Kirby Smart pleased with involvement of young, injured linebackers
ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia sophomore linebackers Marvin Jones Jr. and Jalon Walker won’t be suiting up on Saturday for the annual G-Day spring game, but that doesn’t mean their development has come to a complete stop over the last month. Sitting out of drills due to injuries, Jones and Walker have instead taken to the mental side of the sport while their bodies heal up physically.
“They’re at every meeting, they are at every rehab, they’re at every walk-through, they get walk-through reps. They stand behind, they have a script, they coach the position, they run during special teams,” Smart said about the sophomores. “Both of those kids, I can pull up the tape and be like, ‘Who is that back there doing the play 50 yards behind? Oh, that’s Jalon,’ or ‘That’s Marvin,’ they’re standing by me with the script, ‘Hey coach why did he do this on that play?’ So they are engaged, and the strength coach has them to condition as well. I’m very pleased with where both of those guys are, and I’m pleased with how they are handling practice.”
Both Jones and Walker have missed the spring having had shoulder surgery since the end of the 2022 season. As a freshman, Jones played in 13 games and recorded four tackles. Meanwhile, Walker had nine stops in 15 games.
As talented players coming out of high school, both fit into the category of guys Kirby Smart and company try to find specialty roles for early in their careers. However, entering year two, both should be expected to have a bigger presence, and their attitude this spring would seem to be a good sign that they understand that too.
“You know, (they’re) just trying to learn as much as they can,” Georgia outside linebacker Chaz Chambliss said this spring. “Try to be dual — knowing SAM and JACK — trying to know all the checks. Trying to be prepared.”
“Green. Extremely green,” Smart added when asked for his assessment on the outside linebacker room. “Never seen one as green. The issue is even the old players, Darris Smith, Marvin Jones Jr., and CJ Madden, none of them really have true playing experience. Marvin probably has the most and he’s out. CJ was injured all year, going through a shoulder surgery a lot of the year and kind of recovered from that so he’s out there getting reps. Then you’ve got the incoming freshman. It’s very unique, but I like what we have. I wouldn’t trade the room for somebody else’s room because we’ve got some good players in there, they just got a long way to go. I go back to Nolan Smith’s freshman year and you watch all the clips and he wasn’t where he was year three. He’s not supposed to be. And they’re not. Jalon Walker last year played a lot in some pass rush situations so he’s been able to do that as well.”
Georgia is in its final week of spring practice with the annual G-Day spring game set for Saturday at 4:00 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
