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Georgia football secondary unravels against Alabama

Kirby Smart has long been regarded as one of the top secondary coaches in the country. He rose up the coaching ranks thanks to his expertise in the area. He himself was a former All-SEC safety in his playing days. Safe to say he has a pretty good understanding of the position.

Add in his recruiting prowess and it’s he’s to see why Georgia signed 13 defensive backs in the previous four recruiting cycles who were rated as 4-star prospects or better. In theory, Georgia should be brimming with talent in the backend and it should be one of Georgia’s top units on the team.

If that’s the case, why then did Georgia start a walk-on at safety in Dan Jackson and have William Poole — a fifth-year senior who had yet to start a game in his Georgia career— at STAR? If you can understand that, you’ll get a better idea as to why the Georgia secondary was torched on Saturday.

“We didn’t work on run much because we didn’t feel like with the backs it was coming. It was going to be a pass game,” Smart said on Saturday. “We had two or three third downs where we have a bust and cut a guy loose, and we haven’t done that all year. When you’re in man coverage and you cut a guy loose, that’s not typical of us.”

Before digging too deep into what happened against Alabama, let’s first look back as to why Georgia is so thin in its secondary. The Bulldogs were hit hard by losses a year ago in the position. Four defensive backs were drafted in the 2021 NFL Draft. That was to be expected though. Those are the kind of player departures you want to have, as it makes it easier to sell development to recruits.

The losses you don’t want are the transfers. The secondary has undoubtedly been impacted by that, more than any position group on Georgia’s team. Of the 15 defensive backs Georgia has signed since 2018, four of them started elsewhere in college this year. Otis Reese ended up Ole Miss. Divaad Wilson went to UCF. Tyrique Stevenson is at Miami while Major Burns was at LSU. A fifth, Daran Branch, left the team this summer but did not find a home.

Those first four names played a combined 41 games this year, almost all as key members of their respective defenses. They likely would’ve helped Georgia out in the backend as it tried to defend John Metchie and Jameson Williams.

Injuries were also a factor for this unit. Jalen Kimber was a promising redshirt freshman who was pushing for a starting spot coming out of spring practice. But an offseason shoulder injury derailed his season. He underwent season-ending surgery after Georgia’s game against South Carolina.

The Bulldogs also had plans for Tykee Smith, a transfer who arrived this summer from West Virginia. Smith though suffered a foot injury in August, then tore his ACL in practice before the Kentucky game. He appeared in just one game this season for Georgia.

Georgia signed four defensive backs in this past recruiting cycle and brought in Smith and Derion Kendrick from the transfer portal. At this point in the season, it appears that Kendrick will be the only new face helping out Georgia in its playoff game against Michigan.

“We’re trying to get those guys ready, whether it’s Javon Bullard, David Daniel, Kamari Lassiter,” Smart said. “I think all three of those guys have gotten a lot better because they’ve had so many reps throughout practice and things. But they’re not ready to start. They’re not ahead of anybody else. In some ways you have who you have.

“You have to develop that roster, try to get them better.”

An injury to Chris Smith prior to Georgia’s game against Charleston Southern was why Jackson and Poole ended up starting for Georgia. The Bulldogs could’ve turned to Latavious Brini, who started 11 games for Georgia at star this season. Yet he curiously did not end up playing in the loss to Alabama.

“Poole worked at corner since he’s been at our place. He’s really more corner by nature in coverage and has some speed,” Smart said on the decision. “When you watch him last night, he covered some guys really well. We also had some mental busts that we have to help him with, make it simpler so that he can get out there and try to help us.”

Smart added that Smith was limited in practice for most of the week due to a knee injury. Georgia had deployed him at the star position in the game against Tennessee, with the move being a successful one as Georgia shut out the Volunteers in the second and third quarters.

On Alabama’s second offensive series of the game, Smith settled in at safety with Poole staying at star. The addition of Smith though didn’t make a difference. Busts coupled with an inability to get pressure led to a season-worst performance.

“Our guys have played well at times this year, and each guy has had some poor plays where we haven’t made plays on the ball downfield, and our front has really protected them a lot of the way,” Smart said. “It was evident last night when you get zero sacks and you pressure as much as we did, you’re probably going to have some one-on-one situations that you don’t win them all.”

Alabama’s Bryce Young threw for 421 yards in the win for Alabama. Two of his three touchdown passes came on explosive plays, with Williams getting wide open and racing for a 67-yard touchdown in the second quarter. The Williams touchdown started a run of 31 points on five straight possessions for Alabama.

Prior to the run, Georgia held a 10-0 lead. By the time Stetson Bennett got the ball back for Georgia’s first offensive possession of the third quarter, the Bulldogs were trailing 31-17.

“We’ve got to go back to the drawing board and get a new plan and pick out our weaknesses,” linebacker Nolan Smith said. “That’s all on the defense as a whole. 31 points, that’s just not the Georgia way.”

In the event Georgia sees Alabama again, the Bulldogs do have some things they can tweak. For one, Georgia won’t have to defend Metchie. The Alabama receiver caught six passes for 97 yards in the first half. But he went down with an injury on Alabama’s final drive of the second quarter. He ended up tearing his ACL on the play.

That still leaves Williams and Young as major problems. The former finished with 184 yards on seven receptions. The latter picked Georgia apart all game.

Going forward, expect Georgia to blitz Young more frequently and play more man coverage against Williams. Smart noted multiple times that was Auburn’s game plan against the Crimson Tide. It worked as Young was sacked seven times and Alabama didn’t score its first touchdown until the final minute of regulation. Williams missed the second half of that Auburn game after being ejected for targeting. His speed also makes that difficult, as he raced behind Kelee Ringo and Lewis Cine for a 55-yard touchdown.

While Smart has spoken often this season about playing more zone defense, which Georgia did on Saturday, the results against Alabama would indicate that probably doesn’t need to be deployed.

“They’re dynamic against zone, their numbers are just staggering when you play zone against them,” Smart said. “They do a great job of that. You have to find ways to get him on the ground and pressure.”

Linebackers Nolan Smith and Nakobe Dean both made mention of the fact that Georgia had to go back to the drawing board when it comes to the Georgia defense. Getting more pressure is going to be paramount for those two.

Because other than holding up better in man coverage, there’s just not much this secondary can potentially do against the Alabama passing offense.

“We had a bust, and then they hit explosive plays. He threw the ball in the right place at the right time,” Smith said. “Guys made plays on their team, and they just had a better game plan than us this Saturday.”

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