ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia’s defense will be without two of their top players on Saturday – All American safety Malaki Starks and the team-leader in tackles over the past two seasons Smael Mondon. For that, you should grade the unit on a curve, but also, make sure you’re keeping an eye on their replacements.
Jake Pope and KJ Bolden offer a pair of options at safety. Justin Williams is a talented player at linebacker. All three are newcomers, but at the same time, all three are deserving of attention on Saturday for their potential ability to contribute this fall.
Pope is the oldest one of the group. A transfer from Alabama, where he spent the first two seasons of his collegiate career, he’s fitting right in to Georgia’s defense this spring. It certainly helps that Travaris Robinson, UGA’s new safeties coach, oversaw the secondary in Tuscaloosa, but the familiarity with a Kirby Smart-like system and the expectations of a program like Georgia certainly plays a part too.
“Just to see him come in from Bama and just the knowledge he has from Bama coming to here, we kind of pick back and forth off each other, like, ‘Hey, what’d y’all do there? How was it there?’ Whatever the case is just trying to pick his brain and see the differences,” Malaki Starks said of Pope. “Our relationship is good. He’s one of the older guys in the room, so he has that voice also. So just to see him come in and grow — I’ve seen him grow as well, so it’s a good thing to see.”
A product of Buford High School in the Class of 2022, Starks – who attended Jefferson across the state – and Pope knew each other a little bit coming of high school. As for the other Buford product in Bolden, the familiarity was there on a greater level with Bolden being one of the top safeties in the country and a regular on Georgia’s campus over the years.
“He’s very athletic, very smart, just like all the young guys that came in with him. They all have talents that they possess,” Starks added on Bolden. “He’s like a sponge. He just wants to soak up all the knowledge and information. You see him in meetings, he’s always writing stuff down. The thing that’s shocked me the most, I think all the freshmen have that. They’re all in the meetings and they’re all writing stuff down. I think that class is gonna be very good.”
Bolden isn’t the only freshman either that’s impressed. His fellow five-star in the secondary Ellis Robinson has made noise. Joseph Jonah-Ajonye on the defensive line drew some praise, and in between the front and back ends of the defense is a guy like Williams. The nation’s No. 1 linebacker for the Class of 2024, Williams could easily see the field this fall. It wouldn’t be the first time Georgia’s thrown a youngster into the fire on the defensive side of the ball. In fact, it’s a position Starks was in during his first year.
“I think you’ve got to know the defense. You don’t have to know it perfect, you don’t have to be a master of the defense. But you have to know what to do and when to do it and how to do it,” Starks said, asked what it takes to play in Georgia’s system as a freshman. “You also have to have effort. People have got to be able to count on you. If I can look over there and know what you’re going to do and I can count on you to do your job, then you can play. That goes not just for freshmen, but anybody in the room. If you can be accountable and you have effort, you’ll play.”
Williams has done his part in showing that effort this spring, and he’s learning the defense on a daily basis.
“Justin has a lot of speed. He’s a big guy, smart. I can tell he’s got a promising career ahead of him,” Williams’ fellow inside linebacker Terrell Foster said. “He’s pretty cool. That’s my boy. You can tell the potential that he has for sure.”
Pope, Bolden and Williams will take the field at Sanford Stadium for the first time in front of fans on Saturday during the annual G-Day spring game. Kickoff time is set for 1:00 p.m. ET on SEC Network+.
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