As early enrollees, Malaki Starks and JaCorey Thomas both received a ton of work for the Bulldogs during the spring.

With safety depth one of Kirby Smart’s bigger concerns, getting the duo up to speed as quickly as possible has been a priority.

But while Smart is certainly excited about the future of the two, along with the rest of the Bulldog freshmen defensive backs, there’s still a lot of work to do.

“They’ve still got a long way to go to be a viable option to play this year. I mean, you show me a freshman DB that played in the SEC, I'll show you a guy that gave up plays,” Smart said. “Now, every now and then you have a guy that comes along who's just -- I think of a couple of those guys that had to play as freshman, they played really big. It happens from time to time. And if you're going to have a guy, be an elite player as a freshman, it's usually at a skilled position like receiver, running back, or defensive back. I don't foresee one of those guys just coming in and dominating.”

At least not initially, although the hope is both youngsters will add to the safety depth.

There is veteran experience with Christopher Smith and Dan Jackson. Smart said Tykee Smith has also repped at both safety and star, with senior William Poole and sophomore David Daniel-Sisvanh also in the picture for playing time at the position.

“They (Starks and Thomas) are tremendously, physically gifted. We played basketball one time and they look like NBA players almost,” Smith said. “They’re picking up the defense, they’re coming along pretty well. They ask a lot of questions from me. They’ll have about five or six questions for me at practice every day and I’ll always take the time to answer because I want them to get better.”

Nobody questions the potential of the pair.

Starks and Thomas were both ranked as four stars out of high school, with Starks considered one of the better overall athletes in the current freshman class.

In fact, Starks is actually listed as an “athlete” on Georgia’s official roster, although Smart put the quick kybosh on the notion that he might see action on both sides of the ball.

“We’re not going to live off high-rankings and what people said about them, because there's a lot of good football players out there that you guys didn't rank high or did have high. So, it goes both ways. We will need those guys to be core special teams players. We will need those guys to be ready to play in the case of, you know, injuries, targeting, or whatever may be there. But we've got to get them ready by how we prepare in this training camp. And I'm excited about all those guys.”