Georgia Bulldogs surprisingly should have no problem replacing one first-round NFL Draft pick on defense according to PFF
Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs may not have a problem replacing star safety Malaki Starks, who is a projected first-round pick in the upcoming 2025 NFL Draft, after all. Experts at Pro Football Focus released their Top 10 returning safeties in college football in 2025, and Bulldogs rising sophomore KJ Bolden came in at […]
Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs may not have a problem replacing star safety Malaki Starks, who is a projected first-round pick in the upcoming 2025 NFL Draft, after all.
Experts at Pro Football Focus released their Top 10 returning safeties in college football in 2025, and Bulldogs rising sophomore KJ Bolden came in at No. 5.
Here's what PFF had to say about Bolden returning:
5. KJ Bolden, Georgia
The Bulldogs may have just lost superstar safety Malaki Starks, but they have another waiting in the wings. Bolden was a top-15 overall recruit and the No. 1 safety in the 2024 class, and he immediately showed why in his freshman season.
Bolden finished this past season as the eighth-most-valuable returning Power Four safety, according to PFF’s Wins Above Average metric. His 13 coverage stops tied for the fifth most among all safeties in college football. He has great speed for the position and is a strong tackler despite weighing only 185 pounds.
Bolden will enter his second season with the Bulldogs after logging 59 tackles, 2.0 tackles for loss, a sack, and an interception as a freshman in 2024. He also topped those numbers off with All-Freshman honors.
It will be Bolden's job to step up as a leader throughout the spring and summer in order to get the other guys accumulated. That is a lot to ask of a sophomore, however, coach Smart already considers Bolden a veteran.
It sure helps that he learned from the best: Starks and Dan Jackson.
"He seems like a vet to me now because there's just very little veteran experience out there," Smart said last month.
"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."
This is the reassurance Georgia fans need right now considering the rest of the secondary is still up in the air.
We'll get a better feel at how things are panning out for Bolden and the rest of the secondary when Georgia kicks off their spring game on Saturday, April 12 a noon ET.
