Kelee Ringo, Georgia secondary in similar situation this spring as they were before last year
Kirby Smart challenged Kelee Ringo to continue to take steps forward this spring. That came after Ringo, a redshirt freshman at the time, made the game-sealing play in Georgia’s 33-18 National Championship Game victory over Alabama, helping bring home the Bulldogs’ first title in over four decades. In speaking with Ringo this spring, he seemed to take that challenge to heart. Now hearing from Smart on the subject, the head coach and former defensive back himself appears to be pleased with the way Ringo has responded.
“I think Kelee’s taken a good step,” Smart said. “He’s not let any of the accolades from the one play go to his head. He’s realized he’s got to develop and grow. I’ve seen him grow as a leader and really try to work at his trait.”
While Ringo is certainly taking things the right way, he’s just part of an entire secondary unit that’s going through change. Position coach Jahmile Addae left Georgia for the same position at Miami in February. He will be replaced by Fran Brown, an up and coming coach who has gotten great early reports from those in Athens. Meanwhile, on the field, safety Lewis Cine and cornerback Derion Kendrick are off to the NFL, and there are several others who have left via the transfer portal.
That’s not necessarily unfamiliar territory for Smart and company. In fact, it’s pretty similar to the situation Georgia faced last spring, replacing Charlton Warren with Addae and having multiple players leave for the draft or portal.
“As far as the other corner position, we’ve continued to work at that. We’ve got some guys competing for it. We’ve got to continue to search,” Smart said. “We’ve had some safeties injured. Chris (Smith) has been dinged up. Dan’s (Jackson) been dinged up. David Daniel’s gotten a lot of work. We’re a work in progress, very similar to how we were last year in the secondary. We had to replace a lot of guys last year, and we were able to do that with a good front. This year we’re going to have a lot of guys to replace in the secondary, and we’ve got to get better there.”
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Georgia’s defensive backs will be put to the test this weekend during the Bulldogs’ final scrimmage of the spring. G-Day has traditionally been an air-show with the passing game put on display, and this year shouldn’t be any different with the likes of Adonai Mitchell, Ladd McConkey, Kearis Jackson and others returning on offense.
“A lot of new faces, and a lot of guys making progress,” Smart said. “The way you make progress sometimes is you make mistakes. We’ve had plenty of those we’ve been able to grow from this spring going against our offense.”
Kickoff for the spring game is set for Saturday at 1:00 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
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