ATHENS — Kirby Smart has made it no secret he saw safety as a position of need.
A month into spring practice, he still views it that way. Georgia has too much talent to replace for the position to be called anything but.
“Y’all tell me how many snaps we’ve lost. I don’t know. 2,000,” Smart said at his news conference Tuesday. “I mean, we probably took 1,000 snaps last year on defense. And if we did 1,000 snaps, Malachi and Dan took 1,000 each. That’s 2,000.
“I know KJ (Bolden) played a good bit, but there’s a lot of snaps missing out there. And these guys are coming into a defensive system that requires heavy communication.”
To address some of those needs, Georgia dipped into the transfer portal to add Zion Branch, Adrian Maddox and Jaden Harris.
Smart has seen bits and pieces of those new additions. But he would like to see more sustained excellence from the portal haul.
“Flashes, but flashes don’t win games,” Smart said of what he’s seen from the transfers. “Consistency does, and we’re looking for some more consistency out of those positions.”
Branch comes from USC and is the most physically imposing of the additions. Smart made sure to clarify that they didn’t take Branch just because his brother is wide receiver Zachariah Branch. Both Branch brothers fill a position of need.
“Zion’s my guy. I think he’s fit in very well around here,” defensive back Kyron Jones said. “I would say, like, me and him became close as soon as he got here. And, you know, he loves football. And I’ll say, like, he’s just a good guy to be around. And I’ll say he brings a lot to our football team, you know, as a player and as a person. So I say he’s a really good addition to this team.”
Of the three additions, Maddox is the most experienced, but much of that is at the lower levels. He comes from Alabama-Birmingham, and Alabama State before that.
Harris has starting experience from his time at Miami and has an additional season of eligibility, as does Branch.
Those transfers aren’t the only options Georgia has on the roster. While largely unproven, Georgia could turn to Jones, JaCorey Thomas and Joenel Aguero for snaps at safety and nickel back. KJ Bolden is safely a starter after a stellar freshman season in 2024.
It’s natural that some of those veterans might raise an eyebrow at Georgia taking three defensive back transfers. Smart wouldn’t risk upsetting the applecart if he didn’t believe the team needed the help.
Jones and Aguero were complimentary of the additions. Smart went a step further in explaining why the returning Georgia Bulldogs shouldn’t be all that bothered by the new additions.
“If you want to win, you want good players,” Smart said. “So I think there’s a societal emphasis on if people come, then that’s dangerous to me. I mean, if people come, that’ll make you work harder. People don’t look at it the way I do. We got a lot of kids who choose to go to other schools, and they started earlier, and they finished there. Then they’re not playing any more football.
“Then the guy we got over the guy that we wanted comes in, doesn’t start, plays a lot of football in year two and three, and then goes on to be successful.”
In the secondary, Georgia clearly is taking a strength-in-numbers approach. Dan Jackson and Malaki Starks each was a hugely impactful player who likely can’t be replaced by one person.
The hope for Georgia is that they can be replicated in the aggregate. Not just with Branch, Maddox and Harris, but with Jones, Aguero and Thomas also factoring in at the position.
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