Georgia prepping for Derrick Brown, talented Auburn defensive line

The running game will play a big role again this week when Georgia travels to Auburn for the renewal of the deep south’s oldest rivalry. The ability to move the ball on the ground isn’t lost on the Bulldogs, who can’t afford to stumble if they hope to appear in the SEC Championship game for a third straight season.

That may be problematic this week against an Auburn team that allows only 112.7 yards rushing per game and only 3.3 yards per rushing attempt. The Tigers have allowed only eight rushing touchdowns all season.

The main cog on the Auburn defense is Derrick Brown, a Lanier High graduate who has become one of the top defensive forces in the conference. Brown is a semifinalist for the Maxwell Award and Bednarik Award. He has 37 tackles, eight tackles for loss, four sacks, three breakups and two forced fumbles.

“He is definitely a great player, but no matter who’s lineup across from me, I just try to focus on my technique in my mind and try to get it done,” Georgia lineman Cade Mays said.

Georgia coach Kirby Smart is aware of Brown’s ability. He recruited the 6-foot-5, 318-pound defensive tackle.

“He’s a great athlete,” Smart said. “He has ball skills. He gets interceptions. He gets fumbles. He’s around the ball. He’s explosive. You got that kind of twitch and you’re as big as he is, it’s hard to block, and he’s been a very disruptive player in this league for a long time.”

The Bulldogs average 215.9 yards rushing per game and 5.6 yards per carry. Georgia’s depth at that position remains impressive and hard to match.

Georgia is the only major college program with four different players go over 1,000 yards rushing during the 2017 and 2018 seasons. One of those returning from 2018 is D’Andre Swift, who is closing in on his second straight 1,000-yard season. Swift ran for 1,049 yards and 10 touchdowns last season and needs 79 yards to reach the milestone in 2019. Swift is trying to become the fifth player in school history to have back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons.

The Bulldogs can also call on the likes of Brian Herrien (366 yards, five TDs), Zamir White (271 yards, two TDs), Kenny McIntosh (128 yards) and James Cook (122 yards). They don’t suffer many losses, either; Georgia’s top five backs have accumulated only 33 negative yards.

The Georgia offensive line has gotten healthy and began to live up to its preseason hype. Ben Cleveland was this week named SEC Offensive Lineman of the Week.

“He has taken on all roles,” Smart said. “He was starting and playing when he had the broken leg and bounced back from that. He’s done a tremendous job. He was really good the other night (against Missouri), getting a lot of movement and playing with good pad level. Usually when Ben plays well, we play well.”

Georgia beat Auburn 27-10 last year in Athens and has won 14 of the last 18 meetings. Georgia leads the all-time series 59-56-8. The series is the second most-played active series in FBS football.