ATHENS — Georgia hosts No. 20 Kentucky in a game that will have significant ramifications for the SEC East.
Head coach Kirby Smart spoke to reporters on Monday morning to preview the upcoming game. Smart was also joined by former Georgia head coach Mark Richt, who announced a special charity effort for the upcoming Chick-fil-A Dawg Bowl.
Below is a full transcript of what was said. Georgia kicks off against Kentucky at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday.
Kirby opener...
“All right guys, we’ve got a special guest and announcement for you guys today. It should be a treat, and can’t wait to bring he and his family in.”
The big reveal...
“We’ve got Coach Richt and his family coming in for a special announcement they want to share with us for a great event he’s got going on.”
Mark Richt begins...
“I tried to take his notes. How is everybody today? I want to start with a congratulations to you coach on a great hard-fought victory at Auburn. I know how it is to go to Auburn and beat them guys. [Kirby: “Amen”] The other thing: I know you coached 101 now here. 86-15, by my math, that’s better than 85 percent. Two national championships. They’re putting me in the Hall of Fame here in December. You’re already in. They just haven’t announced it yet. Anyway, I just wanted to thank everybody for giving me just a minute.”
“Oh, and this young lady right here is my granddaughter Jadyn. Jadyn, step up just a little bit so they can at least see you one time. Jadyn is up here with me because Jadyn has Crohn’s disease. I’ve got Parkinson’s as we established a while back. We want to find a cure for both Parkinson’s and Crohn’s. So, that’s why we’re here to announce the Chick-fil-A Dawg Bowl 2023. So what is that? It’s a VIP bowling tournament. It’s a fundraiser. So each lane, coach Smart is going to allow one of his players to be a celebrity bowler on each one of the 32 lanes. It’s kinda working like a golf tournament when you have a foursome join a celebrity. That’s what we’re going to do at the bowling alley, so there will be five bowlers on a lane. 32 lanes will be full. It’s going to be Oct. 18, the open date right after the Wednesday after Vanderbilt. It’ll be around 6:30 at Showtime bowling alley. It’s a private event only for the players and the sponsors, but on Dawgnation, we’re going to stream the thing live so the fan base can see it.”
“But I’ve gotta show you first what everybody’s fighting for. Honey. If you remember the water girl, this is Katharyn, my wife. Honey, you’ve got it upside down. There’s going to be five of these things because there’s five participants. Dawg Bowl 2023, to be the best, you’ve gotta beat the best. So that’s what everybody’s going to be fighting for at the event that night.”
Kirby chimes in...
“Do my players get any of those?”
Richt continues...
“Yeah, player gets one. The team that wins, they’re one of them. The five teammates all get one of those belts, including one of your players. Back in my day, they would’ve gotten thrown in NCAA jail.”
Kirby chimes in...
“Very true.”
Richt continues...
“Believe me, they’d have a two-game suspension for being honest and fessing up to it. If I had to go back and do that again, it’d be lie and deny. Prove it two years after your eligibility’s up. They always talk about that.”
“So anyway, so far, we’ve already had half a million dollars pledged to the event. So we’re going to shoot for at least 750 total, maybe a million if it goes crazy. What I want to do is talk a little bit about the goal. We’re going to set the goal at 750. So there’s going to be a giving link. I’ll give you that here in just a second. In real time, it’ll show donations going in. I want the Bulldog nation to hopefully join in and help us get to 750 and maybe go to a million. Who knows. But the good news is all donations are tax-deductible. They’re all going to Georgia, the University of Georgia Isakson Center for Neurological Disease Research. So the Johnny Isakson chair that’s been established at Georgia, that’s where the research is going to be done right here on our campus. I think the Bulldog fans will be excited about that.”
“Dr. Anumantha Kanthasamy — if you say it with conviction it’s true — he’s world-renowned in neurological research. So he’s going to be the guy heading that thing up, him and his wife. So anyway, the giving link, if you don’t mind everybody, it’s richtsdawgbowl.com. So that’s a giving link. If anybody makes a little story about this, you can maybe put it in your story to get the fan base.”
“Coach Smart has been nice enough to shoot out some social media posts. I’ll be shooting out some social media posts to try to help generate interest in the giving. So everybody retweet or whatever, re-X, re-instagram it, or whatever you do.”
Kirby Smart chimes in...
“We need to get to a million, so we’re going to get to a million. Whatever it takes.”
Richt finishes...
“Coach, thank you again for the opportunity, and God bless and good luck the rest of the way.”
