Kamari Lassiter couldn't resist playing for Georgia in Orange Bowl

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Kamari Lassiter could’ve decided to sit out of the Orange Bowl, and nobody would’ve blamed him. Not even his own head coach.

The third-year cornerback out of Savannah, Ga. has started the last 29 games for Georgia and is regarded as one of the top prospects in the 2024 NFL Draft. ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. has him as the fourth-highest rated player for the position, and many mock drafts have Lassiter going in the first or second round. Others in his position around the country have opted out of their respective team’s final games, but for Lassiter, that wasn’t on the table. He wanted one last go-round in red and black.

“Every opportunity you get to go out there and play the sport you love, play in front of the people you love, play for the people you love, it’s second to none,” Lassiter shared postgame. “You can’t take it for granted, the opportunity to come out here and play with guys like this, play with coaches like this. Just being able to come out there and just go out there with the guys one last time this season, it meant the world.”

“Behind the scenes there’s nothing but connection,” he continued. “Just being able to get up every day and be with a bunch of guys like that, guys that you laugh with, guys that you cry with, guys that you sweat with, tired with, get in the hot tub. You just do basically everything with these guys. We even go to class together. There’s not really much of a reason you wouldn’t want to play with these guys one more time when it’s another chance to go out with the guys that you love, the guys that you’ve been with for four to five years.”

Lassiter shared that type of message all week ahead of the matchup with No. 5 Florida State, and he suited up to play to his fullest. While he finished without a stat, it was not without an impact on his team in the 63-3 win over the Seminoles. Lassiter was voted by his fellow Bulldogs as a permanent team captain for the 2023 team as just a junior.

“Leadership at Georgia, I don’t know how people do it other places, but leadership at Georgia is never not going to happen. We develop these kids at young ages. We put them on leadership groups. We put them in our skull sessions and they start developing early,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said on his team’s leadership from guys like Lassiter. “What I’ve noticed is our captain vote has started spreading out. It used to be five guys, six guys, seven guys got all the votes. Now 11 or 12 guys get the votes and it’s more spread out across the board because we have a lot of really good leaders.”

“We’ve got a lot of really good leaders going into next year because they got to learn from these guys, and these guys learned from the guys before them. If that’s passed down and that culture is created, it’s a really good thing,” he continued. “You’re always going to have more turnover on your team now with the age that we’re in, but you’ve got to make sure that your team is built annually the right way, and I’m very excited about the leaders we have coming back for next year and the team we have coming back for next year.”

As for the team that’s coming back, Lassiter likely won’t be part of that. While he has yet to announce a decision, one is expected soon. He’s one of up to 20 Bulldogs that could do so in the next few days with a January 15th deadline for entry. Along with Lassiter, others include the likes of Sedrick Van Pran, Javon Bullard and Ladd McConkey, among others.

“Kamari Lassiter had a one-two grade, first-second round grade. Kamari had to make a tough decision, like all these other people,” Smart said in a story about he wanted to share before leaving the press conference. “I called Kamari in and I talked to him, and I told him, ‘Kamari, you should come out for the draft. That’s my opinion. You’re one of the top corners in the draft. You’ve got to make that decision. That’s one decision. The second decision is you’ve got to decide if you want to play in this bowl game. I don’t know that you’ve got a lot to gain in this bowl game, but I do know who you are and I do know how you practice and I do know how to lead. But I’m not going to be disappointed in anything you decide.'”

“He came back about three or four days later and I met with him and his mom and talked to him and fully expected him not to play in this game. He called me two days later and said, ‘Coach, I can’t do it. I can’t do it. I’m sitting down, I’m over there coaching. I can’t do it. I want to be out there. I want to play with my guys,'” he continued. “I think he did it against his mother’s will to be honest. Now, I don’t know that, but I think he did it against his mother’s will because that’s who he is. All these teams that go shopping, this dude right here wants to play football. That’s all he cares about is playing football and his teammates. He ain’t worried about the next thing and all that. He said, ‘I want to play football,’ and he played football for the University of Georgia. He did it when he didn’t have to do it, and that’s what’s different at this place than a lot of other places.”