ATHENS – Right up there with Carson Beck excelling at quarterback, one of the biggest revelations from G-Day was Javon Bullard playing the entire game at safety.
It doesn’t necessarily mean the rising junior, who starred at nickelback during the postseason last year, is abandoning that position altogether. But there were strong indications between spring practice and Saturday’s intrasquad game that this is more than an experiment or a depth-building exercise for the Bulldogs’ secondary.
After his three-tackle, one-pass-breakup performance in the spring game Saturday, Bullard talked about Georgia coaches approaching him in the offseason with the idea of moving him to safety, where he flourished in high school.
“The coaches brought me in and said they were thinking about a position change,” Bullard said following the Red Team’s 31-26 win over the Black. “It’s definitely been a challenge because you’re going into another whole world. Safety’s basically another linebacker and you’ve got to know what you’re doing because there’s so many checks in our defense.
“But I feel like it’s been amazing. The coaches are really helping me and I’m just taking ownership and doing anything I can to help the team be better.”
It has to be considered somewhat of a risk for the Bulldogs because Bullard played so incredibly well at the nickelback position that Georgia calls the “star” last season. Bullard was one of the team’s leading tacklers with 46 stops playing that spot. He proved quite the play-maker there as well, logging two interceptions, a fumble recovery, three pass break-ups, seven quarterback hurries and 3.5 sacks.
That was especially evident in the College Football Playoff. Bullard earned defensive MVP honors in both games. He logged two interceptions and a fumble recovery in the first half of the championship game against TCU.
But the Bulldogs also lost a significant playmaker at safety off last year’s team in graduated senior Christopher Smith. Also, Georgia feels like it has another great player for the star position in fifth-year senior Tykee Smith.
Smith, who has battled injuries the last two seasons, split time with Bullard at nickelback last season. Smith is the healthiest he’s been at Georgia since transferring from West Virginia. He showed off his skilled in Saturday’s G-Day game with an interception and tackle for loss along with three tackles.
Having shared time with Smith the last two seasons, Bullard knows better than anyone what kind of player the Bulldogs have in Smith.
“I’m extremely excited to see Tykee this season,” Bullard said. “Tykee is an amazing player. He was last year and he was even before he got here. All-American guy, on and off the field. So, it’s just a matter of time before the whole world knows about Tykee Smith.”
Georgia actually has a lot of options at both positions. Darris Smith, a 6-foot-5, 225-pound sophomore, shared time with Smith at the star position on the Black Team on Saturday, while David Daniel-Sisavanh and Smoke Bouie played alongside Malaki Starks in the deep third. The Red squad featured sophomore letterman JaCorey Thomas as well as freshmen Joenel Aguero and Justyn Rhett at safety.
Meanwhile, virtually every defensive back for Georgia is being switched around and cross-trained at all the positions. At cornerback, sophomore Nyland Green got the start at the position opposite Kamari Lassiter, while Daylen Everette started on the Red team’s No. 2 defense. Both figure prominently in the Bulldogs’ plans.
“I think we’re pretty experienced (in the secondary),” said Smith, a two-time All-American at West Virginia. “Most everybody on the back end has played a lot. Everybody’s played meaningful minutes, so we’re definitely more experienced. But we’ve all got to continue to work and bring the young guys along because they’re going to play a big part on the back end, too.”
One way or another, Bullard definitely will be part of the plan. Whether that’s at star or safety, he said, is really not a big deal.
“I still play defensive back, so it’s not like I moved to receiver or anything like that,” Bullard said. “Football is football. Football is fun. I love it.”
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