Javon Bullard feels like he's come a long way since the end of last season.
That's an interesting thing to say about a player who won defensive MVP in both of Georgia's College Football Playoff wins a season ago. But as the junior works more and more at safety, he's getting comfortable at what could be his new position this fall.
"I feel like I’ve come pretty far, actually," Bullard said. "I have great leadership from coach Smart [Kirby Smart, head coach] and coach Muschamp [Will Muschamp, co-defensive coordinator]. Those guys do a great job of helping me. We call them nuggets, helping you just play within the system to the best of our ability. Those guys do a great job of helping me learn, day in and day out learning."
Bullard has mostly played the star position since he arrived at Georgia in the Class of 2021. Smart said the staff doesn't like to do too much cross-training with players as they come into the program due to the volume of defensive knowledge required.
But with Bullard's experience in the system, and with the departure of safety Christopher Smith, Smart has been experimenting with Bullard at safety.
As Smart explained, the decision is viewed in the context of the defense as a whole, not just Bullard.
"You don't always weigh it based on what is Bullard's best position for the team, but who can play the best position around him. So we're weighing that option," Smart said. "We feel like he's a very experienced star. He spent the majority of his development at star since being here. So we have really tried to push the safety issue in order to create more depth there and then figure out who is the best around him. I think Javon is one of our best 11 football players, but who is number 10 and 11 and where do they fit? I think all that should play out in camp."
Options abound at both safety and star.
If Bullard sticks at star, names such as Dan Jackson and David Daniel-Sisavanh will battle for the safety job, alongside Malaki Starks. If Bullard moves to safety, Tykee Smith and Joenel Aguero are among the options to replace him at star.
"Joenel’s a freak athlete, man," Bullard said of the freshman. "You see it on a day-to-day basis. The guy shows flashes on a day-to-day basis and in practice. Really just a playmaker. I feel like you’re going to see it this fall. He still has a lot to learn, but this defense teaches you a lot about football. Joenel’s going to be a great player here."
Bullard doesn't view star and safety that differently.
He sees his job as making plays on the ball. Bullard can do that from either spot, studying film and adjusting to different angles to make things happen.
"I feel that football intelligence is one of the vital pieces that make good players great players," Bullard said. "When you can anticipate things happening before they even happen, that’s the difference between a (pass broken up) and an interception. I take pride in things like that. This game is about inches. I’ve seen teams lose games through inches and win games through inches. Just one false step can cost me an interception, or one false step can cause a player to catch a ball on me. I take pride in that."
Regardless of where he ends up, Bullard will play a significant role on Georgia's 2023 defense. He feels all the ingredients are there for the defense to continue playing at a championship level.
"Along with my God-given ability and (the coaching staff's) expertise in the game, I really feel like we could make a lot of plays this year," Bullard said.
