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ATHENS - We’re now less than three weeks away from another Georgia football season.
When the Dawgs take the field against Tennessee State next month we’ll see several new starters on Glenn Schumann’s defense.
There are major position battles going on with two key safety positions up for grabs. Returning starter KJ Bolden will lead the way, but there are several defensive backs who are hoping to emerge in fall camp.
Defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann and safeties coach Travaris Robinson spoke last week with reporters about some of their players and what they’re looking for in terms of a starter.
“There are so many guys that have a lot of talent”, Schumann told reporters. “Production matters when you get in live scrimmage scenarios. It matters in practice.”
“Now it's more about repping people in terms of a depth chart just to make sure everybody gets enough reps. Every day we have a rep chart at every position, especially when you have a competition. You want to make sure the guys are all competing.”
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There’s no lack of talent in that room. Clemson transfer and Athens-area native Khalil Barnes didn’t come to Georgia to ride the bench. He’s a veteran player who is hunting down a starting role over the next several weeks.
“We're very fortunate that (Khalil Barnes) is here with us”, Schumann said. “He's an instinctive playmaker. He's smart. You can tell that he's played a lot of football. He had on-ball production at Clemson. He had on-ball production in high school. He's a guy that we think can do that for us here.”
Another transfer to keep a close eye on is Ja’Marley Riddle. The East Carolina transfer came to Athens to play and compete. He’s a Georgia native that insiders have been high on early in fall camp.
Sophomore Resean Dinkins saw serious playing time towards the end of last year on defense while playing in 13 total games, making 13 total tackles. The Warner Robins native is now he’s hoping to secure a starting role in year two.
“He’s playing a little more safety than he played last year where he was playing more STAR,” Robinson told reporters last week.
“I think he's doing a really good job, but he's playing the deep part of the field. There’s a lot of eyes looking at him. He's doing a good job with it. I'm excited about Dink.”
Of course Kyron Jones is back for his senior season after starting six games last fall. The veteran safety is coming off a season-ending injury that kept him out for the second half of last season and throughout the spring.
Senior Zion Branch also returns for the 2026 season. One of the bigger and heavier safeties on the roster, Branch has played meaningful snaps in the past and could provide more size against the run. He’ll compete for playing time with second-year safeties Todd Robinson, Jaylan Morgan, among others.
Then there’s the freshmen. Tyriq Green, Jordan Smith, and several others who are hungry to learn and hopefully see the field in the first week or two before SEC play.
“It's just a competition,” Robinson added on the safety battle. “One thing that everybody has to understand is production matters, right? And now, as we start to go into another week of practice, now we can figure out exactly who's producing the most. Then we start to decide who's going to be the guys that are trotting out there when we step out on the field in September.”
“The next two weeks is really where the separation starts,” Schumann said. “I always view the first scrimmage as moving day. Somebody will move up and down, and then after the second scrimmage you have to have a little bit of a pecking order because now you're getting into game week prep. But you're still constantly developing everybody in the room.”
