ESPN circles Georgia secondary as Bulldogs' biggest question

The second semester is over at Georgia, and that means some time away from Athens for the football team. The Bulldogs will be back around Memorial Day, and then it’s full speed ahead to the fall. While they won’t be on the field doing work with coaches, there still are opportunities to impress and chances to try and provide some clarity to questions that remain.

ESPN’s Mark Schlabach wrote on Wednesday that his biggest “lingering question” for Georgia is in the secondary. Like so many others, Schlabach is curious to see how the Bulldogs go about replacing a trio of stars selected in the 2024 NFL Draft.

“What will the secondary look like this season? The back end of Georgia’s defense remains in flux after it lost cornerback Kamari Lassiter and safeties Tykee Smith and Javon Bullard to the NFL draft. There’s plenty of talent left in the secondary, but coach Kirby Smart said the unit had a long way to go after the spring game,” Schlabach wrote. “Cornerback Daylen Everette and safety Malaki Starks are the returning starters; Starks was held out of contact drills in the spring after undergoing shoulder surgery. Julian Humphrey and Daniel Harris were working at the other cornerback spot, and Joenel Aguero and JaCorey Thomas were sharing snaps at the safety spots. Veteran Dan Jackson, freshman K.J. Bolden and transfer Jake Pope were in the mix at safety as well.”

Schlabach is spot on in the fact that it starts with Malaki Starks and Daylen Everette. A pair of third year defenders, the two were both top-50 prospects coming out of high school in the Class of 2022. Starks got on the field right away and impressed while it took a little bit more time for Everette to earn his snaps. He did so in 2023, replacing Kelee Ringo as a starter.

Now, Starks and Everette aren’t the young guys. They’re being looked to as the cornerstone veterans with hopes to put the right pieces in place around them. Opposite of Everette, it’s his classmate Julian Humphrey as well as Daniel Harris. Both got opportunities to gain experience last season. Each flirted with the transfer portal before opting to return to Georgia – news that was certainly welcomed in Athens. Don’t count out the nation’s No. 1-ranked cornerback from the Class of 2024, Ellis Robinson, either.

Next to Starks, keep JaCorey Thomas, Dan Jackson and Jake Pope in mind. The trio represents the more experience options, but once again, there’s a five-star freshman to watch out for too: KJ Bolden. Thomas has the ability to play either safety or STAR and the same is true for Joenel Agureo – likely to get the first look at STAR. David Daniel-Sisavanh also provides a veteran presence – and somebody who actually started in place of an injured Javon Bullard at one point last season.

“We’ve got a long way to go. We lost three really good football players there,” Smart said after G-Day, having had several opportunities to assess the options in the spring. “We’re thin. David Daniel wasn’t able to go today, Malaki was out, Justyn Rhett was out, Demello (Jones) was dealing with a little bit of a hamstring. We got better in the secondary, but we’re not where we need to be in terms of being able to make plays on the ball down the field and be able to affect the quarterback.”

“I don’t know if I’ve seen them attack it. I want to see them attack the ball better,” he continued. “We gave up a lot of plays in the spring. What I call 50-50 balls, we didn’t get a lot of them out. What you saw a microcosm of today was a really good quarterback throwing really good touch passes. The throw to Dom, I mean, I’ve seen that 20 times this spring. It’s like, we’re right there. We just couldn’t quite get it out. When you have a good thrower and catcher with people that protect, it’s dangerous. I want to see more out of the secondary. I want to see, yeah, Malaki’s out but that’s okay. There’s other guys out there that have scholarships that can make plays too.”

There are options, but it’s easy to see that Smart wants more out of the group. Given his track record, he’ll probably end up getting it. New assistants Donte Williams and Travaris Robinson, arriving at Georgia from USC and Alabama respectively, will have plenty of talented players to pick from – and they’ll know whoever gets their nod will have beaten out other talented ones to win the job. However, while there’s reason to believe the Bulldogs will be just fine, it’s certainly still a question that remains after spring practice has wrapped up.