Dan Lanning sheds light on key Georgia secondary position battles

Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning talked a lot about his defensive backfield when speaking to reporters on Tuesday.

The Bulldogs have to replace a number of key contributors from a season ago. That means new faces and names to know for Lanning, who spurned an offer from Texas to return to Georgia.

The two most prominent at this point are transfers Derion Kendrick and Tykee Smith.

“I think they’re both really instinctual players,” Lanning said. “Both of those guys have tremendous football instincts in my opinion. They’re not coming unpolished.

“I think going through some of the player-led stuff they were able to do this summer, they really got a leg up in coming in and being able to pick up our system. We’re certainly excited about those two guys”

Kendrick arrives from Clemson after starting 23 games at cornerback for the Tigers. Smith arrives with 17 starts under his belt. Lanning confirmed he was working at the star position for the Bulldogs.

“They’re who they say they are. We kind of knew what we were getting,” safety Lewis Cine said on Friday. “They’re sound guys and they bring a whole lot to the table.”

Smith’s main competition at the position appears to be Latavious Brini, who Lanning noted was working at the star and safety positions, as Georgia hopes to cross-train as many players as possible. Another example of that is Ameer Speed, who Lanning said is working at both the cornerback and money positions.

Georgia though won’t just be able to plug in the two transfer defensive backs and hope to patch up a secondary that gave more explosive plays last season than Lanning would have liked.

It’s going to take a group effort, from both coaches and players to help Georgia’s pass defense.

“We have to be creative,” Lanning said. “And I think every single year that we’ve been here defensively, and coach Smart has always pushed this, we’re going to continue to look to adapt and change. You’re bringing in coach (Jahmile) Addae from West Virginia, the No. 1 pass defense in the nation last year.”

Addae previously worked with Smith in their time with the Mountaineers. Georgia also added another well-known defensive mind to the on-field staff in recent days in Will Muschamp. He steps in for Scott Cochran, who is away from the team for the time being.

“You obviously added coach Muschamp to the mix,” Lanning said. “And we’ll always have some new, fresh ideas on how we can adapt and do things differently.”

Lanning made multiple references to the young defensive backs Georgia needs to quickly develop. The Bulldogs signed four defensive backs in the 2021 recruiting cycle, with Nyland Green being the highest-ranked of the four.

There are also two redshirt freshmen who will push for a starting spot at cornerback. One would be Jalen Kimber, who did work with the first-team defense during Georgia’s spring game.

The other is Kelee Ringo, who signed with Georgia as the top-rated defensive back in the 2020 recruiting cycle. We didn’t get a chance to see how Ringo would play as a freshman after he had labrum surgery prior to Georgia’s first game.

“Kelee’s working extremely hard in practice to put himself in a position to go out and make plays,” Lanning said. “Kelee’s engaged, he’s intelligent and he puts the time in. We’re going to continue to challenge him because I’m excited to see what this guy can do.”

Georgia will face a tough test in the opening week of the season as the Bulldogs take on DJ Uiagalelei and the Clemson Tigers. Clemson has a number of talented wide receivers including the recently cleared Justyn Ross.

It might not be the type of foe you would want to see during the opening week with a made-over secondary but Lanning is eagerly looking forward to the test.

Dan Lanning shares thoughts on Georgia secondary position battles

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