The Georgia Bulldogs are the most talented team in the SEC East.

Constantly flooding their roster with highly-touted prospects, the Bulldogs continue to have one of the better recruiting classes in the SEC year in and year out. The 2015 recruiting class is no different as the Bulldogs currently have the No. 3 rated class according to 247sports.

Mark Richt has loaded up on defensive line prospects in 2015, and for good reason, because it’s a position the ‘Dawgs most desperately need to bolster this offseason.

Despite the success of first-year defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt, the defensive line wasn’t always on par with the rest of the defense. As evidenced in games against Florida and Georgia Tech, UGA’s defensive line has a tendency to get pushed around and that means allowing a lot of rushing yards.

For most of the season, UGA’s run defense was pretty good. Up until the Florida game, the ‘Dawgs allowed just over 100 rushing yards per game, good for second in the SEC behind only Alabama. But it was the Gators, and later Kentucky and Georgia Tech, that exposed some real weaknesses along the line.

In those three games combined, UGA allowed 1,031 rushing yards. To compare, in Georgia’s other nine games, it only gave up 1,076 rushing yards.

And with Mike Thornton, Toby Johnson and Ray Drew graduating, that leaves some significant holes on the defensive front line.

Current defensive line commits

  • Five-star — Trent Thompson, 6-4, 305 (Westover HS, Albany, Ga.)
  • Four-star — Jonathan Ledbetter, 6-4, 265 (Tucker HS, Tucker, Ga.)
  • Four-star — Natrez Patrick, 6-3, 220 (Mays HS, Atlanta, Ga.)
  • Four-star — Chauncey Rivers, 6-2, 247 (Stephenson HS, Stone Mountain, Ga.)
  • Four-star — Michael Barnett, 6-5, 258 (Woodland HS, Dorchester, S.C.)
  • Three-star — Justin Young, 6-2, 255 (Grayson HS, Loganville, Ga.)

Other positions of need

Defensive back — The Bulldogs had a promising young secondary last year, but since last offseason, attrition has whittled down the depth of UGA’s defensive backs. And with two more transfers this offseason, UGA can use as many players as possible to help fill out the secondary depth chart.

Wide receiver — Georgia will lose its two top receivers to graduation — Michael Bennett and Chris Conley. Behind them, Malcolm Mitchell could lead next year’s WR corps, but with his injury history he’s no guarantee to play a full season. There’s simply not a lot of proven talent at receiver for Georgia next season.