ATHENS — The loss of Jordan Hall is a sizable one in the middle of the Georgia defense.
He’s one of the few veterans on the Georgia defensive line and someone who occupies a lot of space. That he was playing some of his best football makes his knee injury all the more devastating.
“Jordan is a tough one because that kid’s been through a lot injury-wise,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “He fought to get back last year toward the end of the year, and he wasn’t even 100% healthy then. Then he had a good offseason and was really leading and competing and playing well for us. Just a tough injury for him to sustain. We’ll see what the timeline is once we know more later today and tomorrow.”
From a snaps perspective, look for Xzavier McLeod and Elijah Griffin to continue to man the middle of the Georgia defense. McLeod played the second-most snaps on the defensive line in the win over Florida, with Griffin shortly behind.
But Georgia is going to need others to elevate their game. Two who started to do so against Florida are redshirt freshmen Joseph Jonah-Ajonye and Nnamdi Ogboko.
The former has been a regular on the defensive line this season, playing more so at defensive end then defensive tackle. He’s one of Georgia’s most physically impressive defenders, even if he hasn’t put it all together yet.
Injuries have played a factor in Jonah-Ajonye’s development, as he missed most of last season due to a foot injury. Smart shared Jonah-Ajonye has battled through a number of injuries this season.
He recalled a moment against Auburn earlier this season where he could’ve had a sack, yet couldn’t bring Jackson Arnold to the ground.
“Getting off the ball, getting to the move area, working a move, working any type of move, and then just reaching at the top, getting to the quarterback, throwing the shoulder. That throwing the shoulder is the big thing, cuz on that Auburn game, I missed that sack,” Jonah-Ajonye said. “If I would have went to the throwing shoulder, I would have had it. So that’s what I’ve been working on these past couple weeks.”
He’s still looking for the first sack of his career, though he did draw a holding penalty in a pass rush situation against Florida.
To date, Ogboko is the only Georgia defensive lineman with a sack this season. That came in the win over Kentucky.
With Hall out, Ogboko seems primed to benefit from the trickle-down effect.
“He’s gotten better and better and better at striking blocks,” Smart said. “Big emphasis for him from a conditioning level standpoint. He takes a lot of pride in getting that right so he can be on the field for more snaps. He was a big boost the other night because he’s very good at block recognition. He understands leverage, and he strikes and gets off blocks.”
While Ogboko has the size to be a stout run defender at 6-foot-4 and 340 pounds, it’s his pass-rushing moves that have surprised the most.
“He’s improved a lot in pass rush,” Jonah-Ajonye said of Ogboko. “They were really recruiting him here to play first-down, second-down, but he’s been turning a lot of heads in the pass rush. So I feel like that’s what we’re gonna use him for.”
Ogboko is the older brother of 4-star offensive tackle Ekene Ogboko, who is Georgia’s highest-committed offensive line prospect in the 2026 recruiting cycle.
Yet it’s Nnamdi Ogboko who is generating significant excitement on the other side of the line.
“I spent a lot of time with Nnamdi down on the scout D when I run the scout defense, and he is a guy that is similar to Christen (Miller) was his sophomore year,” Smart said. “Christen Miller went down there with us. Jordan went down there with us. We’ve had a laundry list of guys who’ve gone down there, and what we say, go against the best of our O-line. A lot of times their growth explodes. They get better faster than the guys that maybe aren’t doing that. I’ve seen that with Nnamdi.”
Georgia’s defensive line will have its hands full against Mississippi State, Texas and Georgia Tech. It is going to need Jonah-Ajonye and Ogboko, both in their second seasons, to make the most of their newfound opportunities.
“We’re not used to having to lean on true sophomores, but he’s a guy that has some natural pass-rush ability and natural ability that we need to capitalize on,” Smart of Jonah-Ajonye.
