Kirby Smart isn’t feeling too great about his defense after six spring practices.

Following Saturday’s practice, Smart visited with the media. He isn’t afraid to admit that the offense is ahead of the defense, but two aspects are concerning, he says.

First, Smart is concerned with his defensive line, both the depth and the physicality up front. The Bulldogs lost John Atkins and Trenton Thompson along the line, and it’s only natural the Dawgs are searching for depth help.

“We just don’t have as much depth and we’re not as physical as we need to be…It’s something we’ve got to rectify and we definitely need some help on the depth of the defensive line,” Smart said, via the Red and Black.

The DL is somewhat banged up right now though. Michael Barnett could be a nice piece, but he currently has a minor knee injury.

“He had a minor knee injury,” Smart said. “That’s part of the issue [regarding depth]. We think he’s going to be fine. He’s going to be back, possibly, by the end of spring but may not make it back by spring. And that’s part of the problem right there. I think it was Tuesday’s practice, he had a slight dislocation but we think he is going to be ok.”

Also concerning to Smart is the depth at safety. Early enrollee Divaad Wilson is already out for the season due to an injury suffered this spring, and Smart has to figure out a way to replace former starters Malkom Parrish, Aaron Davis and Dominick Sanders.

Smart even took the chance to challenge two redshirt freshmen safeties Saturday: Tray Bishop and Latavious Brini.

“Our depth at safety is a very serious concern,” Smart said, via 247Sports.com. “They are part of that depth. They’re not ready to play yet. I don’t necessarily think they should be ready to play but they should be on their way because where they were unique last year, you didn’t see them play but they took a ton of reps in practice. The growth hasn’t been what I want to see out of he and Brini. So I challenge them every day, ‘are you going to get where we can trust you to put you in the game? Because you are one play away,” and we’re not where we need to be there.”