Julian Humphrey has the Talent and Experience Georgia Needs at Corner

Georgia football is looking for someone to replace Kamari Lassiter on the outside. Entering his third season in Athens, Julian Humphrey is poised to be that player.

Former Georgia corner Kamari Lassiter is projected to be one of the top defensive backs selected in the upcoming NFL Draft. While the program is always excited to see another player taken at the top of the draft, Lassiter's departure leaves a big hole in Georgia's defense.

Lassiter was Georgia's not-so-secret weapon on defense last year, matching up with an opposing offense's best receiver regardless of formation. In a Kirby Smart defense, corners typically stay on one side of the field, but Lassiter's abilities and play stlye allowed him to move around. Now Georgia is looking for his replacement.

The top contender is redshirt sophomore Julian "Julio" Humphrey out of Clear Lake in Texas. Humphrey has appeared in 12 games so far in his career but in mostly a reserve role. He was starting to pick up steam last season before an injury sidelined him.

"Yeah, if everybody understands Kamari"s situation last year, Kamari could only practice I would say 30-40% of the practices during the season," saidGeorgia head coach Kirby Smart in a press conference on Tuesday in Athens.

"So there were a lot of available reps for Julio, for Julian. He did a great job. He worked hard. He picked things up. He had to increase his toughness. He's always been able to run he's always been able to cover but his issues came from knowing exactly what to do when people motion, [and] things change and I thought last year, he did a great job of that he picked all that up."

"He played really big in our Missouri game," continued Smart. "and covered people well. He had kind of a breakout game there. And then he had the unfortunate injury against Ole Miss. So he's had a good spring practice so far. Hope that continues. He's hungry. They got good competition going on at corner. You know, we don't look at it as two corners. I mean, we look at it as if there's four corners that can play one of them's gonna also play Star and they're all gonna play. And the more winning football players we can have at corner, the better off our team can be."

Humphrey, along with his presumptive fellow start Daylen Everette, will have to hold off a host of young talent at corner, including the nation's No. 1 defensive prospect Ellis Robinson IV. Spring ball is a chance for him to solidify a role, but fall camp is where positions will be won.

Other Georgia News:

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