Georgia Football got some strong play out of its sophomores in the secondary at G-Day.
There were a lot of good things that fans could take out of Saturday’s spring scrimmage. One of the most unexpected areas of strength in that one practice that jumped out, however, was the secondary. It’s been an area that Kirby Smart has repeatedly complained about throughout the spring and it looks like that unit responded.
4 interceptions in one practice is a good day for a defense. Some of them were mistakes by the QB’s, but they were also good plays by the defense. Deandre Baker continued to show that he should be one of the top CB’s in the SEC this year. JR Reed remains a force in the middle and Tyreke McGee impressed me quite a bit.
But it was the young guys that did the most on Saturday. Richard LeCounte still has a ways to go, but there is no doubt that he’s getting better. There is a big improvement with him back at safety than there was with Dominick Sanders last year. LeCounte can cover so much more range and delivers really big hits. His growth will make a big difference to this defense.
Then there were some of the other young guys. William Poole had an interception and really did a good job at the star position. I think he’s positioned himself well this spring to earn some playing time. Eric Stokes also played better on the second team unit than I expected. He got beat on a few plays, including Matt Landers’ touchdown, but those were great throws by Justin Fields. Other than that, he looked a lot further ahead than I thought he would be.
Next: What we learned from G-Day
UGA will have some highly talented Freshmen join this group in the summer. Players like Tyson Campbell will come in and expect to win a job this year. But the 2017 class showed up well in this one scrimmage. The new kids are going to have to compete against improving players to win those spots. That sounds like it’s going to please Kirby Smart rather a lot.