Latavious Brini leaving Georgia for transfer portal
A fifth Georgia player in the last 48 hours has announced his intentions to enter the transfer portal. Senior safety Latavious Brini, who started 11 games for the Bulldogs this season, posted a message to social media with his intentions Thursday afternoon. He’ll be using his COVID-year of eligibility elsewhere.
“First off, I want to thank everybody who helped me get here. The memories I’ve created at UGA will never fade,” Brini wrote. “I wanted to thank Coach Smart and the entire staff for the opportunity to accomplish my dreams. However, I am entering into the transfer portal and completing my last year of eligibility elsewhere.”
Brini spent five years with the program, redshirting year one before playing in five games both second and third seasons while registering just one tackle. He did however have an interception in that time span, picking off a pass in the Murray State game. Then, as a junior in 2020, Brini his play up a notch, especially at the end of the season. He started in Georgia’s Peach Bowl victory over Cincinnati, recording a career-high five tackles, two of which were for lost yardage, and a pass breakup. His previous career-best came in the game before.
Brini would go on to match that five tackle total three times during the 2021 season against Auburn, Florida and Tennessee. He finished with 38 total stops and eight pass breakups, several of which came in key situations. He started the season with a pass breakup in the end zone versus Clemson to keep the Tigers from scoring a touchdown and did the same on a fourth down just before halftime against Auburn.
It’s becoming a daily occurrence at this point, but the transfers in the secondary continue to take a toll on the depth that Georgia has at that group of positions. Brini is gone, along with Ameer Speed and Jalen Kimber, leaving a young group. Starters Lewis Cine, Derion Kendrick and Christopher Smith face NFL Draft decisions while veterans contributors like Dan Jackson and William Poole must choose whether Georgia is the best option for them.
Kelee Ringo will return as a starter at one of the cornerback spots with the likes of Tykee Smith, Javon Bullard, Kamari Lassiter, Nyland Green, Lovasea Carroll and David Daniel expected to be asked to step up their play during the coming offseason. If they don’t, secondary coach Jahmile Addae could be turning to 2022 signees Malaki Starks, Jaheim Singletary, Daylen Everette, Julian Humphrey and Ja’Corey Thomas for help on the back end of a defense that is expected to lose a lot up front.
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