Shawn Williams’ October tirade last season has become the stuff of legend. The tough-as-nails strong safety vented to the media after his team’s loss to South Carolina that the defense was playing soft and needed to change if the Bulldogs were going to change the course of the season.
It worked, and Georgia played in the SEC Championship game for the second consecutive season.
But not only is Williams gone, he’s one of an array of defensive stars who are shopping their services to the NFL. The question is, on a defense that will line up against Clemson on Aug. 31 with seven new starters, who will be the leader not afraid to step up and take their teammates to task?
According to the Bulldogs, that’s a question still in the process of being answered. Many players expect junior inside linebacker Amarlo Herrera fill that role. But it could also come from senior defensive lineman Garrison Smith or junior cornerback Damian Swann.
Or maybe all three.
“We’re looking for leadership,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said Tuesday. “Amarlo’s trying to provide that. Part of it is he’s communicating with everybody and getting everybody lined up the way they should. But you still have to do your job, and you have to do it well to keep an authority position or have that role as a leader.
“I like what I’m seeing in regard to that. But he’s still got a ways to go to be a dominant football player.”
Herrera is scheduled to start at the Mo inside linebacker next season. He played both inside linebacker positions in his first two seasons at Georgia, piling up 107 tackles while starting 17 of 28 games.
Herrera played Mo early last season, but moved to Mike after Alec Ogletree returned from a four-game suspension. Ogletree, who would have been a senior next season, is expected to be a first-round draft choice instead.
“Marlo is a guy everybody is going to listen to regardless,” Swann said. “That’s what Shawn was. I feel like last year it took Shawn going to the media for guys to really open their eyes and realize what he was saying. That was where the defense turned around. I think Amarlo is going to be that kind of emotional leader. That’s just him.”
It’s a role Herrera definitely wants to take on.
“I have to be that guy,” said the 6-foot-2, 245-pound graduate of North Clayton High. “I’m one of the people making calls on the field, and they look up to me and they look to me to say something if we’re not doing things right. I take that upon myself to make sure I say something when that happens.”
But that duty could just as easily fall to Swann or Smith. They, too, have filled major roles for the Bulldogs. They’re both are stalwarts at their respective positions and have distinguished themselves with their play on the field.
Smith, a senior from Douglass High, became a starting defensive end for the Bulldogs four games into last season and is the only experienced player on an otherwise youthful defensive front. Swann, who attended Grady High, is an all-star candidate and the only player coaches have said is indispensable on the No. 1 defense.
All three players have traits that make them good leaders. Smith tries to lead by example. Swann sees himself more as a teacher.
“I don’t like to be a cheerleader or a hype man or a motivational speaker,” Smith said. “I just try to lead by example and show leadership with my play and my effort how to do it the right way. That’s the way I lead.”
Said Swann: “We’ve got a lot of young guys in the secondary. I was that guy not so long ago, so I have to stay on them and make sure they know what to do and how to play.”
It might just be that the three players together make the perfect leader.
“Yep. We’re the Atlanta Boys,” Smith said with a hardy laugh. “We’re like the Knights of the Roundtable. That’s really how it is. From our own perspectives and in our own ways, we lead. If we’ve got something to say we’re going to say it for the betterment of the team.”
Maybe, then, no tirades will be required this year.
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