DALLAS — For Malaki Starks, Tuesday was a dream come true.
No, speaking in front of media members at SEC media days was not something he ever looked forward to. He instead got a chance to meet Todd Gurley.
That interaction meant a lot to someone who grew up adoring Gurley, as odd as that may seem to some older Georgia fans.
“It was amazing. Todd Gurley is the reason I started watching Georgia football in the first place,” Starks said.
As Gurley did prior to the 2014 season, Starks represented Georgia at this year’s edition of the preseason kickoff event.
Gurley was one of, if not the, best players in the country during the 2014 season, only for it to be cut short by an NCAA suspension and an ACL injury. Starks will hope to have a much better ending to his junior season than Gurley did.
Starks has started 28 straight games for Georgia, with the season-opener against Oregon in 2022 being the lone game he didn’t start. To make up for it, Starks made a leaping interception that head coach Kirby Smart still recalls.
“So all the knocks and all the things said out there about you can’t start as a freshman at Georgia, it’s too hard to play on defense, the first game he ever was in, I guess Oregon, he started, and started ever since,” Smart said. “He’s a quiet, humble leader. He is a very Christian young man. He represents our university the right way, and I’m really proud to have him here today.”
A lot has changed for Starks since that opener. He’s won a national championship and become an All-American.
Now for his next task, he’ll be the leader of the Georgia defense.
“It’s getting people to follow that,” Starks said. “Just follow Doing the right things off the field. The biggest thing for me is getting them to follow along.”
Georgia has to replace Javon Bullard and Tykee Smith at the safety and star positions. Georgia announced it dismissed senior David Daniel-Sisavanh from the team on Tuesday after a violation of team rules.
That leaves Georgia very thin at safety entering the 2024 season. It means Georgia will ask Starks to do even more in the secondary.
In addition to making spectacular plays on a down-by-down basis, that means helping make sure other players in the Georgia secondary are in the right place.
If freshman KJ Bolden is to have an impact similar to that of Starks as a freshman, it will be because Starks helps drag him to his level.
“I think KJ Bolden has a chance to really help us out,” Smart said. “He’s athletic, he’s intelligent. He comes from a really good high school program. He got 15 practices in spring, and he approaches every practice like a veteran. So, where he is right now is probably ahead of where Malaki was at that time, and Malaki was able to play a freshman. So, I’m excited about what KJ is going to do.”
You could make the case that Starks is the best player on this Georgia team. The recent EA Sports College Football 25 video game rated him as such. Starks admitted he was overall happy about his 95 overall ranking, though he thinks his strength ranking could be higher.
The next highest-rated player in the game is quarterback Carson Beck. Those two will play a pivotal role in Georgia’s championship chase in 2024.
If he’s able to win another national title, his second, he could well have a legacy that surpasses that of his childhood hero in Gurley.
“Me and Carson joke around. I’m what he is to offense on defense in a sense,” Starks said. “Just to have a guy like him on the other side of the ball and go at it every day, 7-on-7, walkthroughs, whatever it may be, we’re very competitive. To have a guy like him make me better every day and have me do it to him, it’s special.”
