Georgia getting creative to find answers at cornerback: Dawgs give LB Adam Anderson, RB Lovasea Carroll looks
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Spring camp is the best time of the year for development and evaluation and the Georgia coaching staff is making the most of the time they have this spring in Athens.
Georgia has already begun to receive plenty of hype this offseason but if there is one glaring question when it comes to Kirby Smart’s latest team, it’s the Bulldog secondary — and more specifically, the cornerback position.
When it comes to the cornerback position, the Bulldogs don’t lack talent but experience and depth could be an issue for a team that opens against Clemson before turning its attention to eight consecutive SEC games two weeks after facing the Tigers in the opener.
Busts in the secondary cost the team dearly last season against Alabama and Florida and following the start of spring camp in Athens, Smart has revealed two new names to watch when it comes to the team’s possibly defensive backs for next season.
Most notably, outside linebacker Adam Anderson has been taking reps at the “star” position, otherwise known as the nickel defensive back.
“Basically, when you are an outside backer, you are the star,” Smart shared on Thursday evening. “I know that sounds complicated…In a 3-4 system, you have two outside backers. Every snap we play 3-4, we have a star that is an outside backer. So, Mark Webb was an outside backer last year on 50 percent on the snaps.
“Well, that’s what Adam Anderson is, and if you are going to rush him 50 percent of the time, would you rather rush Mark Webb or Adam Anderson. So, you have to build your defense around the structure of what you want to do. They both have great strengths; their strengths are different. We think that he can help us from a rush standpoint. What we are experiencing with him right now is him trying to cover. He gives us the luxury of playing four DBs instead of five, which helps our lack of DB, and also helps our strength of rush guys when we are able to play with him. So, we are challenging him, asking him to do a lot that if we had to play a game tomorrow, we wouldn’t ask him to do all these things. But we are trying to teach him and have a growth mindset with him.”
In addition to Anderson getting some looks at star, recent running back signee Lovasea Carroll is also getting looks in the secondary.
“It’s experimental. We recruited him as a running back, but we’re really deep at the running back position,” Smart noted. “He’s probably going to be a factor on our special teams because he’s really fast. He’s embraced the position, he’s made some good plays, he’s had some bad plays.
“He hasn’t played this position so to put him out there with some experienced wideouts and some guys who have played a lot of football is probably not fair to him, but that’s how you grow and how you get better: by failing…What he doesn’t have is experience. He’s embraced that role, I wouldn’t say that it’s permanent, I would say that it’s a spring experiment and we will go from there.”
These are some interesting developments out of Athens and provide some indication of where the defensive backfield is in terms of lacking depth and experience.
But before any Georgia fans get concerned, the Bulldogs still have time to develop and additions could be made via the transfer portal, which is something Smart has indicated could happen if necessary.
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
