{"id":1036651,"date":"2026-09-01T09:27:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T09:27:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1036651\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T09:27:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T09:27:22","slug":"georgia-dl-xzavier-mcleod-no-longer-on-the-roster-as-he-reportedly-retires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1036651\/","title":{"rendered":"Georgia DL Xzavier McLeod no longer on the roster as he reportedly retires"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"story-text-v2\"> ATHENS \u2014 One of Georgia\u2019s oldest defensive linemen is no longer on the roster, as Georgia defensive lineman Xzavier McLeod is no longer with the team. <\/p>\n<p class=\"story-text-v2\">McLeod was not listed on the team roster on <a href=\"https:\/\/georgiadogs.com\/sports\/football\/roster\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Georgiadogs.com. <\/a>According to a report from Dawgs247, McLeod had a social media post last week indicating that he was \u201cdone with football\u201d and \u201cretired.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-text-v2\">McLeod spent the previous two seasons at Georgia after transferring in from South Carolina. <\/p>\n<p class=\"story-text-v2\">He appeared in all 14 games last season for Georgia while making six starts. He had 17 tackles, 6 quarterback pressures and 2 pass breakups. <\/p>\n<p class=\"story-text-v2\">McLeod was viewed as a key piece on the defensive line, where he was expected to play next to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawgnation.com\/football\/around-the-dawghouse\/elijah-griffin-could-be-good-he-wants-be-georgia-defensive-line\/FRNNHHEEJVCBVGDG5PK4NJ5MOA\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Elijah Griffin on the interior<\/a>. Defensive lineman Jordan Hall will likely see an increase in snaps with McLeod gone. Hall is coming off a knee injury he suffered last season. <\/p>\n<p class=\"story-text-v2\">Georgia coach Kirby Smart spoke about his interior defensive line on Monday. <\/p>\n<p class=\"story-text-v2\">\u201cThey\u2019re a very by-committee group,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawgnation.com\/football\/around-the-dawghouse\/kirby-smart-challenges-georgia-fans-media-over-potential-heat-concerns\/GQWTGFVGBNE4FKPJUU3NDNEC6M\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Smart said.<\/a> \u201cThey bust their butt every day in practice. They compete. They go against a big, physical offensive line. We\u2019ve got a few more twitchy guys with JJ (Hanne) sliding in and playing a little more time inside. We\u2019ve got the size with Nnamdi (Ogboko) in there and Nasir Johnson playing. Both those guys have been good at run-stopping for us. What we need is the twitch, the athleticism that EG [Elijah Griffin] and some of those guys to make us a better pass rush.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-text-v2\">Georgia did sign defensive tackle Valdin Sone in the 2026 recruiting class, with Smart noting last week the freshman will have a role on this season\u2019s team. <\/p>\n<p class=\"story-text-v2\">\u201cHe\u2019s created a role in terms of his twitch, his disruption. He\u2019s really athletic,\u201d Smart said. \u201cMaybe could get stronger and, you know, be able to hold the point better. But when it comes to getting off blocks, running the ball, chasing the ball, he\u2019s gonna make us better.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-text-v2\">The Bulldogs open the 2026 season on Saturday when they take on Tennessee State. The game is set for a 3 p.m. ET start. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATHENS \u2014 One of Georgia\u2019s oldest defensive linemen is no longer on the roster, as Georgia defensive lineman&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1036652,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[43],"tags":[12955,1441,2871,1318,4353,203602,1317,1315,1316,2973,62,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-1036651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-alabama","tag-championship","tag-college","tag-football","tag-georgia","tag-mercedes-benz-stadium","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-sec","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117195075919946094","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1036651","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=1036651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1036651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1036652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1036651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1036651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1036651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}