Georgia’s Next Great Wall: How Linebacker CJ Allen Is Turning a Reload Into a Relaunch for the Bulldogs’ Defense

When college‑football observers begin assembling their preseason predictions for 2025, they almost always start by asking the same question: Who can actually score on Georgia? Kirby Smart’s program has led the nation in scoring defense three of the last four years, weathering early‑round NFL departures with assembly‑line efficiency. Yet the departure of veteran play‑caller Smael Mondon Jr., along with three defensive‑line starters, threatened to leave a leadership vacuum in the heart of the unit. Enter CJ Allen, the soft‑spoken inside linebacker from Barnesville who has gone from “promising rotational piece” to “indispensable centerpiece” in barely 18 months.

Allen was not a five‑star headline grabber in the 2023 class—247Sports slotted him at No. 70 overall—but the 6‑2, 235‑pounder has turned perceived slights into relentless production. As a red‑shirt freshman he cracked the starting lineup by Week 3 and never looked back, finishing the 2024 campaign second on the team with 76 total tackles, including nine tackles for loss, an interception, and five quarterback pressures.

Numbers, though, tell only half the story. Defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann, whose résumé already includes three Butkus Award winners, calls Allen “our thermostat.” When practice tempo dips, Allen cranks up the heat—usually by diagnosing an outside‑zone hand‑off before the running back even receives the ball. That instinctive trigger speed has turned routine second‑and‑four plays into drive‑killing third‑and‑nine situations throughout spring scrimmages.

Georgia’s 4‑2‑5 base relies on its two inside linebackers to erase spacing mistakes. With Mondon now learning an NFL playbook, Allen will share snaps with junior Raylen Wilson and sophomore phenom Justin Williams. Coaches rave about Wilson’s range, but it is Allen’s ability to set fronts, slide gap responsibilities and disguise creeper pressures that keeps the entire structure intact. During the April G‑Day scrimmage, Schumann expanded his play sheet to include more simulated pressures—bluffs that show blitz before rotating into zone—because Allen’s pre‑snap communication “let us play chess instead of checkers,” as Smart put it.

The results are already showing up in situational metrics. In third‑down periods this spring, the first‑team defense allowed conversions on just 28 percent of snaps, six points better than its 2024 mark. Coaches attribute that jump largely to Allen’s ability to sort bunch formations and running‑back‑motion checks without burning timeouts.

Since Schumann began tutoring Georgia’s inside linebackers in 2016, the Bulldogs have produced three first‑round picks at the position. Nakobe Dean and Roquan Smith won national awards; Quay Walker parlayed his 2021 breakout into a Packers first‑round contract. Analysts already place Allen on that same trajectory. Scouts Inc. lists him as the No. 3 off‑ball linebacker heading into his draft‑eligible junior season, while Sports Illustrated named him a “sleeper pick” who could surge into the top‑32 of the 2026 NFL Draft if he repeats—or even slightly improves upon—his 2024 numbers.

Inside the Butts‑Mehre complex, comparisons are less about draft slots and more about daily standards. “Roquan owned Mondays, Nakobe owned Tuesdays—CJ owns every day,” strength coach Scott Sinclair quipped after Allen led post‑spring conditioning drills. The praise is more than motivational fluff; GPS data from May workouts showed Allen topping out at 20.9 mph during pursuit circuits, the fastest mark by a Georgia linebacker since Smith’s 2017 combine prep.

Allen’s emergence also frees Georgia’s edge rushers to play looser. Red‑shirt junior Marvin Jones Jr., whose seven‑sack 2024 season included a blocked field goal against Alabama, said he can “sell speed around the arc” more aggressively because “CJ will beat the running back to the B‑gap if the quarterback steps up.” Safeties Joenel Aguero and Zakee Wheatley likewise benefit; they can rotate late to disguise coverage because they trust Allen to carry tight ends vertically when the Bulldogs spin to single‑high looks.

The cascading effect is why ESPN analytics projects Georgia to finish top‑three nationally in both run‑stop win rate and explosive‑play prevention. If those numbers hold, Smart’s club will arrive in Atlanta on December 6 hunting its fifth SEC title in six years—and maybe one more shot at the expanded 12‑team Playoff trophy.

For all the hyperbole surrounding Georgia’s depth chart, Allen remains grounded. After the final spring practice he downplayed his growing fame, telling reporters “we’re just stackin’ days—legends get built on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.” Yet teammates note that when the red lights click on, Allen’s voice is the first—and sometimes only—one they hear. During a two‑minute drill against the first‑team offense, he checked out of a zone blitz at the line, replaced it with a Tampa‑2 look, and intercepted a ball tipped over the middle by nickel back Daylen Everette. The defense erupted; the offense jogged to the sideline shaking heads; Smart simply yelled, “That’s linebacker football!”

Georgia’s path back to the mountaintop will still hinge on quarterback Carson Beck’s efficiency and whether a rebuilt receiving corps can stretch the field. But in a sport that increasingly prizes offensive pyrotechnics, the Bulldogs continue to zig where others zag—by building around a suffocating, assignment‑sound defense. At its fulcrum stands CJ Allen, a player who personifies Kirby Smart’s doctrine that relentless preparation breeds generational results.

If Allen translates his spring dominance into autumn Saturdays, expect another parade of superlatives: All‑SEC first‑team honors, Butkus semifinalist buzz, and, perhaps most important to Georgia fans, the kind of game‑swinging presence that derails Playoff opponents’ best‑laid plans. The national spotlight is waiting; CJ Allen looks ready to seize it—and in doing so, to make Georgia’s 2025 defense the latest chapter in Athens’ era of defensive supremacy.