georgia football kirby smart oregon quarterback

Publicly, Oregon head coach Dan Lanning has not revealed who the starting quarterback will be for its season opener against Georgia. The Ducks are still deciding between Bo Nix and Ty Thompson.

But Georgia coach Kirby Smart isn’t losing any sleep over the Ducks’ decision. He feels pretty confident in what Oregon is going to do and how Georgia will go about hunting down the Ducks’ quarterback.

“I know who the quarterback is going to be. I’m not worried about that,” Smart said. “Worried a lot more about how our guys play and what our guys do and how our guys execute. Regardless of which quarterback is in there, they’re going to do what they do. Maybe he does one thing better than the other guy. At the end of the day, they may play both of them. It’s never about the preparation for one specific quarterback as much as the preparation of your team to go play well.”

Georgia is familiar with Nix, as he was the starting quarterback at Auburn for the past three seasons. The Bulldogs came away with wins in all three of those games, but it wasn’t without Nix giving the talented Georgia defense some problems.

Should Nix — the presumed favorite — end up starting, he’ll be playing behind a veteran offensive line that brings back significant starting experience. Smart praised the job Mario Cristobal had done in building up the depth in that program, especially on the offensive line.

As for Nix, Georgia’s veterans very much know what could be in store on Saturday.

“He is very athletic, and he can improvise a lot. He makes big plays for his offense,” senior safety Chris Smith said. “He is definitely a gamer, and he is very familiar opponent. We have good rapport with him, so we are definitely going to use the past to get ready for him this game. But like I said, it’s a new offense, a new offensive coordinator, a new head coach, and things like that, so things are going to be different that we have to be ready for .”

The Bulldogs are also going to have a number of new faces going after Nix, especially in the front seven. Gone from last year’s championship-winning defense are all three starting defensive linemen and the top three inside linebackers. Four of those players turned out to be first-round picks, while all six are on NFL rosters at the moment.

Second-year players such as inside linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson or defensive end Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins will be asked to step into much bigger roles for Georgia than they have in the past.

“The only difference is guys are still figuring things out because we do have a lot of young players,” outside linebacker Nolan Smith said. “But we also have a lot of older guys that tell them, you can lean me on me, ask me questions.” They just have certain questions because they haven’t been there or seen those things. It’s not even the physical or the not capable, it’s that they’re still learning.”

While the Georgia defense does have a number of new faces — in addition to having Glenn Schumann and Will Muschamp replace Dan Lanning as the defensive coordinator — there is still plenty of talent. Both Smiths were preseason All-SEC selections, as were Kelee Ringo and Jalen Carter.

Carter and the defensive line will play a massive role in determining the outcome of Saturday’s game. If Carter, who has been tabbed as a first-round pick for the 2023 NFL Draft, plays like he has all preseason, Oregon could possibly have former Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota back at quarterback and it might not matter.

“You have to control the line of scrimmage and strike people to be a good football team,” Smart said. “They know that. Dan knows that. There is nothing hidden about that. Our defensive line has to stop the run and be able to control the quarterback, which depending on which quarterback it is, you got some really good athletes back there.”

Georgia coach Kirby Smart unconcerned with Oregon quarterback decision

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