ATHENS — Understandably, there’s a lot of attention on KJ Bolden and Ellis Robinson this spring.
The two were Georgia’s highest-rated defensive back signees in the 2024 signing class. The Bulldogs have openings at corner, where Ellis was the nation’s highest-ranked cornerback prospect, and safety, where Bolden was the top-ranked safety in the country.
With all that excitement you can understand why head coach Kirby Smart would prefer to slow the hype train and take a long view as it pertains to their development.
“They’re first spring players,” Smart said. “They’re talented players and everything they were advertised to be in terms of being good football players. They’re both instinctive, they learn well, they both have toughness, I think both of them will contribute on special teams because they can run, hit, tackle. I’m excited about those guys.
“The expectation of the outside world is they’re going to set the place on fire, but we have good football players here. They’re going to compete with those guys and hopefully earn some ability to play and playing time.”
Robinson comes from IMG Academy and was Georgia’s highest-rated signee in the 2024 recruiting class. He enters a cornerback that has to replace All-SEC candidate Kamari Lassiter.
But Robinson is far from the only talented option that Donte Williams can pick from. Daylen Everette started 14 games for Georgia last season, while Julio Humphrey and Daniel Harris both have an experience edge over Robinson.
Still, the freshman corner is making a fast impression. He’s already had his welcome to Georgia moment, as Roderick Robinson bowled over the young cornerback in a perimeter Oklahoma drill.
But Ellis Robinson bounced back up immediately, eager to get another rep.
“Ellis is very long and fast. He’s a very lanky corner, so I would think coming up through this program is going to be the best for him,” JaCorey Thomas said of Robinson.
Bolden was the No. 1 player in the state of Georgia for the 2024 recruiting cycle and a huge win for the Bulldogs during the 2024 recruiting class as Georgia flipped him from Florida State.
Smart spoke about how the Bulldogs remained consistent in their approach of recruiting Bolden, even with him committed to Florida State.
The hope is that Bolden quickly becomes a consistent player for the Bulldogs. That’ll give him the best chance of seeing the field early, as Georgia needs to replace Javon Bullard and Tykee Smith.
“You know, KJ’s a very good athlete,” Thomas said. “He’s very, very fast and very athletic. I know coming up in this program, he’s going to be a very good player.”
Smart may want to quell any positive chatter about Robinson and Bolden, given the day and age we live in with college football.
But even the Georgia head coach won’t deny his excitement about what Robinson and Bolden can be for Georgia.
It just requires a little bit of patience, from everyone involved.
“He and Ellis have a chance to make us much better in the day and age of college football where you better have depth and players,” Smart said. “When these guys leave, they’re going to have opportunities to play.”
