ATHENS, Ga. - Quincy Mauger and Dominick Sanders are Georgia's most seasoned defenders, with each safety having made 25 career starts.
That experience has not been lost on new Bulldogs football coach Kirby Smart.
"The only two guys I've noticed leading on defense are Quincy and Dom," Smart said this week in a news conference. "They take a lot of pride in it. Given the youth of our team, I don't think a lot of them know how to lead.
"It's not comfortable to lead guys sometimes, and a lot of guys aren't used to doing it."
The secondary has been among the youngest areas on Georgia's team the past three seasons, but not this time around. Cornerbacks Aaron Davis and Malkom Parrish are next in line in terms of career starts defensively with 19 and 13, while no other defensive player has 10.
Mauger, a 6-foot, 200-pound senior from Marietta, tops the entire roster with 39 career games played.
"It's comforting when you know the guys around you and you've built some chemistry with the younger guys," Mauger said.
Mauger and redshirt junior cornerback Reggie Wilkerson were among nine 2013 signees who spent time in the secondary, but they are the last two standing, with the likes of Tray Matthews, Brendan Langley, Tramel Terry and Shaq Wiggins having transferred or been dismissed. The 2013 season included the seismic calamities of Auburn's "Prayer in Jordan-Hare" and Nebraska's 99-yard touchdown connection in the Gator Bowl.
Sanders arrived in 2014 and became an instant starter, collecting 34 tackles, returning a fumble 54 yards for a touchdown at Arkansas and capping his debut year with a pair of interceptions in the Belk Bowl rout of Louisville. The 6-foot, 189-pounder from the Atlanta suburb of Tucker had 48 tackles and a team-high six interceptions last season, when he was an Associated Press All-Southeastern Conference first-team selection.
"Being back there, you have to provide leadership," Sanders said. "You have to buy in not only to what the secondary is doing but up front and the whole unit. We have to have each other's backs."
Smart isn't about to gush about the secondary, and understandably so. He was Alabama's defensive coordinator in 2011, when the Crimson Tide led the nation in every major defensive category and had an NFL-bound defensive backfield consisting of cornerbacks Dre Kirkpatrick and Dee Milliner, and safeties Mark Barron and Robert Lester.
Still, the experience and decent depth that Georgia's secondary possesses should make that position group stronger in the weeks and months ahead.
"This is a totally competitive environment," Smart said. "If you don't compete every day, then you will be moved. We want to create that competition, because competition breeds a little more success. The guys who have been around and played a lot of snaps have no guarantee of keeping those snaps, because there are some talented guys behind them, and we're going to let them play.
"We'll keep it simple for them and let them go."
Rico McGraw and Juwuan Briscoe have worked some this spring at first-team corner, supplanting Davis.
Georgia's secondary made strides each of the past two seasons under Jeremy Pruitt, but Pruitt has filled Smart's former role at Alabama, leaving Bulldogs defensive backs under Mel Tucker's guidance. Tucker worked as secondary coach with Smart last season in Tuscaloosa.
The Bulldogs led the nation last season in pass defense, but they yielded 312 aerial yards to Josh Dobbs in a loss at Tennessee and benefited in that category by facing a pair of triple-option running teams down the stretch.
"We're not really looking back at last year," Sanders said. "We're buying into a new process, and there is a lot of stuff we want to accomplish."
Odds and ends
The Bulldogs held their eighth spring practice Wednesday, working out for two hours in full pads. The quarterback pecking order in the portion of practice open to the media remained Greyson Lambert with the first team, followed by Brice Ramsey and Jacob Eason. Sophomore receiver Shaquery Wilson has worked some at tailback due to a lack of depth there. Wednesday's workout had been scheduled for today but was moved due to the potential of inclement weather, and it was the final one before Saturday's inaugural scrimmage.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.