Kirby Opening statement…
Our team’s going to be wearing the green decals, helmet stickers, to call attention to Health Week, which is going on this week. We’re in partnership with Heliinksi’s Hope as student-athlete mental health has become a huge issue. We deal with it day in and day out with our players and certainly think it’s more prevalent now than it ever has ben befopre. So, we’ll acknowledge that with those decals, which will be part of our uniform Saturday night.
Looking forward to playing a very physical Stoops team. Every time we play these guys, they’re very physical. When Coach Richt was here, it was physical. Kentucky-Georgia is just a physical, physical football game, because they brand their football behind that and so do we. So, I’ve got a lot of respect for Coach Stoops and the program he has built and the job they’ve done.
On zero pre-snap penalties at Auburn...
Well, composure is a big part of it. I thought we would have some. We simulated having some and getting backed up and not having it spiral. I thought Coach Bobo and his offensive staff did an incredible job. You take a quarterback who’s never played on the road and start at Auburn and not have procedural penalties, you had good organization, good substitution patterns, good snap count variation, change of tempos; I thought they did a good job of managing that. That’s not the issue now. I’m more worried about Kentuckyk now and they’ve got a really good defense.
On how much of Ray Davis rushing for 280 yards was him and how much was his offensive line...
Both. He’s an exceptional back, as good as I’ve seen in a long time. This guy’s smooth, explosive, he pass-protects really well, he protects the ball, he’s aggressive in the way he runs. It reminds me of (D’Andre) Swift, he’s just a little bigger. He has a lot of the same cuts, a one-cut runner. And they do a tremendous job of blocking for him. So it’s not all him. Kentucky has a run-game ; I mean, it seems like they always have a back, right? They had Benny, who was unbelievable, and they had the kid from Georgia the last couple of years. Their backs run relly physical, but they are committed to running the ball. They do a great job at the point of contact.
On Kentucky’s defense ...
The variation of the defense they run is very unique. You don’t play a lot of teams just like them. They have a lot of overhang, I call it, a lot of depth in the defense. They have people in the second level all over the place. So, there’s not a lot of free yards out there. They make you earn everything you get. They’re massive up front. They’ve got big people. They play 3-4 and 4-3. The teams that play odd front, they do a really good job of stopping the run game. These guys are really good at stopping the run. They’re physical and have a really good scheme that’s not easy to mimic.
On Carson’s first road start and what have you learned...
“Most quarterbacks start for the first time and you maybe don’t know enough. I felt like I had this relationship where I knew Carson so I don’t feel like I’ve learned a lot. I knew a lot. He had been in the system. He had played. He had not played in that environment, I’m not trying to exchange experience, but I had been around the kid, he had been in the program, he had been in the offense, I had seen him have good days on third down against our defense, seen him have bad days, seen him make really good decisions with the ball, he’s efficient. I guess the only thing I’ve learned is he does have natural composure, but I already thought that. That’s the way he practices. He doesn’t get flustered very easily.”
On offensive identity and impact of RB availability...
“The offensive identity is do what it takes. That’s what it always comes down to. You’d love to have this defined, we’re going to bully you and run right through you, but nobody really does that. I don’t know anybody that does that. Kentucky did it last week against Florida, but they haven’t done it every single game that way. They’ve done it different ways. If you have one identity, that’s what they’re probably going to try to stop. Kentucky is balanced. When you look at the explosives in our league right now, they’re the only team that has the exact same number of explosive runs as they have explosive passes. They have this balance. But going back to us, I think we’ve been up and down in the red area, we’ve been pretty dang good on third down. We’ve got a lot of things that we can work on, but as far as whether it’s about the backs or not, we don’t cry about what we don’t have. You figure out what you’ve got, and you figure out what they can do. I’m not going to sit up here and complain about healthy or how many backs we’ve got, that’s not the way we do it. We worry about what we do have, not what we don’t.”
On run defense, how big of a concern that is...
“We’ve got to do a better job. I’ve actually felt better after watching the tape. I was riding home on the bus in a state of depression about our ability to stop the run. As a coach, and my dad always said it, it’s never as good as it seems, and it’s never as bad as it seems. When I got up and actually watched it, we struck blockers and played the run well at times. We didn’t fit some plays well that they did, and give them credit. We probably didn’t work some of those plays enough out of the formations that they did it, they did a nice job scheming it up. But we’ve got to do a better job at that, make no mistake about it, but we have good run defenders.”
