ATHENS — The practice field speakers have been blaring behind Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall this week as Georgia prepares for its first true road test since 2019.
The No. 2-ranked Bulldogs (5-0) travel to play No. 18 Auburn (4-1) in a 3:30 p.m. game on Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
The crowd noise is just one of a handful of concerns Coach Kirby Smart has about the approaching game against the upset-minded Tigers, who are 15-point underdogs.
Biggest concern: Injuries
Smart said starting quarterback JT Daniels remains limited, unable to turn loose on throws as Georgia trainers aim to make sure he doesn’t re-injure or aggravate his lat muscle.
“We’re still banged up, I feel like as much as since I’ve been here,” Smart said after practice on Tuesday. “I don’t remember having this many guys injured at once since I’ve been here.”
The Bulldogs continue to be razor-thin at receiver and defensive back, position groups where UGA lost five and eight players, respectively, to the NCAA transfer portal in the past year.
Smart said receivers Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint (ankle), Arian Smith (shin) and Dominick Blaylock (hamstring) were all running on Tuesday. Of the three, Smart said, Rosemy-Jacksaint is the most likely to play on Saturday. George Pickens (knee) remains out indefinitely.
Smart said defensive back transfer Tykee Smith is practicing without limitations but is still getting up to speed with assignments and growing more comfortable playing in the scheme.
Crowd concern: Noise
Georgia hasn’t faced a hostile crowd since its last road trip to Auburn, back on Nov. 16, 2019. Jake Fromm connected with Dominick Blaylock for an early score and the defense was smothering, keeping the Tigers and the crowd in check.
The last time a road crowd appeared to effect Georgia in earnest was the 2018 trip to LSU.
Still, Smart pointed out that because of the restricted crowds last season, teams are having more issues handling road noise than ever this season.
Linebacker Channing Tindall said Jordan-Hare is “rowdy” and that “you can feel the ground shake.”
“You look across the league right now and I can give you four or five games that are examples of first road trips for teams,” Smart said. “What’s wrong is you used to have 25 percent of your team that had not been on the road, now we’re at 50 percent that hasn’t had a true road game and in that kind of environment because of COVID last year.
“You’re seeing the impact of that, whether it was our game (with Arkansas), Kentucky hosting Florida, Alabama-Florida, Ole Miss-Alabama, so we try to teach and learn from it,” he said. “But inevitably, we may have mistakes, we may make mistakes and we’ve got to overcome those. We can’t let one mistake compound things and make it worse.”
Quarterback concern: Bo Nix
The game plan is to keep Bo Nix in the pocket, and Smart explained why.
“I don’t think people understand exactly how good of an athlete this guy is,” Smart said. “It’s been reported to me he has hit 22 mph on GPS. We don’t have but maybe two receivers on our entire team hit 22 mph.”
Smart said Nix’s ability to extend plays can stress the defense, particularly on the back end in coverage.
“There are plays that are 8 seconds long, and our guys on average play 3-4 seconds at a time,” Smart said. “An 8-second play is a long time. He can extend plays, he can win with his feet. He can throw and run, so it adds an extra element.”