By John Frierson
Staff Writer

Over the short Christmas break for the No. 3-ranked Georgia football team, CJ Allen was back in Barnesville, Ga., giving away toys to 150 children in his hometown. Fellow Bulldog inside linebacker Raylen Wilson was doing something similar in Tallahassee, Fla., presenting a donation to his old high school, Lincoln, as a way of saying thanks for helping him become the player and person he is today.

“Giving back and seeing the look on everybody’s faces, it was great,” Wilson said.

“It felt good doing it, man, just because it means a lot,” Allen said. “That’s something I kind of wish I had when I was coming on. Sometimes on Christmas day, we didn’t have too many gifts under the Christmas tree, but we made it work. It means a lot just to make some of those parents’ days and especially to see the smiles on those kids’ faces.”

Allen said there were some gifts leftover at the end of the event at Lamar County High School in Barnesville, so he took the remaining toys over to Griffin, Ga., where he was born, and gave them away there.

“It was exciting, for sure,” Allen said.

In the era of name, image and likeness and schools being able to pay players, guys like Allen and Wilson have the means to not only do things for themselves and their families, but also give back to those who have impacted their lives along the way.

“I’m a firm believer in that,” Allen said. “Being able to give back while you’re in college, that means a lot.”

Allen and Wilson, both juniors, mean a lot to a Georgia defense that ranks 11th in the country in points allowed per game (15.9) and 13th in yards per game (284.5). Heading into Thursday’s College Football Playoff quarterfinal matchup against No. 6 Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl, Allen leads the Bulldogs with 85 tackles, including a team-high 8 tackles for loss, and Wilson is second with 70. Wilson is tied with defensive lineman Christen Miller for the team lead in quarterback pressures with 22.

“We came in together, we took our official visit together, … and ever since then, we’ve been through a lot together,” Allen said of his relationship with Wilson. “It’s definitely cool. Sometimes when we’re watching film of an old game, we’ll be like, ‘Look at us out there, what are we doing?’ It’s cool to see our growth and see how we’ve consistently tried to get better.”

As freshmen, Allen and Wilson, who had joined the team the previous spring, saw a lot of playing time. Wilson made the SEC All-Freshman Team, and Allen had 41 tackles. Allen took off as a sophomore, starting 12 games and finishing second on the squad with 76 tackles, just one behind team leader Malaki Starks’ 77. Wilson made 47 stops as a sophomore, including seven for loss.

“We’ve grown since we’ve been here,” Wilson said. “I feel like Georgia does a good job actually teaching football and not just putting you out there and telling you to just go run around. I feel like they do a good job developing us.”

Georgia has a long history of producing standout linebackers. Just in the past nine seasons, Roquan Smith (2017), Nakobe Dean (2021) and Jalon Walker (2024) have won the Butkus Award as the nation’s top linebacker. Allen was a finalist for the award this season.

In the 2022 NFL Draft, Georgia linebackers Quay Walker, Dean and Channing Tindall all were selected in the first three rounds. All of that success developing great linebackers was a big reason why Wilson chose to come to UGA.

“That was probably the main part,” he said. “Just seeing three ‘backers get drafted that year, my mind was made up after that.”

Wilson and Allen have led the way for a Georgia defense that started out with a lot of young players and went through some rough patches in the first half of the season. Over the past four games, however, including wins over No. 13 Texas, No. 22 Georgia Tech and No. 9 Alabama in the SEC Championship Game, the Bulldogs haven’t allowed more than 10 points.

“I think the defense is more mature overall. We just do a better job of executing our cause, just playing fundamental football. … I just think we kind of grew up a little bit.”

Wilson feels the same way.

“Everybody’s just growing at a rapid rate, just day by day,” he said. “Everybody’s just keeping their head down and working, and I feel like that’s paying off.”

Over the past three seasons, Allen and Wilson have certainly grown together, into a pair of playmaking linebackers who have helped lead the Bulldogs to back-to-back SEC titles and CFP appearances. Now comes another big challenge, facing a high-powered Ole Miss offense that put up 35 points on Georgia in their first meeting this season, a 43-35 win in Athens on Oct. 18. The Rebels scored touchdowns on their first five possessions in that game, before Georgia’s defense shut Ole Miss out in the fourth quarter and rallied for the win.

“They’ve got some really good skill players, and they can force some missed tackles,” Wilson said of the Rebels’ offense. “We just got to go out and execute and tackle well.”

Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men’s Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files.