{"id":1035635,"date":"2026-08-31T21:15:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T21:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1035635\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T21:15:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T21:15:15","slug":"georgia-defensive-tackle-xzavier-mcleod-no-longer-with-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1035635\/","title":{"rendered":"Georgia defensive tackle Xzavier McLeod no longer with program"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Georgia Bulldogs\u00a0have lost a key defensive lineman ahead of the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

Dawgs247 has learned that defensive tackle Xzavier McLeod<\/a><\/b> is no longer with the team\u00a0as the Bulldogs prepare for their Week 1 matchup with Tennessee State. McLeod addressed his situation briefly on a social media video last week\u00a0and described himself as “done with football” and “retired.”<\/p>\n

“Had some issues not with coaching just thought it was time ! [sic] to move away from college football” McLeod shared on social media.<\/p>\n

McLeod was gearing up for his third season in Athens. He appeared in 14 games for the Bulldogs last fall, which included 6 starts. He recorded 17 tackles, 6 quarterback pressures, and 2 pass break-ups. One of his most productive games came against Ole Miss, when he had 2 tackles and a key pass break-up in the Bulldogs’ 43-35 victory.<\/p>\n

McLeod was expected to play a key role on the defensive line this season at nose tackle along with fellow veteran Jordan Hall<\/a><\/b>. Other options at the position include Nnamdi Ogboko<\/a><\/b>, Valdin Sone<\/a><\/b>, and Nasir Johnson<\/a><\/b>.<\/p>\n

“He’s just a big athlete, functional movement, man,” Georgia defensive line coach Tray Scott<\/a><\/b> said on Aug. 12. “We love him. Looking forward to seeing what happens. So it’s hard to find big guys that can move, as you guys know that.”<\/p>\n

McLeod flashed during his first season as a Bulldog in 2024. He played in 11 games that fall and recorded 13 tackles in that time, including 2 for loss. Nearly one quarter of his tackles that season (3) came in the Bulldogs’ eight-overtime victory over Georgia Tech.<\/p>\n

McLeod was a four-star prospect when he signed with South Carolina in the 2023 class, but his stay in Columbia\u00a0ultimately proved short. He played in four games as a true freshman last fall and ended the year with 1 tackle and 1 interception.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Georgia Bulldogs\u00a0have lost a key defensive lineman ahead of the 2026 season. Dawgs247 has learned that defensive…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1035636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[43],"tags":[1318,1317,1315,1316,62,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-1035635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-football","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1035635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1035635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1035635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1035636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1035635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1035635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1035635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}