ATHENS — Year in and year out, the toughest position to play in the defensive backfield is not simply cornerback, but the one opposite a proverbial “cover corner.”
If a team has a player in the secondary good enough to be deemed a shut-down corner, you can bet the guy on the other side of the field is going to see a lot of passes come his way. That was the case for Georgia’s Daylen Everette last season. Playing opposite All-SEC cornerback Kamari Lassiter, the sophomore Everette found himself in the middle of action more often than not.
Though he regularly shared snaps with Julian Humphrey at wide corner, Everette was on the field in 2023 for 371 passing downs, according to statistics kept by Pro Football Focus. For context, consider that Lassiter saw the ball in the air 408 times, or only 37 times more, and he rarely left the field.
Everette said he was aware that opposing quarterbacks were trying to pick on him.
“You know, the guy across from me was Kamari Lassiter, and you know what type of player he was. He locked down the whole other side of the field,” Everette said as the Bulldogs opened preseason camp last week. “So, I guess they were going to try me. I didn’t really try to take it as that, but it kind of ended up being that way.”
Indeed it did, and Everette found himself in an extended baptism of fire as a first-year starter. At times, it was tough go.
Everette received a coverage grade of 63.5 from PFF. That ranked 558th among college corners.
Lassiter, who would go on to be drafted by the Houston Texans in the second round of the NFL draft with the 42nd pick overall, received an 87.2 grade from PFF in pass coverage.
Fast forward to Georgia’s preseason camp this year, and it’s Everette who is in Lassiter’s position. Now a 6-foot-1, 190-pound junior, it is Everette who likely will be on the field for almost every snap.
Sophomores Humphrey and Daniel Harris are expected to be opposite of Everette. If Everette is doing his job to the degree the Bulldogs anticipate, no quarterbacks are going be thinking he’s someone to pick on.
Thanks to last year’s indoctrination, Everette promises he’ll be ready.
“The biggest thing I learned last year was having that next-play mentality, not letting the last play get to your head and affect the next play. You’ve just got to be in the moment and worry about what’s happening at that time.”
If Georgia has proved nothing else over the eight-plus years that Kirby Smart has been at the helm of the program, it’s that it can develop defensive backs. The more Everette was tested in practice and in games, the better he got. He’d end up winning his share of the battles on the island that is playing cornerback in the SEC.
Everette ended up with five pass breakups on the season, second to Lassiter’s eight among Georgia’s corners. He’d finally record his first career interception with a highlight-reel, diving grab when Florida State tried to go deep on him in the Orange Bowl.
Everette also recorded 29 tackles and three tackles for loss. He started all 14 games for the Bulldogs.
Accordingly, Everette now finds himself in a leadership role. He’s one of only two returning starters in the secondary, safety Malaki Starks being the other.
He’s being counted on not only to do his own job, but to help an otherwise youthful group of DBs down theirs as well.
“You know, I’m really just trying to set a good example for the young guys. Everybody in that room, I’m just trying to help point them in the right direction, show them the right things to do, just be there for them.”
Everette’s teammates and the Bulldogs’ coaches like what they’ve seen so far.
“You know Daylen’s a great athlete, a great corner,” senior safety Dan Jackson said. “He’s a guy that I’m excited to play beside. Our relationship has built a lot the last couple of years. He’s a guy who brings a lot of juice to practice and games. I’m excited to watch him play.”
Said Smart: “Proud of Daylen and his leadership in that (group). He’s one of the few guys coming back with play experience in that room outside of Malaki and Dan. I think he exudes confidence that maybe leaks over to others. He sets an example where maybe he followed Kamari’s example for a while and learned from those older players. He’s got to carry the torch in that room, and I’m excited to see him do it.”
It’s a tried-and-true tradition for the Bulldogs. Back when Deandre Baker was earning All-American honors in 2018, a freshman named Tyson Campbell was manning the corner on the other side of the field. Soon after Campbell would establish himself as Georgia’s star corner, a late-bloomer named Eric Stokes would emerge on the other side of the field.
When a transfer named Derion Kendrick would establish himself as a shut-down specialist in 2021, a redshirt freshman named Kelee Ringo was undergoing the indoctrination by fire on the other side of the field. In 2022, it was Ringo showing the fledgling sophomore Lassiter how it’s done.
Everette’s having to deal with something this season few of those other guys went through. The Bulldogs have had a complete coaching turnover in the secondary. Cornerbacks coach Fran Brown moved on in December to take over as head coach at Syracuse. He was succeeded in December by Donte Williams, who came all the way from Southern Cal.
In February, safeties coach Will Muschamp stepped aside so Smart could bring in Travaris Robinson from Alabama. Robinson is now coaching safeties and assisting Glenn Schumann in coordinating the defense.
Everette admitted that has been an adjustment.
“Well, they definitely have different coaching styles,” Everette said shortly before taking the field for the Bulldogs’ first preseason practice. “At the end of the day, they have the same goals, which is to help us. That’s the most important thing.”
Last year, Georgia was able to ease into things with the first two games coming at home against Tennessee-Martin and Ball State. The Bulldogs will have no such luxury this time around.
The season opener against a Clemson team that received a No. 14 ranking in the Coaches’ poll released this week is a little over three weeks away. With a national-television audience tuning in at sold-out Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the Tigers surely will be look to test a Georgia secondary featuring at least three new starters.
The Bulldogs really need Everette and Humphrey to hold up because there’s very little experience behind them. Humphrey and Harris have only 15 games of experience as backups between them, and Georgia is scrambling to get ready a trio of talented freshmen in Ellis Robinson IV, a 5-star signee out of Connecticut by way of Florida’s IMG Academy, as well as 4-stars Ondre Evans and Demello Jones.
“It’s time to lock in and really prepare for the season,” Everette said. “We’re really just focused on us and getting ourselves ready in camp.”
They need to be because, as Everette and a long line of first-year starters can attest, footballs soon will be coming their way.
Credit: Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason.Getz@ajc.com
About the Author
