ATHENS — First, about Smael Mondon’s first name: It’s pronounced smile, like the grin on his face. Not smail or smeel or smell or the other curious derivations Mondon has heard.
“I’ve heard a lot of different things,” the sophomore linebacker said with a laugh.
You’ll get used to hearing Mondon’s name as he’s a big part of the Bulldogs’ defensive plans. At this point, it looks like either he or Trezmen Marshall will start at the inside linebacker position opposite of Pop Dumas-Johnson. Regardless, he’ll be part of the rotation and on the field a lot.
Coach Kirby Smart, for one, believes that’s a very good thing for the Bulldogs.
“Smael Mondon is as good an athlete as I’ve seen,” Smart said three weeks ago.
Smart has, of course, coached linebackers Roquan Smith, Monty Rice and Nakobe Dean at Georgia, not to mention several All-Americans at Alabama. But Mondon’s not letting that assessment go to his head.
“It’s an honor hearing that from coach Smart, of course, with all the linebackers he’s coached over the years,” said Mondon, speaking to reporters Wednesday night after the Bulldogs’ practice. “But it doesn’t really change much. It doesn’t change how I work. I just try to keep pushing myself as hard as I can.”
The only thing holding back the 6-foot-3, 225-pound Mondon has been injuries. A knee injury cut short his senior season at Paulding County High, where he earned a consensus five-star recruiting ranking as an outside linebacker prospect. Then, after playing all 15 games for the Bulldogs last season as a special-teams regular and defensive backup, Mondon had to have offseason labrum surgery. He missed spring practice and dropped about 10 pounds in the process.
“He has to increase his physicality, his toughness,” Smart said. “… But he’s put on some good, solid weight, played a lot of snaps on special teams. Core linebackers get valuable experience on special teams before they’re the featured guy.”
The Bulldogs see Mondon as part of their solution at inside linebacker. With Dean, Quay Walker and Channing Tindall all getting drafted off last season’s squad, Georgia lost 151 games of experience and 415 career tackles.
Nobody knows that better than Mondon, who hasn’t stopped hearing about it.
“It was great sitting behind them last year, learning from them,” Mondon said. “They taught us a lot. But we’re not necessarily comparing ourselves to what happened last year. We’re more worried about being the best version of ourselves that we can be.”
Mondon and his cohorts won’t get to ease into their new roles. They’ll meet No. 11 Oregon in less than 10 days in a Chick-fil-A Kickoff game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Under the direction of former Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning, the Ducks’ offensive front is considered the strength of their team. Nine of its top 10 linemen return, including four starters.
Expected to be led by mobile, veteran quarterback in former Auburn signal-caller Bo Nix, Oregon is expected to hit Georgia linebackers with a lot of run-pass conflict.
The Bulldogs just dove deep into their examination of the Ducks. But, for now, Mondon’s not sweating about those details.
“We’re real excited,” he said of the opener. “We all play for Saturday nights. But I feel like right now we’re mostly just focused on practice and getting better before then.”
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