What the spring game told us about Georgia’s most up-in-the-air position
On a loaded Georgia roster, the biggest remaining question marks reside in the secondary.
Georgia loses six defensive backs from last season’s team, which its own issues defending the pass at times. During Saturday’s G-Day spring game in Sanford Stadium, the initial shape of the secondary began to appear.
The apparent first-team safeties came as no surprise. Junior Lewis Cine occupied one spot, while senior Christopher Smith played the other side. Smith is the player who replaced since-departed safety Richard LeCounte in the starting lineup during the second half of last season.
“We know we can get where we want to go because we know we’re always going to be working hard towards our goals and things like that,” Smith said on April 6. “Those guys at corner — they’re no slouches. They go out there and work hard and play like everybody else. The whole unit is constantly working to get better.”
The real uncertainties rest at corner and the hybrid STAR position. Georgia lost its top two STARs from last season in Mark Webb and Tyrique Stevenson, in addition to losing three corners in Eric Stokes, Tyson Campbell in D.J. Daniel.
“It’s just a lot of young guys that haven’t played a lot of college football,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said after an April 3 scrimmage. “We’re a long way from being ready in terms of what we need to do with the secondary because we’ve just got a lot of inexperienced players. We cannot have enough of those situations: scrimmages, passing, all of the different looks we get, because we need experience.”
At one corner spot is Ameer Speed, a senior who has waited his turn to play. At 6-foot-3 and 211 pounds, he brings rare size to the outside for the Bulldogs.
The other first-team corner spot in Saturday’s spring game belonged to redshirt freshman Jalen Kimber. A four-star prospect in the Class of 2020, Kimber appeared in three games last season.
“Jalen Kimber was able to go out and actually take reps and work last year, which gives you an advantage, because you’ve seen things, you have heard calls, and you have to adjust,” Smart said on April 3. “The biggest thing with Jalen is continuing to work really hard with the nutrition and weight room to keep adding size, and he’s conscious of that.”
Both Kimber and Speed had nice pass breakups early in the game Saturday, with both coming against first-team quarterback J.T. Daniels. Speed finished with seven tackles, while Kimber recorded four and broke up two passes.
At STAR, senior Latavious Brini got most of the first-team reps. He started there in place of Webb in last season’s Peach Bowl and played well, recording five tackles, two tackles for loss and breaking up a pass. Brini notched five tackles on Saturday.
The second-team secondary featured sophomore Major Burns at one safety, while redshirt sophomore Dan Jackson and freshman David Daniel rotated at the other safety spot. Burns saw his most significant playing time last season against Florida, filling in for Cine who had been ejected for targeting.
Redshirt sophomore Kelee Ringo, who missed most of last season with a shoulder injury, got second-team reps at one corner. He came in as the top corner prospect in the country for the Class of 2020, but just hasn’t been healthy enough to have a ton of practice time in his Georgia career.
“He really hasn’t done anything in terms of earning the reputation that he came in with,” Smart said on April 3. “He is in the process of doing that. He’s trying to do that through working hard and learning.”
At the other corner spot with the second team was Lovasea Carroll. He came to Georgia this spring as a highly-touted running back recruit, but has been working at corner this spring thanks to bountiful depth for the Bulldogs in the offensive backfield.
The second-team STAR spot looked to be filled by senior William Poole, another veteran who has stayed patient in waiting for significant playing time. Freshman Javon Bullard also appeared to get some looks there.
The wild card in the secondary situation is Tykee Smith, the West Virginia transfer who will join the Bulldogs this fall and reunite with his former secondary coach Jahmile Addae. He recorded 61 tackles, five pass breakups and two interceptions for the Mountaineers in 2020.
When he arrives in Athens, he is expected to challenge for a starting spot immediately. He will have to learn the Georgia defensive scheme, but he has the talent to make a push to play right away.
“We’re in constant search of our best lineup,” Smart said on April 10. “I will say this, every one of them wants to get better and every one of them is trying to get better. We have flashes of some good plays. Consistently, we have to improve. We have to improve the consistency in the secondary. That starts with tackling. That starts with eye control.”
This secondary is by no means set in stone. A lot can change in the four and a half months between Saturday and Georgia’s season opener against Clemson, especially as Ringo gets more experience and Tykee Smith gets acclimated to Athens.
But Saturday at least gave a glimpse as to what Smart is looking at in his defensive backfield. He knows that if his team is going to accomplish its goals this season, the defensive backfield will need to gel quickly.
“We have a long way to go, but we’re getting there,” Smart said. “I haven’t seen any regress. That’s the good thing, but if we’re on a one-mile journey, we just hit the first quarter. We have a way to go. We have to figure out who it is.”
This story was originally published April 17, 2021 at 4:07 PM.