ATHENS — Glenn Schumann knows that sometimes he can sound like Charlie Brown’s teacher when he gets up and speaks in front of a room.
With his laid-back demeanor and monotone voice, Schumann recognizes that sometimes he can be easy to tune out. So much so that tight ends coach Todd Hartley ribbed Schumann when the former spoke to the media for lowering the energy.
But when Schumann spoke to reporters on Wednesday, he came out speaking in a way that is rare for the Georgia defensive coordinator.
“We challenge the players all offseason in terms of passion, fire, and energy,” Schumann said. “And I think through the first six days, that’s been outstanding.”
Schumann, now in his 10th season at Georgia and fourth as the defensive coordinator, did acknowledge it’s still early in fall camp. Georgia completed its seventh practice on Wednesday, with Schumann noting that every couple is happy on their wedding day.
The Georgia defensive coordinator wants his defense to be consistent, which will be a challenge given how young the Bulldogs are. Especially up front, where Christen Miller is the lone fourth-year player in the defensive front seven.
Much like it is a marvel that Schumann, at age 35, is in his 10th season at Georgia, it’s hard for the Georgia inside linebackers coach to consider CJ Allen and Raylen Wilson the “old heads” in the room now.
There are positives though to having a young group, which Kirby Smart outlined when he spoke to reporters on Wednesday.
“Energy, enthusiasm, non-complacency,” Smart said. “That’s not to label old teams as that, but you don’t have that problem with young teams.”
So far, the Georgia defense has been able to bring those traits to the table.
As for the next step, Schumann knows the top thing this defense needs to work on.
Yes, Georgia needs to generate more pressure and stifle opposing rushing offenses. But to improve the Georgia defense, which slipped last season from its incredibly lofty perch, the group simply needs to tackle better.
“You start rationalizing stats, then you’re just making excuses for a performance that wasn’t up to our standard,” Schumann said. “Number one thing we need to do better in run defense, OK, is tackle better. We did not tackle to our standard last year.”
Fall camp will go a long way in establishing the right habits for a Georgia defense that is counting on some unproven and new faces. Sophomores KJ Bolden and Chris Cole figure to be instrumental on the defensive side of the ball.
While Schumann did his best to temper expectations for freshman defensive lineman Elijah Griffin, the Georgia defensive coordinator acknowledged that Georgia is getting him ready for a role as a true freshman. That wasn’t the case for Jordan Davis, Jalen Carter or Travon Walker.
Even better than Griffin as an example is Elo Modozie. The Army transfer was not with the team during spring practice. The reporter asking about the outside linebacker did not even know how to properly pronounce his name, which Schumann corrected.
Yet Modozie, whose first name is pronounced Ell-Oh, is seen as a critical piece of the outside linebacker room.
“He’s still learning,” Schumann said. “This is really six practices into it for him. But he’s an athlete. The things you saw on tape that made us interested in him coming here, you see those. I think as he gets more and more reps, he’ll continue to see more and more of what he can do from a, you know, edge rusher standpoint, an edge-setting standpoint.”
Schumann readily acknowledged that last year’s defensive performance wasn’t up to standard, especially in games against non-playoff teams.
While fire, passion and energy has become the catchphrase that Schumann and his players have embodied, he referenced an older team motto when discussing the importance of consistency.
Something that doesn’t always jive with young units.
“Consistency is the mark of a great defense,” Schumann said. “We talk about being elite or not. To be elite, you have to be consistent. That’s what makes something elite.
“So we can’t have up and down performances, and everybody in that room knows that when they came to Georgia, they came to Georgia to play championship level defense, coaches, players included, and so anything short of that isn’t the standard.”
