The back end of Georgia's defense will look much different in 2024.

Safety Malaki Starks is off to the NFL after starting essentially from day one and anchoring the secondary for the past three years. Veteran Dan Jackson is also gone after going from walk-on to critical piece of the defense over the past few seasons.

KJ Bolden, a freshman standout in 2024, is back. Opposite him, however, is a void that Kirby Smart and company are working hard to fill.

"It's a lot of people, but there's no like, you know, the solid foundation that Malaki and Dan provided is not there," Smart said. "So it's a by-committee group. I'm thinking it's too early to have anybody like out in the lead."

That's not to say the Bulldogs are short on options.

Smart mentioned JaCorey Thomas, Zion Branch, Adrian Maddox, Jaden Harris, Todd Robinson, Joenel Aguero, and Kyron Jones as players who have worked at safety through four practices. Aguero, Harris, and Jones are also working at star.

Thomas and Aguero are the most seasoned members of that group. Aguero has played in 23 games over the past two seasons, starting five games at Star in 2024 as he took on a more significant role in the secondary. Thomas has appeared in 31 games over the past three seasons, starting three games in 2024, including the season opener against Clemson.

Branch, Maddox, and Harris are transfers going through their first spring at Georgia. The same can be said of Robinson, a true freshman from Valdosta who mainly played quarterback in high school.

That leaves Bolden, who a year ago stood in Robinson's shoes, as one of the safety group's veteran leaders.

"He learned from two guys that knew how to do it in Malaki and Dan," Smart said. "He doesn't overstep his bounds. He doesn't try to force himself on players that are older than him. He pulls for Georgia. He pulls guys in the right direction. He coaches guys. He got a lot of reps last year at this time. He got a lot of reps in the season. He continues to develop his body. He's got his body in a position where he can play more snaps, play every snap. In terms of leadership he's doing a nice job.”

For his part, Bolden said it doesn't feel strange to be thrust into a leadership role so early in his career.

"I kind of adjusted very great this offseason," Bolden said. "I went up to the top with the coaches, just went over the playbook, like things I didn't know last year about the playbook, just things I could just work on. And just asking for tips and stuff like that, asking some of my older guys like Malaki and Dan. I'm just like, feel me, how I should approach it, how do I come about it? And I feel like they gave me great ideas on how I should do it."

Smart is working to determine who can step up like Bolden did a season ago.

"They're all swimming a little bit," Smart said. "They're trying to survive practice instead of thrive and we want to thrive, not survive."