Kamari Lassiter found himself in unfamiliar territory.

Georgia's junior corner lined up in the slot over Missouri star receiver Luther Burden. Lassiter drove on a short out route and broke up a pass, shutting down a play on a key fourth-quarter drive.

Lassiter doesn't usually play in the slot for the Bulldogs. But when Georgia called on him to play a different role against the Tigers, he answered the call.

"Kamari's a talented football player, and when he first got here as a freshman, we had times that we worked him in the slot and we cross-trained him because he's a matchup, really physical tackler, really tough guy," Smart said. "As we watched him during the week, we felt like we needed to have a weapon and some answers in the slot."

Usually it's Tykee Smith manning the star position for Georgia. But in some situations against Missouri, the Bulldogs used Lassiter at star with Daylen Everette and Julian Humphrey at the outside corner. That enabled Georgia to have someone with the elite cover skills of an outside corner in the slot to guard Burden and the other talented Missouri receivers.

According to Javon Bullard, Lassiter got the role down this week in practice.

"Hats off to Kamari, man," Bullard said. "He was just dialed in, knowing he doesn’t play that position. Him being able to dial in on that and just get it on a week’s basis is amazing. He played a hell of a game."

Lassiter moved back and forth from outside to slot throughout the game, sometimes during the same series. He finished with two tackles and two passes broken up.

In one of Georgia's toughest offensive challenges of the year, Lassiter answered the call. His teammates didn't feel surprised at all.

"He’s a dawg. At the end of the day, he’s a dawg," Bullard said. "He won every matchup. Kamari can guard anybody. He took that and he was held accountable to that. He took that role and embraced it."