CJ Allen and Raylen Wilson are no longer Georgia’s promising young linebackers—they’re the leaders of a new-look defense chasing another national title.

Both players were thrown into the fire as true freshmen in 2023, stepping in after injuries to veterans Jamon Dumas-Johnson and Smael Mondon. By 2024, they were no longer fill-ins—they were difference-makers.

Allen led the linebacker unit with 76 total tackles last season, just one behind team leader Malaki Starks. Wilson, meanwhile, logged 47 total tackles and made impact plays behind the line of scrimmage, racking up seven tackles for loss.

Defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann, who also serves as inside linebackers coach, says the game has finally slowed down for his veteran duo.

“It’s honestly really crazy to think about,” Schumann said. “I constantly refer to them as the old heads now… it feels like you have forever when you first get here, and the next thing you know, you’re a junior.”

That increased experience is translating on the field. Schumann says Allen and Wilson are no longer reacting—they’re anticipating. And that’s made them faster, more confident, and more vocal leaders across the board.

“You’re not reacting,” Schumann said. “You’re anticipating… They’re more confident both in terms of communicating the defense, commanding from a leadership standpoint, and speeding up their run fits.”

Kirby Smart echoed those sentiments when discussing Georgia’s linebacker unit as a whole, pointing to Schumann’s track record developing inside backers and deploying them creatively in multiple-linebacker sets.

“That room has been one of our strengths throughout the time we’ve been here,” Smart said. “We play a lot of them. Naturally, there’s two out there every play, but sometimes we have three.”

With Mondon off to the NFL and no clear-cut star emerging beyond Allen and Wilson, the two juniors are now the backbone of the Bulldogs defense. Behind them are second-year players Chris Cole and Justin Williams, who could factor in heavily as Georgia looks to rotate at least three linebackers this fall.

If Georgia returns to championship-level defense in 2025, it’ll be because Allen and Wilson delivered. So far, all signs point to them being up for the challenge.