Although the Georgia football suffered a 24-21 loss to No. 11 Alabama, but redshirt freshman cornerback Demello Jones was a bright spot on defense.
Although the Georgia Bulldogssuffered a 24-21 loss to Alabama, redshirt freshman cornerback Demello Jones was a bright spot on defense. Jones was rotating in the secondary with fellow redshirt freshmen Ellis Robinson IV. Jones had more snaps than Robinson IV 43 to 38 and he did not miss his opportunity on the grand stage.
Jones was the first cornerback off of the bench overtaking junior cornerback Daniel Harris, who coach Kirby Smart said has a groin injury, but has no appeared on any of Georgia's official injury reports. Jones is a former four-star recruit and many fans were questioning if he was going to receive playing time this season.
He was the second-highest graded Georgia defender against Alabama, per Pro Football Focus, with a 75.3 overall grade, 65 run defense grade, 81 tackling grade, 75.2 coverage grade. Jones got tested and answered the call. He finished the Alabama game with five tackles and one reception allowed on three targets for seven yards.
"Demello Jones did some good things... he had some contested breakups that were good," head coach Kirby Smart said.
"He tackled a couple times well," Smart added. "They had a couple gimmicks where they tried to trick him, and he saw it. So, he did some good things, but he can improve a lot. We think he's a good player. He's going to give us some skill set that maybe we can use some other places on our defense, and hope he continues to work really hard and grow."
If Jones can play with confidence and continues to get better every week, then expect a heavy dosage of the young cornerback as the season moves forward. Georgia's cornerback No. 2 race for the spot opposite of Daylen Everette still appears to be wide open. Jones appears to be making the most of his opportunity.
Jones and the Georgia defense will look to put together a strong performance on Saturday at noon ET as Georgia hosts Kentucky.
This article originally appeared on UGA Wire: Georgia football CB Demello Jones has breakout performance
Category: General Sports
