Hightower, New England

(2) No. 35 LB Courtney Upshaw, Baltimore

(5) No. 136 DT Josh Champman, Indianapolis

(5) No. 146 CB Dequans Menzie, Kansas City