ATHENS — It hasn’t always been pretty for Glenn Schumann’s defense this season.
But over the course of the year, the group has made undeniable progress. Whether it be the play of Zayden Walker, Joseph-Jonah Ajonye or even Rasean Dinkins, Schumann highlighted a number of players when he spoke to reporters on Saturday.
Below is a full transcript of what Schumann had to say on Saturday. Georgia takes on Ole Miss on Jan. 1 in the Sugar Bowl.
Glenn Schumann highlights several defenders who have ‘grown up’ for Georgia defense
On how the defense has progressed since last Ole Miss game...
“I just think there’s a lot of guys that have grown up over the course of the year. We knew that would be the case. The more you play, the more confidence you gain. There’s also an element too that, as we spend time together, the more you see people in live scenarios, you see what they’re doing well or what they’re getting better at, what you need to work on. You kinda grow together in that way. I think the group as a whole has gained a lot of confidence. I think that’s helped. We went in every Monday of the season, no matter what it was, and said there’s two goals for the week. You’ve gotta get better. You’ve gotta find a way to win. As long as you do those things all year long, we’ll be where we need to be at the end of the year.”
On Ellis Robinson...
“Yeah, I think that he kind of embodies everything that we’re talking about there. He’s, as he’s played more, he’s gained more and more confidence. He’s had a lot of ability from the beginning. There’s multiple layers to your growth as a football player, right? It’s, hey, learning what to do, how to do it, and why I wanna do it that way. And then also, hey, what’s going on on the offensive side? So I think in all areas, he’s gained more and more confidence. He’s always had a lot of ability. He has really good ball skills. So there’s been an opportunity to play ball in the air. We have confidence he’s gonna do that. And so I think as he continues to stack those plays, he just gets better and better.”
On Rasean Dinkins’ role...
“He has a lot of maturity, and he’s very serious about his work. And a lot of times, you don’t get to Georgia without ability. But I’ve said it before about guys in the past, that if they have a lot of maturity, and they’re able to focus on the process and how we wanna go and do things, they’re gonna rapidly get better. It’s not like our twos, or even our threes, we’re sitting there not practicing. A lot of places, you talk to all our guys in pro ball right now, Smael said I’m a two, and I might get ten reps all week in practice. I don’t know if that’s accurate, exactly what it is. But here, we’re able to develop everybody on the roster. So Dink’s been rapidly getting better. And there were times this year that he could’ve had opportunity to play. And so he’s kind of, it’s the expression, will you work while you wait? He’s worked really hard. He’s been mature and serious. And it didn’t surprise us what he did when he got to play.”
On head coaching openings and his career growth...
“I’m really intentional about my family’s happiness and kind of the things that matter to me internally, kind of keep within our family circle and the people that support me. But I’m really happy to be here, and I’m here intentionally. And when the time’s right, if the time is right, then it’ll sort itself out. But we’ve been focused on, I’ve been asked this question by family, friends, and all I focused on all year was getting better because we needed to get better. And so, when things happen in life, they happen when they’re meant to happen. But the family’s really happy here.”
On Zayden Walker’s emergence...
“Yeah, we knew that Zayden had an ability to help us rushing the passer. That’s something that he did his whole life. And we knew that, long-term, his ability to develop as a linebacker is gonna be good for his football career. And it was a matter of time and how he learned to, one, execute the plan within what we’re doing. And then kind of let his skill set grow and develop because he has the natural tools as a rusher. But then you have to carry that over to an advanced level competition and go from there. So I think Zayden’s growth was expected. And it was a matter of, it was kind of a when, not if. And so he just worked really hard to work through the areas he had to get better.”
On early-season defensive criticism and learning experience...
“We knew we had, we knew we had guys that had ability that had not played a whole bunch, and we knew that there was gonna be a process of getting better throughout the course of the year. Which, it doesn’t matter if you have a team full of seniors or got a team full of freshmen, you better develop your roster and grow so that when you’re at your best when your best is needed. I think there’s an element to, you can look back on any of those games and we do a post-game write-up no matter what the final score was of, hey, what would be the game plan differently? How would we have used our players differently? And then you kind of execute that plan moving forward. So it’s not anything different than we’ve done in the past. It just, obviously there were a couple games there that were a couple, a half-game, whatever it was, that we did not perform to the expectations. But credit to the guys, their growth and their level of confidence and their focus on the task at hand. The guys in the room came to work every day not worrying about any outside noise, not worried about what it said statistically, and they trusted that if we continue to go through our process the way that it’s been proven here that it works, that it would sort itself out in the end.”
