It would be very easy for Kelee Ringo to think he had become a fully-formed player. When you make the most iconic play in school history and then come back to the same school for another year, one can see how success might go to one’s head.

But Ringo is not your typical player, much less cornerback. For one, most cornerbacks are not able to blend size — 6-foot-2, 210-pounds — and speed — Ringo has topped 22 miles per hour on the team’s GPS tracking numbers — like the redshirt sophomore.

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Ringo also is not a loud lockdown corner. Deion Sanders or Richard Sherman he is not, as Ringo admits he is a quiet player. He’s challenged himself to become a more vocal leader this offseason, which doesn’t come naturally to him.

“I always try to stay positive and find room for improvement,” Ringo said on Tuesday night. “I feel like one thing that can put things in a bad situation is to be complacent and feel like you have arrived - that’s one thing that Coach Smart has said. We’re always trying to find something to improve and just know that you can always be better because there’s no limit to where our enemies can get to.”

Kirby Smart recognizes how rare that mindset and ability is in a player. It’s why the Georgia coach spoke so effusively of Ringo and how he is approaching the season.

“We had several talks in the offseason and he embraced it,” Smart said. “He was the to first admit, ‘No, I’m not where I need to be.’ He had some plays in that game that weren’t so good. He admitted that, he said, ‘I can improve and that’s what I want to do.’

“He’s been a leader, he’s been an everyday work guy, and I’m expecting him to have a great season because of the work he’s putting in. He’s worked really hard to be a good player.”

The Georgia defense is going to face plenty of questions to start the season. But it seems it has a very strong answer in Ringo as a lockdown cornerback.

Kirby Smart pushes Arik Gilbert for consistency

Smart can’t deny Arik Gilbert’s talent. He snared two touchdowns in Georgia’s spring game and looked like a player ready to make the most of his opportunity.

Gilbert is a unique talent, much in the same way George Pickens was for the Bulldogs. The problem is that Georgia had only one player of Pickens’ caliber in the wide receiver room and it was him. Georgia has at least two players on equal footing with Gilbert in the tight end room.

The Georgia coach was asked about Gilbert during his Tuesday press conference. Smart did not hide where things stood with the tight end entering the first game of the season.

“It is hard to measure because I think the sky is the limit in terms of his talent and things,” Smart said. “The consistency and performance he has to have, he has to have consistency in practice. That is something he needs to work on and strive on. Nobody wants it more than he does.”

Related: Georgia football practice report: Todd Hartley pushing Arik Gilbert hard ahead of Oregon opener

Smart will never come out and criticize a player in the press. That’s not him and it does nobody any good to do so. But he has used his press conferences to motivate players in the past and it does seem that is what he is doing here.

Time will tell if Gilbert is able to deliver what Smart wants in a practice setting. That Georgia also has Brock Bowers and Darnell Washington, not to mention hard-charging freshman Oscar Delp, at its disposal should force Gilbert to raise his game to match the standard in the Georgia tight end room.

Don’t sleep on this freshman linebacker

Jalon Walker won’t be an every-down player right away at Georgia. Despite the turnover at inside linebacker, Walker has a lot of bodies in front of him on the depth chart. Georgia is eager to see what Jamon Dumas-Johnson, Smael Mondon and Trezmen Marshall do this season.

But Walker seems to have no problem taking the road less traveled to playing time. He’s shown a willingness to help Georgia in a variety of roles, whether be as a special teams player, or as blitzing linebacker ala Channing Tindall in past seasons.

“He is tough, man. He is a physical player,” Smart said of Walker. “He is really smart. He is picking things up. He is a talented kid.”

Smart is a big fan of Walker’s for another reason beyond his abilities as a football player. Like Smart, Walker is the son of a football coach. Walker’s dad is Curtis Walker, the head coach at Division II Catawaba College in Salisbury, N.C.

For most teams, Walker would be the jewel of their freshman class as he was the No. 4 ranked linebacker and no. 48 overall prospects in the 2022 recruiting cycle. Georgia though signed five 5-star prospects in this previous class. Malaki Starks and Mykel Williams have earned consistent praise so far, as have Dillon Bell and Oscar Delp on the offensive side of the ball.

We’ll see how much of an impact Walker has on Saturday against the Ducks, but regardless of his role, Georgia has found itself another promising young linebacker.

“He is so respectful and does things the right way,” Smart said. “He represents us in the right way. He is going to be a hell of a player.”

Kirby Smart gives updates on Kelee Ringo, Arik Gilbert and Jalon Walker

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