The Georgia football team's week began with a blow and ended with a flex of identity. The Bulldogs learned junior defensive tackle Jordan Hall will miss the rest of the 2025 season after a knee injury suffered in the 24-20 win over Florida in Jacksonville, per CBS and later confirmed by On3’s Pete Nakos.
A former five-star who battled back from prior leg issues, Hall had grown into a steady anchor inside, posting 12 tackles and two tackles for loss in eight games. His absence will force Georgia to lean harder on Elijah Griffin, Nnamdi Ogboko, Nassir Johnson, and JJ Hanne as its College Football Playoff push continues.
Against Texas, Kirby Smart showed exactly how this program manufactures edges when talent alone is not enough. As first detailed by ESPN, he rolled the dice right after a Bulldogs touchdown, dialing up a surprise onside kick on the ensuing kickoff.
Kicker Peyton Woodring popped it perfectly, and running back Cash Jones pounced on the loose ball at Georgia’s 47-yard line for the program’s first recovered onside kick since 2013.
Safety KJ Bolden said Smart had warned the team all week that a momentum play was coming and admitted he was skeptical until the call actually came.
Smart explained that Texas returner Ryan Niblett’s big-play threat made the gamble easier, noting that if Georgia kicked it deep, there was a real chance of a long runback. The staff believed, based on practice data, that they had roughly an 80 percent shot at recovering the onside and had even drilled it on a frigid, windy Monday.
Georgia cashed in immediately, marching nine plays before Gunner Stockton hit tight end Lawson Luckie for a 6-yard score to make it 28-10 with 8:53 left. Smart later described the sequence with the line that lit up social media: his offense is like a “big, strong anaconda,” slowly squeezing the life out of opponents.
Texas, he said, finally caught a breath, only to be dragged back under as Georgia’s attack kept suffocating.
Even amid that dominance, the Bulldogs kept their doors open to outside voices. Former Florida coach Billy Napier visited Georgia’s practice in Athens, according to On3/UGASports, days after Smart publicly praised the physical roster Napier built in Gainesville and just weeks after Napier’s Gators beat Texas 29-21.
The stopover fit Smart’s “iron sharpens iron” culture, where fired or free-agent coaches drop in, trade ideas, and study a contender from the inside.
With Hall out and the schedule tightening, Georgia’s margin for error shrinks, but the identity Smart sketched with that anaconda metaphor explains why belief remains high.
The Bulldogs will test their depth immediately against Mississippi State, then enter a decisive stretch that includes Texas, Charlotte, and Georgia Tech, trusting that calculated risks, suffocating offense, and a “next man up” mindset can keep their CFP dreams alive.
