Second-year surge: Georgia CB Julian Humphrey

The summer is here and Kirby Smart’s eighth Georgia football team is putting in a lot of work behind closed doors. The entire 2023 class has arrived on campus and the Bulldogs are marching toward history.

A third consecutive National Championship, in the modern era, is unprecedented. But so was a back-to-back titles in the playoff era. In order for Georgia to stay on top of the mountain, it’ll have to rely on some players heading into their second season.

With that in mind, DawgsHQ is rolling out a series where we look at every scholarship player who is entering year two. Next up is a speedster who made a move this spring.

CB Julian Humphrey

Size: 6-feet 190 pounds

On3 Industry Ranking: No. 82 overall, No. 10 cornerback, No. 16 in Texas

2022 Stats: Humphrey redshirted after seeing action in three of Georgia’s 15 games. He did not register on the stat sheet.

Humphrey’s strengths and weaknesses…

Humphrey has a complete physical skillset when it comes to playing the cornerback position. He’s long-limbed with tremendous speed and quickness. He has big hands, providing the surface area needed to punch and jam at the line of scrimmage. Humphrey also has a loose lower half that allows him to change direction extremely well.

He’s not the most physical of players. Humphrey will beat up on receivers in coverage but when it comes to taking on blocks and striking ball carriers, he has to improve. With so much of today’s game being basked on making cornerbacks beat blocks and tackle, that’s a big one.

The Buzz…

Daylen Everette was the odds-on favorite to win the starting cornerback job this spring. Nyland Green was thought to be his main competition with maybe Smoke Bouie getting a shot. Humphrey, however, had other plans.

Just a couple of weeks into spring drills the former four-star prospect made a move and started getting first-team reps. Humphrey worked his way into the first-team defense in the G-Day game as well. Sources have told DawgsHQ that if we were simply talking about coverage and nothing else, Humphrey would win the job. He’s natural with the ball in the air. But Everette and Green aren’t far behind in that area and they’re ahead when it comes to perimeter defense.

In 2023…

Humphrey is very much alive for the starting cornerback job. He can win it with a great preseason camp provided he’s more physical on the edge. But he’s also in a good spot to earn significant playing time early in the season.

We’ve said more than once that a cornerback rotation of sorts would not surprise us. It’s not something that Georgia seems to love but it will use it to get good players on the field. We almost expect to see Humphrey, Greene, and Everette join Kamari Lassiter at cornerback this fall.

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