Georgia football looking for 'who's going to be the guy' at safety with KJ Bolden

One of the nation’s top safeties will roam the secondary for Georgia football this season. The question is, who will be the guy joining KJ Bolden at the other starting safety spot for the Bulldogs? “Right now, it’s just a competition,” safeties coach and co-defensive coordinator Travaris Robinson said this week. “The one thing that everybody’s got to understand is that production matters, right?” Georgia coaches will get their best chance yet this fall camp to see which players can hold up under pressure when the first of two preseason scrimmages is held Saturday in Sanford Stadium. Rasean Dinkins, who started the final two games of last season at star nickel back, is battling East Carolina transfer Ja’Marley Riddle at a position where Kyon Jones and freshmen Tyriq Green and Blake Stewart are also in the mix. “Now we can kind of figure exactly out who’s producing the most and then we start to decide then who’s going to be the guy that’s trotting out there when step on the field in September,” Robinson said. That season opener on Sept. 5 is against FCS Tennessee State so there should be plenty of snaps to go around. “Like I tell them all the time, the best player is going to start,” Robinson said. “If you’re good enough, you’re going to play. If you ain’t good enough, you’re going to watch.” Robinson likened Dinkins moving from nickel back to safety like a shortstop moving to the outfield with more ground to cover. Riddle was slowed by a leg injury this spring after transferring from East Carolina where he led the team with 70 tackles and had 3 interceptions and 6 pass breakups.  “I’m looking at three critical factors: can they play man-to-man, can they tackle and can they play the ball in the deep part of the field?” coach Kirby Smart said on Aug. 5 before the first practice of fall camp. “It doesn't change from year-to-year. Can he play man-to-man? He can’t go on the field if he can’t. Can he tackle? He can’t go on the field if he can’t. Does he play the ball well in the deep part of the field, which could be a fatal flaw if you can't. If you misjudge it, they’re going to score touchdowns. If you can do those three things, we can teach you what to do.” The 5-foot-11, 200-pound Green, known as “Boogie,” came in with a measure of hype after the two-way player was named MVP in powerhouse Buford’s state championship game win. “We’re throwing a lot at him,” Robinson said. “He’s doing a really good job at the roles we have for him. Does he have a long way to go? Absolutely he does, but we’ve got some time to get there, but he’s a talented guy.” Jones started the first six games of last season before a foot injury that kept out the rest of the season. He is practicing on a “pitch count,” to limit his reps. Defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann said up to this point, the practice reps have been spread around at safety. “You're being really intentional about them getting enough reps so you can evaluate them and they can get better so that when it's time, as we get into our first scrimmage, and then the week after the first scrimmage and the second scrimmage, that you're really able to assess, okay, who needs to be playing, starting, in that rotation from there,” he said. “And that's normally production-based.”  Georgia will start Ellis Robinson at cornerback and Demello Jones is ahead for the other cornerback spot. It appears Clemson transfer Khalil Barnes is in good shape to start at the Star and can also play safety. “He was a huge acquisition,” Travaris Robinson said. “He’s been a great surprise, a great deal for us to get.” The depth chart will become more clearer internally in the lead up to the first game week. “The next two weeks is really where the separation starts,” Schumann said. “Like, I always view the first scrimmage as moving day. Like, hey, some people move up and down, and then, hey, after the second scrimmage, you kinda have to have a little bit of a pecking order because now you're getting into game week prep. But you're still constantly developing everybody in the room.” This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Georgia football looking for 'who's going to be the guy' at safety with KJ Bolden