Demarcus Dobbs took the field in Saturday’s G-Day scrimmage at defensive end, the same position he played last year in former defensive coordinator Willie Martinez’s 4-3 scheme.

Kiante Tripp (75) has been shuffled around to three different positions before finally finding a home at defensive end for the Bulldogs. Photo by Wes Blankenship

Despite playing the same position as the one he started at last season, there has been a bigger  adjustment period than anticipated.

Dobbs and fellow fifth-year senior defensive ends Brandon Wood and Kiante Tripp may have the same position title, but defensive ends in new defensive coordinator Todd Grantham’s 3-4 scheme are lining up in a different position than in the past.

The 3-4 requires defensive ends to play the three-technique, where defensive ends are required to line up over the offensive guard and inside the offensive tackle.

That requires bigger ends with more responsibilities in the running game.

In the 3-4, defensive ends can even slide down to nose tackle in nickel packages for third-and-long situations to boost the defensive line’s pass-rushing prowess.

“The biggest adjustment is playing the three technique,” Dobbs said. “Defensive end in the 4-3 is just the five technique and you’re on the outside, but when you’re moved down a little more, everything just happens so quickly. That’s been the biggest adjustment trying to get used to that.”

For bigger-bodied defensive ends like the 6-foot-1, 290-pound Wood, who was frequently flip-flopped between defensive tackle and defensive end during his first four years in Athens, Wood showed he’s a quick study Saturday with a sack and two tackles.

“I think [the 3-4] is going to be great for me,” Wood said. “Whenever I just learn what to do and get everything down pat, I think I’m going to do pretty good.”

For Tripp, who has waffled between defensive end, tight end, and offensive tackle, the switch finally gives him a position he can call home. He, along with Woods and Dobbs, have all been praised as guys that defensive line coach Rodney Garner “has been pleased with” this spring.

“Stability is always good,” Tripp said.

“[Tripp] has done well. He has moved around a lot positionally, and now we’ve got him in his final resting place so to speak, and I think he’s embracing it and I think he’s doing well,” coach Mark Richt said. “He will play, and he will help us.”

Along with the transition to the three-technique and a new defensive coordinator, the senior defensive end trip is also learning to embrace their new-found role as leaders on a defensive line filled with underclassmen.

“The guys they listen, but still we’re all trying to learn. I like to show by example — I’m not really a vocal guy,” Wood said. “Dobbs might be the more vocal kind of guy, [Tripp] is more like I am, leading by example.”

“I haven’t really been in the limelight, but people look up to me because I’m the older guy, and I try to do things right on and off the field,” Tripp said. “So it’s a difference trying to fill in that leadership role.”