Georgia secondary gets payback against the offense during G-Day spring game

ATHENS, Ga. (TNS) — Only two days before G-Day, head coach Kirby Smart wondered if a bunch points might be put up on the scoreboard at G-Day.

He felt the receivers were ahead of the defensive backs in terms of development. With a couple of strong-armed quarterbacks in Jake Fromm and Justin Fields, it was only natural to think this could be a high-scoring affair.

The defense, particularly the secondary, had a lot to say about that.

The Black team, featuring the first-team defense, defeated the Red team, featuring the first-team offense, 21-13. Fromm was limited to 200 yards and a touchdown while throwing two interceptions. But even the second-team defense made things difficult for Fields. He finished with 207 yards, a touchdown and a pick.

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Neither quarterback was able to find a rhythm offensively. And the secondary made them pay with turnovers.

“That helps drastically. Now the guys trust in the process and they see the work,” cornerback Deandre Baker said. “They’ll be more willing to buy into the process. That’s a little motivation right there.”

Baker was one of four defensive backs who recorded interceptions. Baker’s came on the Red team’s second offensive drive, with Fromm misfiring on a quick pass to receiver Mecole Hardman. The ball ricocheted off of Hardman’s hands and Baker was able to make a play on the ball and take it for a touchdown.

Safety Richard LeCounte also recorded an interception and nearly had another. Cornerback William Poole picked off a pass, too. Walk-on cornerback KJ Smith picked off Fields in the fourth quarter.

“The secondary played really well today and kept us on our toes,” Fromm said. “They took away a lot of the deep stuff that we normally do, but I thought they played well and got after us a little bit.”

For most of the spring, Smart has been critical of his secondary, which is replacing safety Dominick Sanders, cornerback Malkom Parrish and defensive back Aaron Davis from a unit that helped guide the Bulldogs to an appearance in the national championship. Players even agreed with Smart’s assessment that the offense was getting the best of the defense through the air during the spring.

Fromm said Saturday’s G-Day was a turn of events from what transpired through most of the other 14 practices.

“In practice we’ve gashed them and got some big plays on them during practice and today they definitely played a lot better and didn’t allow us to do that,” Fromm said. “So we tip our hat off to the defense.”

Smart wasn’t ready to commend the secondary wholeheartedly, although he said he was pleased with its ability to come up with three turnovers. Still, Smart said there were some plays he felt the offense could have made.

“I thought they should have hit some bigger plays,” Smart said. “Riley (Ridley) had the (drop) in the end zone. … He makes that, the whole game may be different if he catches that ball.”

Smart also noted that G-Day was designed to showcase the passing game, which meant the defense knew what the offense was going to do.

While the secondary was lauded for its efforts Saturday, Baker said there is still a lot of improvement needed in the back end.

“We’re not up to par yet,” Baker said. “It’ll take a little more practice and focusing on our details. We’ll be there.”