On Gabe Harris potential replacement plans...
“There’s a, when you look at it, depending on the package, our end and our Jack room can be one and the same. How much four down, we’re playing three down, the third-down package. So for that, it could be a Joseph Jonah-Ajonye that plays some end. And there’s also an additional workload with Q and Kris Jones in terms of third down. And then on third down, we have a bunch of different guys that can rotate as a kind of combo rusher that rushes inside and outside. So it won’t necessarily be one guy. Joseph will obviously have to take a bigger role, JJ Hanne, Kris Jones, Elo Modozie. There’s other guys out there that are making a lot of progress, young guys. But those guys, what will happen a lot of times is he’s had a brunt of a higher workload, and it might be an extra seven snaps for this guy, ten snaps for this guy, if he’s not available. But Gabe is also working really hard to be back with us. And we’ll address that kind of when the report comes out on Monday.”
On what stands out about defense from first Ole Miss matchup...
“Incredibly resilient, which we kind of already knew. But that was about, we had overcome some adversity throughout the course of the year, and that was about as much adversity as you could. I mean, they didn’t punt until the fourth quarter, and at no point on the sideline did, the guys came over there, they were looking for answers. Hey, what do we need to do the next time? Hey, what are we gonna, hey, what’s the next plan of action? Hey, what happened? We have the resource with the iPads that weren’t there a couple years ago. I see on tape, where was, what are they doing, what is my mistake? How do we correct that, and then what are we gonna do to call it differently? I think the main thing is, we’ve done a better job both rushing and covering. I’ve also, this is a great challenge. I mean, they’re talented across the board. Quarterback’s playing at an unbelievable level. Running back, receivers, tight end. You better win your 1-on-1 matchups at the end of the day here. And that’s the main deal, is that we have guys that can win 1-on-1 match-ups, and we need those guys to do that.”
On fourth quarter against Ole Miss being a turning point...
“It’s easy to point to that, but we did not, there were still moments, and we played better in each game that followed that. But there were still moments where we needed to get better in the fourth game, and then the Mississippi State game. And then I think it’s just been a continual process of getting better. But I think when guys can look at it and say, here’s the details of what we need to get done, here’s what we can do. And hey, we’re playing a really good offense. They’re great across the board statistically, and we do it right. We can be successful, and that’s showed up time and time again. And I think the guys have just continued to bring in confidence from that, and they focused on, hey, how do I get better at my craft? And how can we continue to be pros, and the way we go about it, the way we start our opponents, the way we prepare, the way we execute. And then how can we stay together because it’s never gonna be perfect, and it kind of, I think it’s only grown from there.”
On Kewan Lacy’s meaning for Ole Miss...
“Well, he’s forced the most missed tackles in the country. So I think, and in general, their offense, they have a lot of guys who make guys miss. But when you have a guy that forces, I believe, it said on the broadcast, the game the other day, we were able to watch it because of how the schedule worked. Said his first missed tackle that he forced on that opening touchdown was his 100th forced missed tackle of the year, right? So we’re talking about somebody that can have a player unblocked, right? And it would make them miss. They’re just adding yards, or getting it where they’re playing a lot of second-and-shorts, third-and-shorts, converting first downs when they shouldn’t be playing third down. And I think just that ability to kind of win his matchups, and he’s done a great job in pass protection. So the other backs, like Diggs, Diggs does a great job. They find ways to use quarterback in the run game a lot. But his ability to make people miss is special, and he’s a big challenge. And if he’s available, like I assume he will be, that’s gonna be a big part of the game.”
On defensive staff learning to play players to their strengths in pass rush...
