Second-year surge: Georgia safety JaCorey Thomas
It’s summertime in Athens and Kirby Smart’s eighth Georgia football team is putting in a lot of work behind closed doors. The entire 2023 class has arrived on campus and the Bulldogs are marching toward history.
A third consecutive National Championship, in the modern era, is unprecedented. But so was a back-to-back titles in the playoff era. In order for Georgia to stay on top of the mountain, it’ll have to rely on some players heading into their second season.
With that in mind, DawgsHQ is rolling out a series where we look at every scholarship player who is entering year two. Next up is a guy who played bigger role than you think as a freshman.
S JaCorey Thomas
Size: 6-feet 200 pounds
On3 Industry Ranking: No. 367 overall, No. 37 safety, and No. 45 in Florida
2022 Stats: Thomas didn’t take a redshirt last season because he appeared in six games. He tallied two tackles with one coming at Mississippi State and the other against TCU in the National Championship game.
Thomas strengths and weaknesses…
The Georgia coaching staff liked Thomas a lot coming out of high school due to his compact frame and quickness. He really enjoys contact and fits the mold of the modern strong safety because he can slide down into the box and essentially function as an off-ball linebacker.
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Thomas is a rock-solid tackler with a high football I.Q. He has a knack for knowing where to be and he gets the job done when he’s there. There are, however, some clear weaknesses in his game. Thomas appears to be a little stiff in the hips and struggles to cover man-to-man. That’s the case for most free safeties but Thomas hasn’t yet shown the raw speed to make up for the stiffness. He appears to be the type of guy who is almost pigeonholed into an underneath coverage role.
The Buzz…
We heard about some big hits from the sophomore safety this spring. When we say he loves contact, that was on full display during the five-week camp. Thomas really does love to tackle and his instincts put him in a good spot to make plays. While we noted coverage as a potential weakness, Thomas didn’t seem to struggle a ton with that this spring based on what we’ve heard.
In 2023…
Thomas really needs a good camp if he’s going to get into the mix for playing time. Right now the starting spots are taken with Malaki Starks at free safety and Javon Bullard at strong safety. Dan Jackson is probably the backup at both spots with David Daniel-Sisavahn next in line. Thomas, however, is a good enough football player to make a move.
