Georgia DB Tykee Smith believes the program prepares him mentally for the NFL

Tykee Smith’s confidence was evident while speaking with media at the NFL Scouting Combine. Smith, who was already developing into a strong player at the start of his college career at West Virginia, discussed how being a part of the Georgia program helped him prepare for the NFL.

The Philadelphia, Pennsylvania native explained to Yardbarker’s Mike Asti why he believes Georgia prepared him intellectually more than anything.

He even praised the Bulldogs with shaping the person he is now.

“They helped me be able to handle yourself like a young man and help me become the best version of myself.”

A defensive back need a specific physical build to be effective professionally, but the NFL is also about mental toughness. Throughout his final three college seasons at Georgia, Smith worked on facets of the NFL such as studying a playbook, watching film, strategizing against a specific opposition player, and coping with the week-to-week grind of football.

Smith also discussed his experience at the Senior Bowl in January, where he was awarded the American Team MVP.

“The ability to go out there and compete. And demonstrate that I can play high safety. “I showed a little of that at Georgia,” Smith said of the Senior Bowl and what he was able to show scouts.

Despite Georgia’s failure to win a third consecutive national title this winter, Smith’s undergraduate career concluded on a positive note. The 2023 season was his finest individual season statistically, with 70 total tackles, four interceptions, and two pass deflections. Smith was finally healthy enough to demonstrate his actual abilities.

Smith earned second-team All-Big 12 accolades as a West Virginia Mountaineer in 2020, but an injury kept him out of much of his first season with Georgia in 2021, and he only played sporadically in 2022.

Knowing that confidence is required to succeed against the world’s finest players, Smith believes his game is ideally suited to the NFL. To that purpose, he refers to himself as a “physical player and dog.”