At the O7:O4 mark of the video above, I asked Jordan Davis which stats he paid attention to for judging his own effectiveness. Jordan said:
“I actually look at the linebacker stats, because I know that if the linebackers get a lot of tackles that means I’m doing my job right. I always say, Two on me, somebody’s free. Usually when the linebackers make a tackle for loss, it usually goes with something on the D-line.“
Here is the rest of his presser:
On how the defense feels about the offense and if the offense can give the defense a cushion…
“We always have faith in our offense, and we’re not really looking at it that type of way. We are just looking at it as a good on good competition. We have our best guys going against their best guys—just good competition all around at practice.”
On how he compares Zamir White and James Cook to Brian Herrien and D’Andre Swift…
“There is no drop-off, no drop-off. They bring such unique, multiple things to the game. It is really fun to watch and really fun to play with them. [Zamir White and James Cook] are both fast—so it’s giving me a hard time in practice trying to catch up with them at practice. I love them boys both.”
On if he thinks he’ll have a break out year this year…
“Definitely. I know it is a lot of pressure on me. I put a lot of pressure on myself for this year, especially maintaining my weight and getting active—running a lot more, trying to run a lot faster during practice and trying to compete. I feel like everything will fall into place once the season starts rolling around.”
On how he feels about constantly being asked about his weight…
“Talking about it is not an issue for me, it’s more of motivation for me. I just want to make sure that I am in the best position and condition that I am for the team.”
On if as he’s gotten older it has been easier to stay conditioned…
“For myself, with quarantine, it was hard to keep my weight in check but we got it back down, regulated. It’s just trying to progress every day. Move that chip lower and lower, move faster and faster every day. I’ll look at myself in the mirror sometimes and be like, ‘Dang you’re really slimming up.’ So, it’s just good to see the progression.”
On what is different about this year’s defensive line compared to last…
“I don’t see any difference. We play the same role. Dan [Lanning], when he calls the frame work of the defense we play between it. There’s really no drop off, no changes. We’re still playing the same plays, same calls. It’s really the mentality for us. We want to create havoc so if we have a ‘dawg’ mentality it’s always going to be with us.”
On how Georgia’s defense will be different this year…
“That’s a hard one… We have depth this year. I can say that. We have a lot of depth. A lot of young players are coming up and filling roles. We have to keep that next man up mentality. Everything with [COVID-19], anything can happen this season, but I can say that the young boys are really buying in, chipping in and it’s been fun to coach them and play with them so I can say depth for us this year. We are in too deep.”