Once upon a time — in 2021 to be exact — Georgia football had gone through eight straight NFL drafts without a defensive lineman being selected.
That has changed in a rather big way.
Now Georgia is considered "a defensive line factory," in the words of Vikings senior vice president of player personnel Ryan Grigson on Saturday.
It's hard to argue with that considering nine Bulldog defensive linemen have gone in the draft in the last four years.
Three Bulldogs defensive linemen were drafted this year: Defensive end Mykel Williams with the No. 11 pick in the first round by the 49ers, defensive end Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins in the fifth round by the Vikings and defensive tackle Warren Brinson in the sixth round by the Packers .
Ingram-Dawkins was viewed as a "high upside," player, Grigson said, after starting just his last Georgia season.
"You look at the team that won the Super Bowl last year, their defense is basically Georgia," Grigson told reporters referring to a Philadelphia Eagles team stocked with Georgia players. "They've had a plethora of talent there. He's had to push to a point where he got snaps on the field and got some burn. A lot of times at a program like that, sometimes you don't play until your last year, especially at a place like Georgia."
Tray Scott, who is entering his ninth season on Kirby Smart's Georgia staff, is the defensive line coach who has helped develop all of these NFL draft picks.
Before this year, there were first-rounders Travon Walker , Jordan Davis and Devonte Wyatt in 2022 and Jalen Carter in 2023, along with fifth-rounder Robert Beal that same year and sixth rounder Zion Logue in 2024.
"He is tremendous with his group," coach Kirby Smart said. "He's tremendous with other groups. He inspires people with his story, but you know, he cares about these kids. He's a tremendous father and husband. He's really what college coaching is all about. The guy pours into these kids so much. It means so much to him that he wants to give back to them and change their lives, not about playing time. You look at the relationships he's had with Zion Logue, Jordan Davis, Devonte Wyatt, Jalen Carter. I mean the guy has just had tremendous relationships and he keeps in touch with all the guys he has coached."
Williams says he also stays connected with his former teammates who are now where he is — in the NFL.
"Those guys are guys that I still talk to this day," Williams said after flying across country to meet the media who cover the 49ers in California. "They reach back and tell me kind of how it is and what they're doing and why they're having success."
Ingram-Dawkins credited the mindset Georgia defensive linemen have and the way Scott develops players in sending so many players to the league.
"He knows what it takes for a D-lineman to make it to the next level," Ingram-Dawkins said after being drafted. "Obviously, we see that in these past couple of drafts with all the players he's had drafted."
The 49ers see Williams a player who can play outside and inside on the defensive front and bring physicality to the run defense.
"We got a 20-year-old who looks like a man on tape," coach Kyle Shanahan said.
Former Georgia co-defensive coordinator Will Muschamp, who served last season as a defensive analyst, texted the 49ers after the draft to laud Williams for playing through an ankle injury last season and told them he's got a huge upside.
Scott could have another player taken early in the 2026 draft as Georgia redshirt junior defensive tackle Christen Miller is projected as a first-round pick by USA TODAY Sports, The 33rdteam and CBSSports.com.
"Coach Scott is a great teacher," Williams said. "That's what makes Coach Scott different as a coach. That's why his players come out a little bit ahead of the curve because of how he slows down and how he teaches us play by play, block by block, step by step."
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Georgia football 'defensive line factory' produces more NFL talent
