Glenn Schumann breaks down four Georgia EDGE players expected to play key roles

ATHENS, Ga. — Once the dust settled on the winter transfer portal window, Georgia had a glaring need. With Jalon Walker, Mykel Williams, and Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins leaving early for the NFL Draft, Chaz Chambliss exhausting his eligibility, and two other promising youngsters entering the portal, the Bulldogs had to find help at EDGE.

They used the spring window to add Army transfer Elo Modozie. Georgia also moved Kris Jones, a 2024 signee who was injured for most of the year, from inside linebacker to EDGE to bolster the depth. Those two are expected to work with second-year guys Joseph Jonah-Ajonye and Quintavius Johnson to handle Georgia’s needs on the outside.

Defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann met with reporters on Thursday. It’ll be the only time he talks to the Georgia beat this season, and he offered a breakdown of each player.

On Modozie: “Man, bright kid. Like, I just love he, you wouldn’t know that he hasn’t been here his whole career just watching him. I’m talking about that from a person standpoint, okay? From a standpoint of seeing him fit in with the guys. He has meshed with our unit exceptionally well in terms of, you always, when you bring in a transfer, there’s always an element of, hey, how are they going to fit in with our people? We try to do our background and we bring people in. Do we think they fit our culture? He’s done a great job of that. He’s still learning. 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. And he’s also a really good athlete. You know, this guy played wideout in high school. So when he does need to drop and do those things, he’s unique in that sense. But he’s still, you know, we’re six practices in. It’s his first six practices. So even though, you know, he’s an older guy, he’s out there adjusting like some of the other new players. So he’s only going to get better from here.”

On Jonah-Ajonye: “Joseph is a great athlete for his size. He has the length we look for in the defensive end position. He has some natural power to him. I think that for him, you’re looking in that Mykel role, where you want to be a guy that can go from playing inside the tackle to outside the tackle, and that’s really what we need from him. With him not getting as many reps, it’s saying that every day he’s getting better. I’m really excited about what he’s going to do this year because we had high hopes for him at the beginning of last year.” 

On Johnson: “Q is a guy who, you know, you think about athletically. This guy was a high school quarterback, he played on his feet. So some of the things that, you know, marry up with what I said about Elo’s skill set. Like that, that balanced out, Q’s really bright. The guy really cares at a high level, he’s a good athlete. As an outside linebacker, there’s a lot asked of you, more than just setting the edge, and he’s able to do all those things. So he’s had a good camp, he had a good spring, and, you know, we need more out of him than what we’ve seen so far. But with the way he works, we’re confident we’ll get it out of him.” 

On Jones: “Yeah, one, first of all, you know, Kris Jones is a selfless guy. When we had those losses, you know, at outside linebacker, and we were looking at his frame, you know, his body type, he has a lot, he has a naturally bulkier frame. So he’s a guy who played inside and outside in high school, okay? But his frame had the ability to put on more weight, potentially, to be able to be an edge setter. He was all for whatever helped the team. I think, you know, it’s like starting over, though. You know, he learns, he spends a whole year learning the position at one position, and hey, these are my alignments, these are my fits, these are my coverage responsibilities, and then you start over. So I think you saw that in the spring. I’ve been pleased with, I’ve seen growth this fall. He’s improved as a rusher, which he didn’t get to do as much last year. I think I’ve really seen him flash there. He’s a heavy-handed guy, so he needs to keep developing, but he has a skill set that can help us out there.”