Georgia safety KJ Bolden revealed a secret he kept to himself during the 2024 season
KJ Bolden played blind last season, but you wouldn’t know it.
Georgia Bulldogs safety KJ Bolden kept quite a big secret during the 2024 college football season and revealed it earlier this week.
During an interview with the “I AM ATHLETE” podcast, Bolden admitted that he played blind out of one eye during his freshman year.
“I just had eye surgery,” Bolden said. “It is over with now. So, like last year I couldn’t see for real. People don’t know that, but the whole last year I played blind. Like I couldn’t see out for real. My right eye, its blurry (seeing out of it). Like I can only see out of one eye.”
The crazy part about it is that Bolden still managed to rack up 59 tackles, 2.0 tackles for loss, one sack, and an interception. He also topped those numbers off with All-Freshman honors.
Kirby Smart shared what made KJ stand out from the other freshman after his college debut
After Bolden’s freshman debut against Clemson in 2024, where he recorded four tackles, head coach Kirby Smart explained what set the former five-star apart from the rest of Georgia’s young talent.
“He’s played more football than most seniors,” Smart said. “He’s been playing since he was 6 years old,” Smart said. “In the heart of Atlanta, in one of the toughest leagues there is to play football. He’s played up against older kids all his life. He’s extremely athletic.
“The moment’s not too big for KJ. He’s just very gifted athletically, but he also had great football instincts and intuition. He’s been coached by his father. He’s tough. So I think that gives him a leg up coming in just because he’s been playing football so long.”
Bolden entered his sophomore season carrying plenty of pressure after Dan Jackson and Malaki Starks departed for the NFL. But thanks to his strong work ethic and the lessons he absorbed from those veterans, Smart had no concerns.
Bolden has remained nothing but a consistent presence this season, logging 33 tackles, two passes defended and an interception so far.
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