UGA Football Coach Kirby Smart On Starting CB: "I Want Someone to Take It"
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ATHENS - Kirby Smart and the UGA Football team have a big question mark on defense heading into the 2023 season.
Who will replace Kelee Ringo?
Returning starting cornerback Kamari Lassiter has one cornerback spot locked down, but who will win the other cornerback job? Who will replace one of the most significant cornerbacks in Georgia football history?
There are a few options, and Kirby Smart spoke with reporters after this past weekend’s scrimmage to get more insight.
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"All of those guys are competing,” Kirby said. “We've got Daylen [Everette], Julio [Julian Humphrey], and Nyland [Green] all rolling and playing primarily with the ones. A.J. [Harris] has gone with the ones. They're continuing to battle it out. There's no reason to make a decision. We've had competitive practices Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. We'll go next week, and if nobody shows that they're that guy, then we will play multiple guys until we figure it out. But we are waiting for somebody to take it."
Kirby Smart wants one of these guys to step up and separate from the rest. Fortunately, he has some solid options.
Nyland Green is a veteran by now. This will be his third season in Athens. He’s a really good athlete with length. He showed tremendous ball skills in high school. He was a guy a lot of people were really high on. It’s his “turn” in some way, but he’s got plenty of talented cornerbacks to compete with.
Daylen Everette is a bigger cornerback at 6-foot-1 190-pounds that brings natural cover skills. He’s another cornerback with receiver-like ball skills. Entering year two, Everette has a chance to earn a starting job and a chance to be a multi-year starter the rest of his career. He was one of the top cornerback prospects in the country for the 2022 class and sources say the staff has high hopes for his future.
Julian Humphry is one of the fastest defensive backs on the roster who also brings decent size at 6-foot-0 190-pounds. Like Everette, the Texas native will be entering his second season with the team. Freshman
AJ Harris, a true freshman, is also getting a strong look. Another long, athletic cornerback, Harris is a technician with impressive footwork and natural instincts for the position. It won’t take him long to see the field anyway, but if he earns a starting job over talented players like Nyland Green and Daylen Everette, he has a chance to be really special.
There’s a lot to like about each of them individually. They all bring length, size, and natural ball skills to the position. Someone has to step up and take the reins. That’s what Kirby Smart wants to see, and we may not find out until the night of September 6th.
As for Lassiter, Smart said he’s still nursing a foot/ankle injury and says the team is “bringing him back slowly.” With Lassiter still banged up, that give more reps to the cornerbacks hoping to land the other starting job. Reps are up for grabs, giving each defender an opportunity to earn a coveted starting role for the back-to-back national champions.
"Kamari wore a black shirt today which keeps him from getting quite as much of what we call load,” Smart said. “When you're playing corner and you've got a foot or ankle injury it's hard - when you try to make a play, you can't. He took the volume of reps and covered the play, but if he had anywhere to make a tackle, he'd tag off. He felt very good. He's been tender and sore after he practices, so he's kind of been a day on, a day off, a day on, a day off. We're doing what the doctors say, bringing him back slowly, and listening to his body."
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