Georgia football landed KJ Bolden after 5-star committed elsewhere. Now he's in safety mix

A five-star recruit that Georgia football heavily pursued and had designs on signing got away with a commitment to another traditional power.

That’s an accurate description of in-state defensive lineman Justus Terry from Manchester High, who announced his commitment to Southern Cal over the weekend.

It also describes where Kirby Smart and his staff stood with KJ Bolden last August when the safety pledged to Florida State.

Bolden, from Buford High, is now nearing the halfway point of spring practice not with the Seminoles but with Georgia.

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He made a signing day flip last December. Could Terry, who was committed to the Bulldogs, end up back in Georgia’s signing class?

One thing is sure. Smart won’t give up without trying.

The Bolden case is an example of that.

“I don’t see kids as committed to other places, because they’re not. They’re not signed,” Smart said when asked about Bolden’s recruitment. “I just know that we recruit good football players. We evaluate every player the same whether they’re committed or not. If there’s interest and conversation from them, and there’s visits where they come to your campus, you just stay very consistent.”

Bolden was rated the nation’s No. 1 safety in the 2024 class and the No. 13 player overall by the 247Sports Composite.

He’s one of three top 15 national recruits getting acclimated to Glenn Schumann’s defense this spring from the 2024 class along with Ellis Robinson IV, the nation’s No. 1 cornerback, and Justin Williams, the nation’s No. 1 inside linebacker.

Georgia will have new starters at safety to replace Javon Bullard and cornerback to step in for Kamari Lassiter, but Bolden and Robinson are early in their college days with just seven spring practices under their belt so far.

“They’re talented players and everything they were advertised to be in terms of being good football players,” Smart said. “They’re both instinctive, they learn well, they both have toughness, I think both of them will contribute on special teams because they can run, hit, tackle. I’m excited about those guys.”

But, Smart isn’t going to hand them major roles on the defense based on their recruiting rankings.

“The expectation of the outside world is they’re going to set the place on fire, but we have good football players here,” Smart said. “They’re going to compete with those guys and hopefully earn some ability to play and playing time.”

Bolden’s new teammates have seen enough to know what the 6-foot, 185-pounder who also played wide receiver at Buford can offer.

“KJ is a very good athlete,” said safety JaCorey Thomas, a contender for a starting safety spot. “He’s very, very fast, very athletic. I know coming up in this program he’s going to be a very good player.”

The 6-foot, 180-pound Robinson, who played at IMG Academy, is competing at a position where Daylen Everette started last season and Julian Humphrey was emerging after playing significant snaps against Missouri before sustaining an upper-body injury against Ole Miss. Daniel Harris, who had a larger role in the Orange Bowl win, is another vying for playing time.

“Ellis is very long and fast,” Thomas said. “He’s a very lanky corner.”

“He’s still young,” Humphrey said. “He’s doing good in practice. I’m doing everything I can to lead him in the right way and keep on pushing him every day.”

Smart said Georgia has “good competition,” at corner.

“We don't look at it as two corners,” he said. “We look at it as if there are four corners that can play, one of them is going to also play STAR. They will all play.”

Joenel Aguero and Thomas are among those also working at the Star nickel position where Tykee Smith started last season.

Georgia also has Jake Pope at safety, who like Bolden played at Buford.

Pope spent two seasons at Alabama before transferring this winter.

Bolden flipped on the first day of the December signing period.

“We were consistent with KJ, the recruitment never stopped,” Smart said, “and I told him that from the day he committed to the day he came to us, that we’re not going to stop recruiting him because we think he’s a great kid from a great family and a really, really good football player.”

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: KJ Bolden went from 5-star committed elsewhere to UGA football freshman