Davin Bellamy and Leonard Floyd were pretty competitive as Georgia teammates.
Whether it was playing the NBA2K video game or even who would win a race to get to the front passenger seat to ride shotgun.
“If we end up getting there at the same time, it would be a big fight,” Bellamy said.
Floyd bested Bellamy and the rest of the team for most sacks to lead the Bulldogs for a third straight year, but the first-round NFL draft pick is gone as is third-round pick Jordan Jenkins.
Now Bellamy, a redshirt junior, and Lorenzo Carter, a true junior, lead returners trying to keep up the pressure on opposing quarterbacks.
“Before Flo, it was Jarvis (Jones) and then you have the Jordan line,” Bellamy said. “It’s a very prestigious position at Georgia. You want to try to kind of live up to it.”
Floyd and Jenkins combined for 8 ½ sacks last year with Bellamy third on the team with three despite playing only about 17 to 20 plays a game last season.
“I was able to come in fresh and kind of spell those guys and was able to make plays,” Bellamy said. “This year I’m going to have to play more snaps, therefore my game’s going to have to be consistent.”
Carter used that same word to describe what he and Bellamy need to bring to the position game in and game out.
“We’re just looking to go out there, every game and just be a consistent force,” Carter said. “Not just me and Bell. As a whole defense, we just want to be consistent. We want you to feel us.”
Carter had a quiet sophomore season, making the former five-star recruit from Norcross pinpointed as a player with plenty of potential who didn’t have much production last season.
“I try to always keep a chip on my shoulder,” said Carter, who went from 4 ½ sacks and seven tackles for loss in 2014 to none in either category last season when he did have two forced fumbles. “We just watched Kobe (Byrant) retire and he’s been hated like forever. That’s what motivated him.”
Asked how he explains his sophomore season, Carter said simply: “I played behind a first-rounder and I have to learn. It’s a learning process especially in this game of football at the highest level, the SEC. You can make plays, but you just have to learn it’s a grown man league. You’ve got to be ready.”
Georgia coach Kirby Smart is still looking for more growth from his outside linebackers to hold up better in the SEC.
“I don’t know that we’re big enough, I don’t know that we’re stout enough right now to where we need to be but we have some good athletes,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said last week.
Sophomore outside linebacker D’Andre Walker was credited with four sacks on G-Day as he took advantage of a second-team offensive line, particularly Kendall Baker.
The 6-foot-3, 224-pound Walker, Smart said, “has to become a better all-around player. He’s got to get stronger in the weight room and more physical. The same way with Lorenzo.”
Bellamy practiced this spring after missing Georgia’s bowl game following a knee injury.
“He’s still got a ways to go, he still gets frustrated with the injury,” Smart said. “He did try to push that and get better through that process.”
Another outside linebacker, senior Chuks Amaechi, should be able to go through summer workouts, but still may be limited in the weight room.
“He was a really good role player last year especially on special teams,” Smart said. “When you watch special teams, he stood out as a guy that could help us. He has a really good attitude as well.”
Smart also mentioned redshirt sophomore Keyon Brown, who moved from the defensive line, as a player who can help Georgia “especially with as many snaps as we have to play on defense. It’s nice to have a corps of players that can run and are athletic. The biggest concern is size and strength and getting those guys a little bit bigger.”
The 6-6, 242-pound Carter wants to improve as an every down player, which means becoming more powerful at the point of attack on early downs.
“It doesn’t matter what you can do on third down if you don’t get them there--third and long,” Carter said. “It’s all about first and second down. That’s what’s been the key focus, being a first and second down player.”