UGA’s Baker fueled by family, Miami roots

Georgia sophomore Deandre Baker left preseason practice confident he had earned a starting role at cornerback. He was surprised to discover he hadn’t.

Head coach Kirby Smart maintained it was nearly dead even between Baker and fellow sophomore Juwuan Briscoe as the two jockeyed for the job in August. When the season-opening game against North Carolina grew closer, it was the more-experienced Briscoe who got the nod.

The disappointment of not starting didn’t overwhelm Baker. He did meet with Smart to find out what went wrong but didn’t exude a woe-is-me attitude. Instead, he continued his daily preparation as if he had come out on top, hoping that soon enough that would be the case.

“It was just motivation to go harder in practice to give Coach the confidence to put me in a game,” Baker said.

It was a fitting situation for Baker, who eventually took over the starting role in Georgia’s fifth game against Tennessee. The Miami native has faced his fair share of challenges both in his personal life and in his athletic career. Time and time again he has rose to the occasion, allowing what could have derailed others to barely be a blip on his radar.

Miami roots

Andre Baker fondly remembers the beginning of his middle child’s love for football. His son started playing football at 4 years old, but even before that, the sport grabbed his attention at an age where such a thing seems extraordinary.

“When he was an infant, he used to sit up and watch football games like he was already a teenager,” Andre said. “He'd sit and watch whole games.”

Andre, his wife Chemika, along with the rest of the Baker family, rallied around Deandre’s pursuits and established structure in his life at an early age. Those close to Baker urged him as he grew to work hard in his athletic and academic settings, knowing that success on both fronts meant a bright future. Andre also used his young son’s physicality to instill discipline, getting his son to do 200 or 300 push-ups every night as a means to build an inner strength he still displays.

The reliability within the Baker household was especially important in Miami, where distraction and destruction shadow the area like a defensive back in pursuit of his man.

Baker was surrounded by talent on the gridiron during his adolescence, sharing the field with the likes of Florida wide receiver Antonio Callaway, South Carolina defensive end Keir Thomas, USC cornerback Keyshawn Young and Oregon State linebacker Shemar Smith. But along with those soon-to-be collegiate players were others who had brushes with the law or brushes with death.

“You're coming up in an area where maybe a couple of times a month – and I'm not exaggerating – somebody you go to school with or somebody you play football with just got killed,” said Eddie Brown, who coached Baker in his senior year at Miami Northwestern Senior High School. “As a young man dealing with those kind of things, it's major to have someone you can lean on, have someone you can pick up the phone and call, have somewhere where you know you're going to get a good meal or go somewhere you know where you're going to be safe. All those things were provided to Deandre. That kept him afloat.”

Baker’s family enabled him to avoid the pitfalls of the city while urging him to stay grounded and strive for what he desired. He said he understood around the time he was in sixth grade that his physical gifts and knack for making plays could be the ticket to a better education and an improved situation.

“In Miami, football is the only way out,” Baker said.

Making a change and a connection

Baker’s assent to being a sought-after prospect began in the summer before his junior year at Northwestern High, but not until a position switch made it all possible.

He originally arrived at Northwestern as a wide receiver but the team had adequate depth at the position, leaving him on the sideline all too often. That changed thanks to a notion by Stephen Field, who was Baker’s head coach during his sophomore and junior seasons.

Field brought Baker on a national summer college tour that led the two to a camp at Florida State. Knowing Baker’s attributes well enough, Field urged him to work at defensive back during the camp to see if he could translate his quick feet and long range to the defensive side of the ball.

It didn’t take long for Field to realize a position switch was in order once they got back to Northwestern.

“I was sitting there with the defensive coordinator at Florida State at the time,” Field said. “I said, 'Watch this kid, Coach,' as we were having a conversation. He was like, 'Wow. He's got some good feet.' It wasn't a situation where they offered him a scholarship but it just opened my eyes.”

That defensive coordinator was Jeremy Pruitt, who also recognized Baker’s potential. After a move to Georgia, Pruitt played a crucial role in the Bulldogs’ pursuit of Baker following his junior year with the Bulls. He committed to Georgia in June of 2014 after visiting the campus and meeting with former head coach Mark Richt.

He officially signed his National Letter of Intent with the Bulldogs the following February.

“Georgia's a good program,” Baker said. “They had a good defense and a good coach (in) Coach Pruitt. That's how I got here.”

The ‘young pup’ steps up

Baker played sparingly during a freshman season that culminated in Richt’s dismissal and Pruitt’s departure to Alabama. Andre stayed in his son’s ear after the moves, telling him that the coaching carousel was the nature of the sport and that it could play to his advantage. It sure didn’t seem that way when Smart tabbed Briscoe as the guy.

Nevertheless, Baker carried on.

“Deandre didn't complain at all,” linebacker Reggie Carter said. “He knew he had to keep working and his time would come. He was very patient.”

Baker’s wait paid off early in Georgia’s game against Ole Miss on Sept. 24. After the secondary struggled to slow down the Rebels’ passing game, Smart and defensive coordinator Mel Tucker sent Baker into the game. The coaches must have been as pleased as Pruitt had been two years earlier as Baker started for the first time against Tennessee the next week.

After starting again against South Carolina on Oct. 9, Baker hit a setback in the form of a right ankle injury in the days leading up to the Vanderbilt game. Unable to participate in the loss to the Commodores, Baker set his sights on the Florida game in Jacksonville two weeks away.

With a rehab effort that he described as lasting “all day long” during Georgia’s bye week, Baker suited up in his home state to face the Gators and delivered, albeit in a 24-10 loss. He ended the day with a game-high 10 tackles along with one sack and a pass breakup. Smart relayed afterward that Baker’s production gave him the most points among the team’s defenders and served as a talking point for his teammates.

It might have taken Baker longer than anticipated to crack Georgia’s starting lineup, but it’s evident now that the sophomore belongs in the secondary. His family continues to watch him closely week after week, frequently flying from Miami to Atlanta and then driving to Athens once his youngest sister Paris’ school lets out on Fridays.

Their presence in Sanford Stadium serves as a reminder to Baker of not only where he came from, but also that the people who got him to Georgia are still supporting him.

“He's not second guessing himself, and he's flying around the ball,” Brown said. “The scarier part is the sky's the limit. He's still a young pup. I know he's only going to continue to grow.”

This story was originally published November 4, 2016 at 2:05 PM with the headline "UGA’s Baker fueled by family, Miami roots."