ATHENS – Georgia football needs a secondary reload, and Kirby Smart believes that the transfer of Tykee Smith to West Virginia will help fill at least one of them.
The question is: where?
Bulldogs have open competition in safety, cornerback and Star. The 1.5-meter, 80-pound Smith – an All-American from the third team and an honorable mention from the All-Big 12 last season – is being hired to win a spot.
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Smart said he would go to the transfer portal if Bulldogs had an area of need and were looking for more experience.
“It’s not hard to look and see where you’ve lost players when you look at the Pro Day that we had and you look at the next draft, ”said Smart, referring to the five Bulldog pesticides expected to be selected in the NFL’s 2021 draft.
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The Lewis Cine of the third year of security is the only lock to start on the secondary at this point.
Christopher Smith started in the other security position last season and seems to have strengthened since then. Cornerback Jalen Kimber is handling his business at one of the cornerback points, but he still needs to put on weight.
Georgia is expected to add another defensive defense through transfer, probably in the cornerback position.
Georgia trotted Smith to take a look at the cornerback in last Saturday’s fight, along with Kimber and fourth-year player Ameer Speed.
Kelee Ringo, a 5-star signatory from 2020 who missed last season with a torn labrum, remains a work in progress. Ringo is having his first live action at the university level this spring, and it is only natural that it will take some time to adjust.
Smith has an advantage coming in, having played for Georgia’s new secondary coach, Jahmile Addae, in West Virginia.
While playing with the Mountaineers, Smith played in the “Spear” position, which is similar to the “Star” position in Georgia.
Bulldogs are also working with Adam Anderson and William Poole on the Star, and freshman cornerback Nyland Green may possibly work on the Star.
Georgia’s defense is among the most complex, and defensive coordinator Dan Lanning uses several different packages that feature different players in different positions at different times.
Smart said that from the beginning there would be a lot of work to be done in the defensive field.
“I think the number one thing is that the secondary position is a development position,” said Smart. “Number two, especially for us, is when you look at the board, the number of players we play as freshmen has been few and far between when it comes to defensive sides. There were certainly role players, but not many guys who can just come in and play.
“So, it is a position that needs to be developed, we have some guys that we are developing who need to present themselves and play. We also have some young people that we signed up to and that we just talked about who will have to grow quickly and have the opportunity to compete for positions. “