Georgia’s position battle play opposite KJ Bolden

Georgia already has one safety position locked down.

Sophomore KJ Bolden returns as one of the anchors of the Bulldog defense. Safeties coach Travaris Robinson said that, although it’s not in Bolden’s nature to be a vocal leader, he has done an exceptional job of stepping into a leadership role since the end of the 2024 season.

The spot opposite Bolden, meanwhile, is completely up for grabs with Malaki Starks and Dan Jackson off to the NFL. The competition for it will rage throughout fall camp.

One of the top contenders is JaCorey Thomas, who is entering his fourth season in Athens. Thomas earned the start in last year’s season opener before Bolden took over the following week.

“I would say JaCorey is the kind of guy we want in our program. He’s a guy who didn’t leave,” Robinson said. “He’s a guy right now who waited his turn. I’m sure he was discouraged at times, but he’s waited his turn and now he has an opportunity to go play. And we’re excited about him. He’s doing a really good job. He’s a guy that plays with passion, fire, and energy. He’s a guy that plays fast. Cleaning up some of his mistakes and doing all those different things that he needed to do to become the player we need him to be is something that he’s working on. But we’re excited about JaCorey.”

The Bulldogs also dipped into the transfer portal to bolster their safety depth.

Georgia added Zion Branch (USC), Jaden Harris (Miami), and Adrian Maddox (UAB) out of the portal. Robinson said the Bulldogs looked for players they had a previous relationship with, and those three fit the bill.

There have been some growing pains for the transfers. As Robinson said, “the first thing you realize is every place ain’t Georgia.” But the transfer trio has held up well so far in their first fall camp in Athens.

“Those guys have done a good job of coming in, number one, of adapting to how we do things in our program. From the skull sessions to how we walk through to how we practice. Everything is difficult, but those guys have really adjusted well,” Robinson said. “Sometimes they have bad days, sometimes they have good days. Right now, we’re just trying to find that consistency and performance to get those guys doing what we need them to do. But I’ve been really pleased with those guys.”

The competition will rage throughout fall camp and perhaps even into the season as Georgia looks for the right combination. Robinson already has a clear view of what he’s looking for in Bolden’s running mate.

For one, whoever wins the job must play with “passion, fire, and energy,” a mantra Georgia has taken to heart this offseason. As the last line of defense, a safety must also be on the same page with his teammates.

“We’ve got to find guys that communicate,” Robinson said. “I think one of the hardest things to do as a new player, young player, is to come in and communicate and feel comfortable that you know what to do. So walk-throughs and different things that we do really helps with this. And our guys are doing a really good job. They’re battling very hard. We’re rotating those guys all around. So right now we don’t have any idea who’s going to play in the first game. Those guys are playing with different guys, whether they’re playing with a KJ and JaCorey combination or Adrian Maddox playing with KJ or JaCorey, or Zion Branch and even Kyron Jones as well. So we’ve got a lot of different variables of things that we’re doing right now, just trying to find some kind of continuity.”