UGA Football Coach Kirby Smart Makes Big Statement About Star Freshman
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DALLAS - If you listened to Georgia Bulldog coach Kirby Smart during SEC Media Day on Tuesday, you heard him talk about his concerns in the secondary.
“We’re just not very deep at the safety position”, Smart told Nick Saban and the SEC Network. “There’s an opportunity there for guys to step in and play.”
Thankfully, there’s a certain true freshman in Athens who will likely see the field early on thanks to his speed, instincts, ball skills, and work ethic.
Of course, that would be former 5-star defensive back, KJ Bolden.
“I think KJ Bolden has a chance to really help us out. He’s athletic, he’s intelligent. He comes from a really good high school program. He was able to get 15 practices this spring and he approaches every practice like a veteran. Where he is right now is ahead of where Malaki (Starks) was at that time and Malaki was able to play as a freshman.”
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“Our young players are going to play now more than they ever will because of the physicality of our league and the number of games. So who can get those guys up to speed fast enough will be critical.”
With Smart looking for more help at safety, it seems clear that Georgia’s flip of Bolden from Florida State is up there as one of the biggest recruiting wins in the last several years. Smart knew form day one that Bolden was a game-changing prospect, and he spoke with reporters about Bolden’s recruitment earlier this spring.
“As far as KJ’s recruitment, I don’t see kids as committed to other places, because they’re not. They’re not signed. I just know that we recruit good football players. We evaluate every player the same whether they’re committed or not. If there’s interest and conversation from them, and there are visits where they come to your campus, you just stay very consistent. We were consistent with KJ, the recruitment never stopped, and I told him that from the day he committed to the day he came to us, that we’re not going to stop recruiting him because we think he’s a great kid from a great family and a really, really good football player.”
Malaki Starks won a starting role as a freshman in 2022, but it’s never ideal to start true freshmen in the secondary. Bolden will start at some point, but it’s clear he's going to see the field in 2024.
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