Jalon Walker had a breakout season this year for the Georgia defense, as he broke out from the logjam at inside linebacker even with Jamon Dumas-Johnson and Smael Mondon getting most of the attention.

Walker primarily contributed as a pass rusher, and he showed against Florida when he had a sack, a forced fumble and a tackle for a loss.

Ahead of the Orange Bowl, co-defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann spoke about Walker’s contributions this season.

“Jalon goes about his business the right way. He works really hard. He’s a unique individual because he’s able to play both inside and out,” Schumann said. “He helped us a lot on 3rd down this year. We also had packages where he played off the ball on 1st and 2nd down.”

Being a pass rusher is one thing, but adding versatility to his skillset is another to help Walker down the road.

“He’s just grown leaps and bounds,” Schumann said. “This isn’t something — you could see he’s rushed the passer his whole life. He decided to take on the challenge and play more off the ball in college because he knew it’d be more beneficial to him in the long run because, the more you can do, the more value you add to your career. He’s helped us a ton on third down. He’s helped us more on first and second down moving forward. I’m excited about where he’s going.”