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Georgia developing Darris Smith with defensive versatility in mind

Palmber-Thombsby:Palmer Thombs•09/20/22•

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Tony Walsh/UGA Sports Communications

Georgia freshman Darris Smith was seen as a raw production coming out of high school. The No. 117 overall player in the Class of 2021 according to the On3 Consensus, and even higher according to On3’s in-house On300 coming in at No. 81, Smith was always going to be a project. He’s 6-foot-5, 225 pounds with arms that dangle past his knees. He doubled as a wide receiver at Appling County while also playing on the edge defensively. As Gerry Hamilton wrote, “Smith has terrific height at near 6-foot-6, very long arms, fluid movement skills and closes in an instant. The combination of length, side and suddenness make Smith a high-end edge rush prospect in the cycle. Exhibits strong hands on both sides of the ball, and plus body control. Hunts contact and wins disengaging with quickness. Best football way out in front of the Georgia commitment.”

And a project is exactly what we’ve seen from Smith so far this season. In practice, Smith has spent the majority of his time with the outside linebackers, but on Saturday, he was warming up with the defensive backs. That’s because he’s also spent some time working with the safeties and STARs. According to Kirby Smart, it’s all a part of their plan to develop Smith into a versatile football player.

“Well, he’s really a SAM linebacker as an outside linebacker that also plays in space some. In today’s day and age, you’re seeing every personnel grouping utilized. We want to have the luxury of having a person with more size, be able to play when people go 12 open and people open up sets,” Smart said on Monday, asked to assess Smith’s play and if there was anything to be made of him warming up with the defensive backs. “It’s really more of a development decision for him. It’s not a position change. He played JACK in the game. He played outside linebacker in the game. We’re developing a guy that has the skill set to run fast, to learn how to play multiple positions. Which is what we told him when we recruited him.”

Georgia safety Christopher Smith has seen Darris Smith during practice with his position group at times. One thing has stood out so far: his size.

“I’ve never played with a safety that big. He looks huge out there. He’s got a lot of range and a real tall wingspan,” Chris Smith said. “He’s doing pretty well. He’s kind of trying everything out with us, but he’s doing really well. He gets a lot of extra work after practice. He asks me a lot of questions and things, so I try to help him out as much as I can. He’s going to help our team in that area for sure … He pretty much just got out there. But he’s going to continue to work with us, and we’re going to continue to work with him. I think he can do a lot of really great things for our team.”

Darris Smith could get another opportunity to get on the field this week as Georgia takes on Kent State at home. The Bulldogs opened as 41-point favorites over the Golden Flashes. Kickoff time for Saturday is set for 12:00 p.m. ET, streaming on SEC Network+.

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