In the Georgia Bulldogs defense, two freshman have come into their own these past few weeks and made big impacts in key moments.
Freshman safety KJ Bolden has become one of the highlights in this secondary since the beginning of the season by making a crucial stop against Clemson. The former five-star recorded his first career interception against Mississippi State and recently made several plays against the Texas Longhorns, who are now ranked fifth.
Bolden will have a big role against Florida given the first-half suspensions for safety Dan Jackson and slot cornerback Joenel Aguero.
Freshman linebacker Chris Cole also has seen meaningful snaps due to an injury to Smael Mondon. Cole earned a five-star ranking per ESPN.
Cole was considered a project for this season that would hopefully find his way onto the field later in the season. However, that time is now. Cole is making an immediate impact in pass coverage.
In Tuesday’s press conference, coach Kirby Smart had high praise for Cole.
“First off, if you want to say the player that’s made one of the biggest jumps, going back to your question, Chris Cole has made from the time he arrived to now, he has improved immensely.” Smart said. “Chris has put himself in a position because he has really elite speed and flexibility to be able to cover and he’s got great length.”
We saw that speed and his coverage ability when he broke up a pass attempt to Texas Longhorn tight end Gunnar Helm that almost turned into an interception. We saw that improvement where it seems as the transition has been seamless with Mondon being out and plugging Cole into play primarily in passing situations. With the way Cole has been playing it will be hard to keep him off the field when Smael Mondon nears a return.