Latavious Brini Emerging as a literal 'STAR'

Latavious Brini is quickly becoming one of Georgia’s best defensive backs.

The injury bug has hit Georgia hard this season despite them remaining undefeated. However, it has allowed a multitude of players to emerge onto the scene, one of those players being Latavious Brini.

Before the season began, West Virginia transfer and former first-team All-American Tykee Smith suffered a foot injury that would keep him sidelined for a handful of weeks. That injury put all eyes on a senior defensive back, Latavious Brini, to fill the void. Brini plays the position that Georgia classifies as the "STAR" on defense, and in the team's first six games, Brini has been exactly the title of his position, a star.

For those who do not know, the STAR on defense is essentially considered a hybrid safety type player that can drop into coverage and play a pivotal role in the running game. Brini has been doing all of that this season. In the first half of the season, Brini has racked up 20 tackles and six pass deflections on top of that.

Brini came onto the season last year in Georgia's bowl game against Cincinnati, in which Georgia had to plug in some new faces into the game plan with the number of opt-outs they had. Brini came up big in some crucial situations on defense for Georgia showed his potential as a starter for Georgia. In 2021, Brini has proven that his bowl game performance was no fluke.

Many figured that once Tykee Smith was healthy that the preseason Nagurski award watch-list selection would be able to trot back into the starting lineup, no questions asked. Brini, however, had other plans and had no intentions of losing his starting spot anytime soon. If you want a good indicator of how good a team is, watch how players who were supposed to "backups" perform when their number is called during a time of need. There is no doubt that Latavious Brini has answered that call and has more than delivered during the absence of Tykee Smith.

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