“Yeah, I think that rush and coverage always works together, right? And so the tighter coverage you’re able to play, then the more you can do with the rush, and then also the more exotic looks you’re able to get into, right? And so it’s like the ability to play man, get you to play more zone. But also within all this, we’re playing a lot more third-and-longs, right? The averages for third downs is I believe like a yard-and-a-half to two yards higher in the back six games of the season. So we’re playing less third-and-2, third-and-3s. Everybody’s into analytics on offense now, so every team’s gonna run the ball to set up fourth-and-shorts at times. So there’s also pieces of stuff that’s carried that we were able to do that we necessarily didn’t do. Well, if you don’t force third-and-longers, you may not be able to get into it because that coverage or that pressure on that presentation might not fit the routes that they’re doing. So there’s a lot of data in there. Y’all make the reference to Zayden Walker. Zayden Walker was a piece of the plan in this game last time. We didn’t play very many third-and-longs early in the game. So he kind of started to develop that way. And so that’s, I think, force more third-and-longs that create more negative plays on early downs. Play tighter coverage, it opens up where you can do a lot more of your menu. And the last three years before this, we were really efficient on third down every year, and the group’s in place that can still do that, but you gotta get it into the situations that allow you to use your third-down package.”
On Joseph Jonah-Ajonye’s growth...
“I think that he, it’s all around, not to be cliché, but I mean, he’s grown in a lot of different ways. I think he’s a lot stouter at the point of attack. Joseph’s a big, strong guy. He can go play inside and outside. There’s a lot of value in that, he’s a good athlete. But I just think his overall strength in the run game. He’s always been athletic, able to move, big guy that can stunt, big guy that has the ability to kind of play in space. But his ability in the run game because the matchups between the tackles are real in this league. And I think his biggest growth has been how stout he’s been at the point of attack. And that’s allowed us to do a lot more with him, because he can slide kind of everywhere from a 3 out to a 9.”
On CJ Allen’s unique traits...
“You know, we’re going into his first start of his college career. And it was against these guys in 2023, and somebody came up to me, and CJ Allen was one of the first guys in the building every single day since he’s been here. And one of the guys on staff, I believe it was Jarvis Jones at the time, walked up to me and he said, I asked CJ, are you nervous? It’s OK to be nervous, I’ve been there. And CJ’s response, which is a true statement, is I’ve always prepared like a starter because I knew one day I would be one. And he’s not saying that at the time to just talk. He’s very much, whatever he says, he means, and he’s intentional with everything he does, and he kind of prepared from the moment he stepped in here. Very intentional about what he wanted to accomplish. And I know there’s still things out there that he wants to accomplish. But I think that’s what stands out about him. There’s been other guys that were intentional that way. But maturity, focus, serious, intentional work on areas that he’s had to get better at and just his overall leadership ability to affect others. I would venture to say that he’s universally respected across the team.
On Year 3 growth for linebackers and applying that to Chris Cole, Justin Williams...
“You get a bunch of reps, you get better at it, you see things faster. It’s not always, again, people talk about things slowing down, and that’s true. A lot of times it’s, hey, you’re speeding up, you’re anticipating instead of reacting. We play multiple fronts, multiple coverages. A lot of times these guys in high school playing linebacker are just see-ball, get-ball guys. There’s not a lot of high school quarterbacks that can test you in the passing game, where your assignments that, hey, there’s gonna be run plays where you have to play pass first and vice versa, like you have to do in college. And you’re gonna be in multiple alignments, whereas a lot of these guys, they’re playing either on the edge exclusively in high school, in space exclusively, in the box exclusively. And so as you move around, your fits change, your coverage responsibilities change, and then that’s completely dependent on, hey, are they in two-by-two or three-by-one? Did they mesh the ball or not? Is it a quarterback run game where, hey, you’re able to handle the ball back going this way, or the quarterback can keep it, and we have to play our part of the play? There’s very few just simple fits. And if you make it really simple on our side, then it’s easily attackable on their side. So there’s a back-and-forth of that, of how can you get guys playing really fast without being, it’s like a Battleship. If they know where the ships are, they’re gonna sink you. So there’s a back-and-forth there, and I think by the time they get to year three, they’re not processing, hey, where do I line up? OK, where am I supposed to be? What happens if it’s a pass? What happens if it’s a run? They’re anticipating what’s about to happen. They can predict the place the offense is about to run, at least within one or two. And they’re able to pull the trigger instead of sitting on their heels. And I think that helps them just experience the benefits anyway.”
