Kirby Smart raved about freshman safety KJ Bolden at his weekly press conference on Monday.

Bolden made his collegiate debut over the weekend, and had a big impact in UGA’s win over Clemson. He played a team-high (defensively) 49 snaps and recorded 4 tackles in the victory.

It’s unusual for a true freshman to make such an early impression on the field at Georgia, but Smart explained a key factor that makes Bolden different from most other freshmen.

“He’s played more football than most seniors. He’s been playing since he was 6 years old,” Smart said. “In the heart of Atlanta, in one of the toughest leagues there is to play football. He’s played up against older kids all his life. He’s extremely athletic.

“The moment’s not too big for KJ. He’s just very gifted athletically, but he also had great football instincts and intuition. He’s been coached by his father. He’s tough. So I think that gives him a leg up coming in just because he’s been playing football so long.”

There’s still a long way to go, but Bolden seems to be on track toward becoming a future Georgia first-round draft pick. The Bulldogs flipped him away from Florida State on signing day at the end of the last cycle. He was the No. 13 overall player in the country for the class of 2024, per 247Sports Composite rankings.

Georgia will look to move to 2-0 on Saturday against Tennessee Tech.