On Carson Beck being calm, whether that carried over to his teammates...
“I did feel a sense of calm, but I don’t know if it came from him. It came from the game plan. The game plan when you go into a place like that, it’s not easy there. Nobody understands that, I can’t explain it, but I’ve been there at LSU, at Alabama, as a player, as an assistant coach, and it’s hard. It’s just hard. It’s hard on the road in the SEC, and it was hard on Saturday. The composure remained throughout the team, and it was part of the game plan.”
On his bowling ability...
“Ooo man, I don’t have to put the little guard rails on. If he puts those on, I’m taking the belt home, I can assure you of that. I don’t get to do those. My son Andrew always wants to put those put because it provides an easy way to success. I’ll probably practice up before it if I get some free time so I don’t embarrass myself. I know Coach Richt can bowl because I’ve heard stories and his scores. What’s funny is our players Nick and Sony would go bowling when those guys were here. They would have a bowling group that played and did it all the time. Our players like to go on recruiting events, and as the players come back for letterman’s events, they like bowling over golf. More and more people enjoy it, and I know they’ll be excited about it.”
On the Georgia defensive line...
As far as the defensive line, I’ve never felt like we had... You know we had a lot of the same defensive linemen this year as opposed to last year. Outside of really Jalen, who didn’t play most of the year. We’ve got plenty of d-linemen good enough to do things and executive. We just don’t have disruptive people. So you have to find other ways to do things defensively and try to make people do things negative ways.”
On getting Ladd and Kendall back to 100 percent...
“We’re trying to get them in shape now because we feel like they’re healthy. It’s a matter of, can they get in shape without wearing down their legs. You don’t really get in shape in season, you either get in shape or you’re not. Those guys haven’t had a chance to have the stamina in practice. We try to do it other ways, non-weight baring, under water running, you do all the things you can do. We’re trying to get them healthy to the game and get them some more snaps.”
On Kentucky defensive lineman Deone Walker and if he reminds Kirby of Jordan Davis…
“Yeah, extremely athletic for a large man. They do more with him probably we did with Jordan. They don’t play him at the 0 nose. They move him out to the 5 technique, 4i. They dropped him against Florida on the interception play. I mean, it’s as unique as you’ll see a human being 6-6, 350 and dropping. And they mix it up with the guy. He was a talented player. We recruited him here. He’s gotten better. He’s kind of a wrecking ball in there, you know? He knocks people back.”
On what Kirby is seeing with the run blocking and things to improve…
“You’ve got to help them. You’ve got to help them a lot of ways. Look, there’s nobody — you can’t tell me an offensive line right now that you say, ‘Ooh, man, they’re just moving people and they’re mashing people.’ Defensive linemen have leverage, they strike out of their hips, they come out. You’ve got to find ways to get double teams. You’ve got to find ways to run to a perimeter. Running the ball in the SEC is the hardest thing to do, and Kentucky just did an unbelievable job of doing it. But outside of that performance, it’s just not easy. I can’t pinpoint one thing that we can do better, but there’s a lot of things we’ve got to do better. That’s not just an offensive line job, you know? There’s perimeter blocks, there’s tight end blocks, there’s getting in the right run play, and there’s the running back reads where they’ve got to do the right thing, too. It’s shared responsibility starting with me.”
On if Georgia targeted Ray Davis in the portal…
“Not really. I don’t remember anything on Ray. Somebody said something to me about that he might have expressed interest in us. I never knew that. I never talked to Ray. I never had any conversation with him, and to be honest with you we were in a situation where we have some backs coming back. We felt really good about Branson, Kendall, Daijun and the guys we had and the guys we had coming back. I mean, you’re always looking for a better player, but we weren’t actively pursuing anyone. And like I’ve told you before, most of these kids when they go in the portal, they probably have an idea of where they’re going.”
On how the offensive guards played against Auburn…
“Depends on what front they were in. I mean, they have different fronts. I mean, you have a covered guard and you have an uncovered guard. We had some mistakes in there on a couple pass pros. We had some good plays. I mean, you know, Auburn’s defensive line played extremely hard like every one of them will. They played with really good pad level and leverage and didn’t give up movement, which every one of them will. So I think across the board offensive line and our defensive line both have to play better, and that’s essentially my assessment.”
