Kamari Lassiter on being yelled at by Kirby Smart

INDIANAPOLIS - The sound boomed across Georgia's campus.

Kirby Smart yelled and screamed at his team during practice, his microphone-enhanced voice echoing off buildings. One of Kamari Lassiter's friends told him after practice he had heard Smart around the dorms at East Campus Village, a good distance from the practice field.

The friend heard Smart's tone. But Lassiter had learned to approach Smart's rants from a different point of view.

"Whenever you get to Georgia, it’s a different style of coaching," Lassiter said. "It’s hard coaching. You’ve got to be able to have thick skin, be able to take coaching. Especially whenever you’re young, you don’t really understand that. So just being able to hear from the older guys like, just understand the message. Hear what he’s saying, not how he’s saying it. It’ll take you a long way."

That mantra of "hear the message, not the tone" is something Lassiter learned the hard way.

The former four-star recruit said he found himself on the receiving end of some tough love from Smart plenty of times. But eventually, he learned to accept the hard coaching.

That toughness helped Lassiter develop into a fixture of the Georgia secondary. He started all 29 games at corner over the past two seasons, registering 75 total tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss, and 12 passes defended over the past two seasons.

While the physical play is crucial, Lassiter takes just as much pride in the mental aspect of his game. He emphasized his ability to understand coverages, know what his teammates are doing, and figure out how to use all those things to his advantage. That has helped Lassiter be comfortable playing either outside or in the slot, a feeling he has conveyed to NFL teams at the combine.

Lassiter credited Georgia with fostering his development. As he goes through the pre-draft process looking to solidify himself as a first-round pick, Lassiter knows all that hard coaching he received in Athens is paying off.

"Georgia helped me mature in a way that I never thought I would be able to mature," Lassiter said. "From just playing football, they helped me understand the game in a way that I never understood. I understand situational football now. I’m able to talk football with GMs and coaches and everything. I’m sitting in front of you guys in a place that I didn’t think I would be sitting a couple of years ago."