The next possession, Jones feasted on Franklin, strip-sacking the Tigers’ passer from behind after bursting off the right edge untouched. That created another turnover inside the 10-yard-line that soon opened up a 21-point lead.
After the game, Georgia head coach Mark Richt said his playmaking outside ’backer “may be the best defensive player in America.” After sitting out a year as a transfer from USC, Jones burst onto the scene in the 2011 opener against Boise State, when he showed up all over the field and was a disruptive tackling machine.

Had he declared for the draft as a redshirt sophomore, he was widely regarded by NFL scouts as a first-round pick. Having proven capable of dominating his first two weeks this season should cement his status as a top-15 pick in the 2013 draft and position the nation’s returning sack leader in the same class as other pass-rushing dynamos who have been selected highly in recent years, such as Von Miller, Aldon Smith and Bruce Irvin.

Mammoth-bodied DT Jonathan Jenkins needed assistance leaving the game in the fourth quarter after suffering a leg injury. Three Bulldogs defensive starters — hard-hitting senior safety Bacarri Rambo, a second-round talent with exceptional ball skills, speedy junior ILB Alec Ogletree and CB Sanders Commings — also did not make the trip as a result of suspensions.

Rambo and Ogletree reportedly were suspended four games after a second positive test for marijuana in the spring and Commings received a two-game suspension following a January arrest on a domestic violence charge.