The Houston Texans dipped into the Georgia pipeline during the 2024 NFL Draft, selecting defensive back Kamari Lassiter from the Bulldogs program. During his short time with the Texans, the former Georgia defensive back has impressed second-year head coach DeMeco Ryans.
Now, Lassiter isn't the only player who's impressed Ryans, as the Texans head coach praised the entire Georgia program when talking about the defensive back.
"For Kamari you can tell he's built for this," Ryans said. "Like when it comes to the mental toughness piece that plays a lot into being a good football player, you have to be mentally tough, you have to have that next play mentality and at Georgia, Kirby [Smart] has done a great job you can tell of raising them the right way. Kirby has done a great job with all of his guys."
In the past three years, Smart and the University of Georgia sent 33 individuals to the NFL via the draft as they won two National Championships in a row to kick off that three-year run. That doesn't happen with bad talent management, and Smart is quite exceptional. Lassiter is just one of those players who has been able to contribute to the Bulldogs program while taking the leap to the next level.
"Having them NFL ready to go and that's one thing you see from Georgia year after year since he has been there, like, those guys are plug and play type players, and it's a credit to him and his program and how they run things there. You get a Georgia guy you know you're getting an NFL player," Ryans said.
Though only a rookie, Lassiter has stood out with the Texans, most notably against Houston's elite wide receiver corps in training camp. He very well could end up being quite a solid NFL player.
“Kamari is showing up every day.” Ryans said.“He’s quiet, but he’s locked in, focused, and intense. You don’t notice him much because he’s always doing his job.”
