CJ Allen and Raylen Wilson, Georgia’s ‘old heads’ at linebacker

Georgia linebackers CJ Allen and Raylen Wilson are not your typical juniors.

Both played extensively as true freshmen in 2023 thanks to injuries to veterans Jamon Dumas-Johnson and Smael Mondon. Their roles only grew during the 2024 season.

Now, with Mondon gone, Allen and Wilson are suddenly the grizzled veterans of the Georgia linebacker group.

“It’s honestly really crazy to think about,” said Glenn Schumann, Georgia’s defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach. “I constantly refer to them as the old heads now. I think that reality for them of, hey, time’s running out a little bit. It feels like you have forever when you first get here, and the next thing you know, you’re a junior.”

Allen and Wilson certainly took steps forward in 2024. Allen finished second on the team with 76 total tackles, one behind Georgia’s team lead of 77 from Malaki Starks. Wilson recorded 47 total tackles along with seven tackles for loss.

Schumann noted the duo’s maturity level has always been high. He also said he has seen the game slow down for Allen and Wilson as they have gotten more reps both in practice and in games.

As Allen and Wilson now take over as the veterans of the Georgia defense, Schumann has noticed other improvements as well.

“The more you play, the more it slows down, right?” Schumann said. “Because now you’re anticipating, you’re not reacting. I think you saw a little bit of that last year in spurts, where, man, at times they were playing really fast. I think the more they play, the more confident they are, both in terms of communicating the defense, commanding from a leadership standpoint, and speeding up their run fits, what they do in coverage, what they do in blitzes. And so I just think all of that has followed a natural progression.”

Allen and Wilson lead a deep and talented linebacker room that also includes second-year players Chris Cole and Justin Williams. If Georgia’s defense gets back to a championship level of play, the play of that group will be a major reason why.

“That room has been one of our strengths throughout the time we’ve been here,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said last week. “Schumann’s done a great job recruiting, he does a great job developing, he does a great job packaging things to where you can get multiple inside linebackers on the field, and we play a lot of them. Naturally, there’s two out there every play, but sometimes we have three. And we’ll continue to do that, we’ll put the best players on the field.”