Kirby Smart gets real honest about the current state of Georgia's safety room outside of KJ Bolden
The Georgia Bulldogs took a huge hit to their secondary this offseason when they lost starting safeties Malaki Starks and Dan Jackson to the NFL. And head coach Kirby Smart is feeling it. The good news is that rising sophomore K.J. Bolden is returning, but there is still a lot of progress to be made with […]
The Georgia Bulldogs took a huge hit to their secondary this offseason when they lost starting safeties Malaki Starks and Dan Jackson to the NFL.
And head coach Kirby Smart is feeling it.
The good news is that rising sophomore K.J. Bolden is returning, but there is still a lot of progress to be made with transfer safeties Zion Branch, Adrian Maddox, and Jaden Harris.
"It's just like a lot of guys and there's nobody really standing out," Smart said of the safety room. "KJ's there and he continues to bulk up, get a little bit bigger, and be able to take care of himself and tackle like he needs to in terms of size, but he understands the defense and he's a good athlete. He can he can do things and cover. JaCorey's working in there. Zion Branch is working in there. We got Maddox working in there. Jaden's working in there. JaCorey, I think I mentioned him. Todd Robinson. Joenel's gotten reps at safety as well as star. Jaden's working at star some. Kyron's working at star. Kyron's working at safety.
"I mean it's, it's a lot of people, but there's no like, you know, the solid foundation that Malaki and Dan provided is not there. So it's a by committee group. I'm thinking it's too early to have anybody like out in the lead. They're all swimming a little bit. They're trying to survive practice instead of thrive and we want to thrive, not survive."
Bolden is set to enter his second year with the Bulldogs after logging 59 tackles, 2.0 tackles for loss, a sack, and an interception. He also topped those numbers off with All-Freshman honors.
It will be Bolden's job to step up as a leader this spring and summer to get the other guys accumulated. That's a lot to ask of a sophomore, but Smart already considers Bolden a veteran.
"He seems like a vet to me now because there's just very little veteran experience out there," Smart said. "He learned from two guys that knew how to do it in Malaki and Dan. He doesn't overstep his bounds. He doesn't try to force himself on players that are older than him. He pulls for Georgia. He pulls guys in the right direction. He coaches guys. He got a lot of reps last year at this time. He got a lot of reps in the season. He continues to develop his body. He's got his body in a position where he can play more snaps, play every snap. In terms of leadership he's doing a nice job."
