Georgia head coach Kirby Smart is no stranger to the difficulty of trying to stop the pass. Yet, even while Georgia's secondary gave up a combined 599 yards passing, he was pleased with what he saw from his defense at G-Day.
"We threw the ball all over the place. So it's a throw-happy league, ..." Smart said of his secondary. "We say in this game we're going to find out if we can throw and catch and if we can make plays down the field. And we made a couple down the field. We got a couple nice picks. But then we also had some balls and threw and caught.
"So, I don't know if you've played out there before. You go out there, there's a big guy six-foot-four that knows where the ball is, and you don't. Sometimes, it's hard to make that play. I've been there."
There were plenty of opportunities for both the cornerbacks and receivers to make plays on Saturday, and both sides capitalized on those at different times. Yet, while the stat sheet may indicate the passing offense dominated Saturday, the secondary more than held its own.
That was even without one of the top returning starters, cornerback Daylen Everette, who was out due to injury. In the absence of the senior, the first-team defense fielded a secondary of Daniel Harris and Ellis Robinson at cornerback, with Joenel Aguero at the STAR position. Meanwhile, KJ Bolden and JaCorey Thomas lined up at safety to start the game.
Harris and Robinson were on the same side during Saturday's scrimmage but are still competing for who will line up opposite Everette come the fall.
"I think he's competing harder. I think it matters to him more," Smart said of Harris. "He sees two really good players at the corner position with him, with Demello and Ellis, and he's competed really hard. He's had some plays where he's given up balls, and he's had some plays where he's made them."
Harris came into the spring already with a leg up on his competition as he recorded four starts last season. He finished with four tackles on Saturday in addition to reeling the sole interception thrown by Gunner Stockton.
Meanwhile, Robinson and Jones each recorded two tackles in their snaps. Jones was the only one to pull double duty of the two, playing snaps with both defenses. The Swainsboro, Georgia, native recorded an additional two tackles and one for a loss while on the red team.
"Demello had a really good spring," Smart said. "He lost a couple of battles today, and then in the end, Ellis had a couple where he had 50-50 balls. All three of those corners have gotten better. I think Donte's done a great job with them, having a lot of confidence in those guys and the wideouts made some plays today."
In addition to Harris, Dominick Kelly was the only other Georgia defensive back to reel in an interception. The former four-star prospect by way of IMG Academy started at cornerback for the red team and recorded a pass breakup in addition to his 31-yard interception.
