Georgia safety KJ Bolden’s stellar freshman season has been recognized with a spot on the Football Writers Association of America’s Freshman All-America team, it was announced Tuesday.
Bolden played in all 14 games for Georgia, and emerged as a key part of the Bulldogs’ SEC championship-winning defense. He ended the year with 59 tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack, an interception and a forced fumble.
A former-five star recruit, Bolden attended Buford High School and was rated the No. 15 overall player, No. 1 safety and No. 3 player in the state of Georgia. He flipped to Georgia from Florida State on the first day of the December signing period in 2023 in a move that generated plenty of publicity.
Bolden is Georgia’s lone player on the list, and the ninth SEC player. This is Georgia’s ninth straight year with at least one player on the FWAA Freshman All-America team. Last year, Earnest Greene III, CJ Allen and Peyton Woodring represented the Bulldogs.
Georgia’s safety room will look a lot different in 2025. Bolden will be the primary returning headliner after Malaki Starks declared for the draft and Dan Jackson exhausted his eligibility. The Bulldogs have since added three safeties, Zion Branch, Jaden Harris and Adrian Maddox, from USC, Miami and UAB, respectively, via the transfer portal.
After starting his college career off strong with a freshman All-American nod, Bolden has a chance to make an even greater impact as a potential leader of Georgia’s defense in 2025.
