ATHENS -- Kirby Smart believed in Kyron Jones long ago, and nothing has changed where the senior safety is concerned.

Trust in Georgia has been a theme for Jones throughout his career in Athens, and it has gone both ways from the onset.

Jones, with his sub-4.4 second speed and hard-hitting abilities, returned to the starting lineup on Saturday after missing the last eight games of last season and much of the full-speed work in the spring and summer workouts after suffering a foot injury.

Jones, one of the more unheralded veterans on Georgia’s celebrated defense, didn’t waste any time making an impact against Tennessee State, delivering a big hit on the first defensive play of the Bulldogs’ 63-3 win over the Tigers.

“I was just doing my job,” said Jones, whose primary job as a high school player long ago at Charlotte Christian School was rushing to the tune of 2,316 yards and 29 touchdowns before Georgia got involved in his recruitment.

“(It) was a great way to start the game off.”

Jones’ elite speed (sub-4.4-second time in the 40-yard dash) and hard-hitting abilities are what Smart envisioned when UGA recruited the talented high school player with a switch to defense in mind.

“The vision was there before I even got here; Georgia, it’s a place that’s known for developing defensive guys,” said Jones, who had an offer to play tailback at North Carolina State. “You know, somebody from my home state, Jordan Davis … he came here and got developed, and I got to see that pay off for him and play out for a lot of guys.

“I knew, as far as development, that what they were telling me was the real deal.”

Jones has proven the real deal at safety, too, from the first game he played in when he returned an interception 26 yards for a safety his freshman season.

Then there was last season’s clutch fumble recovery at the UGA 1-yard line with Auburn up 10-0 and threatening to score more when Raylen Wilson and CJ Allen jarred the ball loose and Jones was there for the recovery.

“That was probably one of my best feelings here at Georgia,” Jones said of the momentum-changing fumble recovery. “My job was just to kind of come off the edge and then I look and I saw the ball, so I just grabbed it and ran with it.”

The play was whistled dead, but UGA was still able to drive for a field goal before halftime en route to a 20-10 victory.

Jones, however, was not able to play the next Saturday against Ole Miss after suffering what proved to be a season-ending foot injury, instead beginning a long and often frustrating rehabilitation journey.

“Coming back from injury is something that’s tough, and for me, I just trusted our great sports medicine staff that they were doing everything for the best for me to get back,” Jones said. “There were times I wanted to get more reps and be out there a little more, but I ultimately knew that they were doing what was best for me.

“It feels great to be back.”

Jones, like most running backs once loved the feel of the ball in his hands, but upon switching to defense, he discovered he liked giving the hits more than taking them.

“There was times where I did miss offense, but I made a decision for myself, and I trusted my decision of switching to defense,” Jones said. “I just love football, so having the ball in my hands or not having a ball in my hands, I just love being out there and playing football.

“I like where I’m at, I like the safety spot.”

It has been hard-earned, especially with the detail-oriented Smart often shadowing the position he once played while overseeing Georgia practices.

“It’s tough learning the system, learning how to actually play defense, and I would say that was probably the hardest, also somewhere like Georgia, where we pride ourselves in playing good defense and playing under a defensive coach,” Jones said. “I’ve always been more of a physical guy, and I just like playing safety and getting in those spots where I can deliver hits versus taking hits.

“I feel the love for it kind of developed as I started to do it because I never (had) really played safety, is I didn’t really know that that felt … I just brought that in how I play and my play style.”

Georgia substituted heavily in the win over Tennessee State, limiting Jones to 15 defensive snaps at free safety, from which he made two tackles.

UGA co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach Travaris Robinson expressed how proud he was of Jones’ mindset and return at the start of fall camp.

“For a young man, when something’s taken away from him, they can do one of two things: It can crush him or it can motivate him,” Robinson said in August. “And it can do both. And for Kyron, it crushed him at first, but then it started to motivate him. And he’s motivated right now to come back and prove that he can come back from this.”