Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans might be an Alabama alum, but he’s got an awful lot of respect for the way Georgia head coach Kirby Smart runs his program.

Ryans was asked about rookie cornerback Kamari Lassiter earlier this week. Lassiter was Houston’s top pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, after he had a stellar three-year career at Georgia.

Lassiter didn’t start in his first season in Athens, though he quickly impressed Smart and the Georgia program. It seems he’s following a similar track in Houston.

“For Kamari you can tell he’s built for this,” Ryans said. “Like when it comes to the mental toughness piece that plays a lot into being a good football player at this level, you have to be mentally tough. You have to have that next-play mentality and at Georgia, Kirby has done a great job, you can tell, of raising them the right way.”

Lassiter was the first defensive player from Georgia drafted in the 2024 NFL Draft. He was one of three defensive backs taken in the first three rounds, as Lassiter came off the board with the No. 42 overall pick.

Over the last five NFL drafts, no program has produced more NFL players than Georgia with 48.

“Kirby has done a great job with all of his guys,” Ryans said. “Having those guys NFL ready to go and that’s one thing you see from Georgia, year after year since he has been there, those guys are plug-and-play type players, and it’s a credit to him and his program and how they run things there. You get a Georgia guy you know you’re getting an NFL player.”

Georgia now finds itself having to replace Lassiter entering the 2024 season. The Bulldogs do bring back Daylen Everette at cornerback, who knows first-hand how impactful Lassiter was for Georgia last season.

“I mean, the guy across from me, if it’s Kamari Lassiter, you know the type of player he was,” Everette said. “He locked down the whole other side of the field, so I guess they were just going to try me.

Lassiter was one of eight Bulldogs taken in last year’s NFL draft. Georgia is expected to once again have a strong NFL drop crop for the 2025 NFL Draft. Georgia had 20 players land on the Senior Bowl watchlist, second only to Ole Miss. And ESPN’s Field Yates had three Georgia players going in the first 14 selections of his 2025 NFL Draft.

Georgia opens the 2024 season against the Clemson Tigers on Aug. 31. The Houston Texans open the season against the Indianapolis Colts on Sept. 8.