On Peyton Woodring and the kicks he hit against Auburn…
“Yeah, a lot of confidence in Peyton. I think he is wired the right way. He was a baseball player. He pitched. When you have these kids that did multiple sports and they’ve had pressure on them in other environments, I’m a big believer in having to sit on that mound and throw strikes. I mean, I’ve been out there and know how hard it is to do it. He’s having to do that and kicking in front of 93,000 people. And that’s not easy, and he’s a true freshman. But he did a nice job going through his process, breathing, handling things well. And, you know, I told him he’s got 10 people out there with him, and he’s got another 74 in the locker room that love him regardless of whether he makes it or not. It’s unconditional love, and he has to know that and be able to relax and kick. I was very proud of him and the way he handled it.”
On Roderick Robinson and his availability this week…
“He’s still dealing with an ankle injury, so we’ll see how he goes this week.”
On where ILB Smael Mondon has grown the most…
“Probably in his leadership. He’s been an incredible athlete, and he came in as a really good space player. He’s gotten tougher. He’s grown as a blitzer, and he’s a quality leader. He’s not afraid to confront guys when they’re not doing things right, which you learn to appreciate as you coach longer the guys that hold people to a standard so I don’t have to.”
On assessing the inside linebackers against Auburn and not having a disruptor type on the defensive line affects that…
“Yeah, I don’t think the defensive line impacts the inside linebacker position not having a disruptor because if you have people who strike blocks and occupy blocks, then it frees your linebackers up. Sometimes a disruptor’s worse for an inside ‘backer because the offensive line is free.
But, you know, it’s hot and cold. We’ve played good for a while. We’ve had a few busts, a few mental busts. We miskeyed a few things they did that they did a nice job of quarterback run and misdirection. I mean, that’s what people do now in football: they pull a guy here, take a guy here, and you’ve got to figure out which way the play’s going. We did that well, and we didn’t do that well some. So we’ve got to do a better job.
On Ladd McConkey and his recovery…
“Yeah, no clue. We don’t know if it’s going to come back. I don’t know. I know that the medical advice we got was to shut him down, we did that. He feels like he’s recovered, he feels good. He had to progress last week to the point of full speed, didn’t bother him. I’m pleased with that part of it. He wants to be out there. The biggest thing now for him is the conditioning level.”
On Lawson Luckie and Pearce Spurlin and if they will play this week...
“Could they have played? Yeah, they could have played…. Well if they’re better than Oscar and Brock. I don’t know what you want us to do. You want me to take Brock Bowers out and put one of them in. Anybody voting on that? If you vote that, you’re not a coach. Yeah, they’re cleared. They’re not where they need to be physically or mentally to play SEC play. They’re trying to get there. But guys, this is a grown man sport. To put a true freshman out there just because you guys had him as a four or five-star, that doesn’t mean he’s ready. It’s physical out there. It’s grown-man football when you watch what’s going on out there. Those guys are getting better, they’re getting closer. But how many freshman did we play the other day? I don’t know. A kicker, a linebacker. I can’t think of many others.”
On the defensive stop at the end of the first half against Auburn…
“It was a big moment. We do an intensive study every week on short yardage, goal-line plays. I think they’re deciding games more often because teams are going for it more often. What I’ve learned, I watch a reel every week that’s every third-and-1 in the SEC and every fourth-and-1 in the SEC. It is hard to get a yard. You guys all think, well it ought to be 100 percent. Go watch that reel. Go watch that reel and see how hard it is to get a yard. Talk about the guards, talk about the offensive line not getting push. Go watch every team in our league on third-and-1 and fourth-and-1. It is hard to get a yard because people are defending those down and distances different than they ever have. They’re treating them different. I was proud of our defense for stopping them in those. It probably had a little bit to do with us, had a little bit to do with them. They didn’t get a great front they wanted. They had a little trouble with the exchange on one of those and Chaz got some knock back and we cleaned it up well. I don’t want to be in third-and-1 and fourth-and-1, to be honest with you.”
On Brock Bowers’ blocking…
“Yeah, most underrated part of his game. Turn off the catches and go watch this dude block. He tries to put them in the ground. He has an extreme amount of power in his core. He centers, he gets his feet on people and runs his feet. He’s a really powerful weapon as a blocker too.”
On Oscar Delp’s composure after his fumble vs. Auburn…
“It’s everything. Like I said, it’s not Oscar’s fumble, it’s our team. Our team went over there with 74 men on a mission. We’re going to be there for each other no matter what happened. We weren’t winning the game without Oscar the rest of the way. We’ve got to protect the ball to get where we want to go, but we’ve got to love each other regardless.”
