SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA DAYS

July 18, 2023

Kamari Lassiter

Georgia Bulldogs

Press Conference

Q. Kamari, wanted to ask about another guy in the DB room, Javon Bullard, with the approximation change this off-season. What have you seen from him, and especially facing some of that adversity last year and coming back with the two MVPs at the end of the season. What have you seen from Javon this year?

KAMARI LASSITER: JB, that's a guy that he comes to work in day-in, day-out. He's the same guy every day, a hard worker, first-guy-in, last-guy-out type of guy, and he attacks everything with the same mindset and same heart.

He loves the game of football. So I expect nothing less than for him to excel in that position.

Q. Seemed like last year that some of the guys almost had the mentality that they were being overlooked despite winning the national championship the year before. Now that you've won back-to-back, is that still the case or what is the mentality the team carries with them?

KAMARI LASSITER: The mentality for this year is really just better, never rest. We are trying to eat off the floor. We are not trying to be complacent this year. We are trying to uphold our standard and keeping the main thing the main thing.

Q. Obviously when you're at Georgia, you're competing the against the best of the best in practice. When you have a guy like Ladd McConkey on the offensive side of the ball whose motor seems to continue to just roll, how much of a challenge is that and how great is it knowing that you have a guy like that on your team?

KAMARI LASSITER: Whenever you have guys like that, it has to make you better as a player, especially whenever you go against them, you know every day. So you know with Ladd and with all the other receivers in the room, we have a lot of guys explosive and can make plays all over the field. So it makes the defense and me as a person in the secondary much better.

Q. Playing at Georgia, a lot of defensive players have gone on to the NFL, a lot of guys and a lot of first-round picks. Competing with those guys against those guys in practice, how does it help you develop as a player?

KAMARI LASSITER: First coming in, you don't expect to see as much talent as you really see. But going over the years, it's just made me such a better player. I can say that I've grown technically as a football player and as a man, just going up against these guys and learning from the older guys, and to now trying to teach the younger guys what I've learned.

Q. With Stetson Bennett moving on, the passing game is going to have a new quarterback this year. What have you seen out of the offense this off-season and what are you expecting from the Georgia passing attack this fall?

KAMARI LASSITER: I expect us to still be explosive. The offense is looking great. The quarterbacks, all three of those guys, they are three guys who are very composed and very good at manning the offense and keeping up the standard.

Q. What's it like going against Brock (Bowers) in practice?

KAMARI LASSITER: It's great. I love competing at a high level and I love going up against the best players in the country every day. It makes me better and I'm sure this makes them better as well.

But I really take pride in knowing that I'm competing against some of the best players in the country every single day.

Q. What's been the hardest part of having a National Championship season, and what do you anticipate going for a third one that are going to be some of the challenges?

KAMARI LASSITER: I would say really one of the challenges would be just keeping our head down and just maintaining a good work ethic and keeping the right mindset and attacking everything the right way.

Q. Along those lines, a third straight National Championship would be unprecedented in college football. Has there been a lot of talk around the program about the chance that you guys have to do something that's really never been doing in the history of the sport?

KAMARI LASSITER: No, sir. We don't really focus on that. We just try to focus on, you know, every day we come in, we try to get better at something, whether it's trying to get stronger, faster, more conditioned. We just try and keep the main thing the main thing. We try and focus on the task at hand, and that's just trying to be the best version of ourselves that we can be.

Q. In this off-season, you guys brought in Dominic Lovett in the transit portal, and Lovett had a big year at Mizzou last year. Between what you saw against him in the game last year and what you've seen in practice, how do you feel he's going to fit in this offense and what role do you expect to see him play this year?

KAMARI LASSITER: Dom is going to fit in the offense just fine. He's a great player. He works very hard. You can tell that he loves the game of football. He enjoys being out there, and I enjoy competing against him and watching him compete against some of the other guys on the field as well.

Q. What is the K3? And if you had to describe playing defensive back under Kirby Smart, how would you tell somebody about that experience?

KAMARI LASSITER: Okay. So the K3, it's pretty simple. My name is Kamari and my number is 3, but it also is for my family. So myself, my mom and my pops, we all -- all of our first names start with the letter K. So it's three of us. So it also stands for that as well.

And playing under Coach Smart, honestly it's a blessing. I take it as an honor. It's not a job really to play under him. He played DB at Georgia and he takes pride in it because he loves the university. He just brings all the energy and passion to the meet room and the field every day. Myself and the other guys, we feed off that.

Q. What's the weakness for this defense coming into '23?

KAMARI LASSITER: I would say some of the things that we should look out for is just trying to keep the right mindset. I think that as long as we keep the right mindset and just continue to stay connected and lean on each other that we can be as great as we want to be.

Q. Stetson isn't the only change that's happened at Georgia this year. You also are now having Monken, obviously in Baltimore and the NFL. What's it been like under Mike going up against that offense every single day? Have you seen changes? Are there a lot of similarities? What's your thoughts overall?

KAMARI LASSITER: Overall, the offense basically has a lot of the same similarities. It's the same explosive run, pass offense. You know, play-action, all that. It's not many differences.

Q. You played in Alabama's backyard, you went over to Georgia to play with that program. How has what has transpired matched up with your dreams?

KAMARI LASSITER: I would say that this is everything I hoped for and more honestly. Coming into Georgia, I wanted to prove myself right and show that I can play at a high level in the SEC. And you know, just coming in and the way that Georgia is pimping me, both as a player and as a man, I couldn't really ask for much more.

THE MODERATOR: What are the specific challenges of handing the success that you guys have had there? There's handling failure and there's handling success. What's the challenge?

KAMARI LASSITER: I would say some of the challenges of handling success would be just trying not to get too high when everything is going good. Trying not to stay on the high horse. Remembering the things that got you there to this point, and, you know, going back to that, doing the little things right and not taking anything for granted and not taking a rep or a day for granted, really.