ATHENS — Georgia has completed its first two practices of the week as it continues to ready for Saturday’s game against UAB.
Below is everything head coach Kirby Smart said following Tuesday’s practice. The Georgia coach touched on injuries, the transfer portal and much more.
On how practice has been this week…
“It’s been good, good temp. I thought yesterday was nice and cool, had a great practice. Today was not the best Tuesday, but not the worst. It was a little warmer, but had good energy and the guys practiced hard.”
On how Daylen Everette played against USC and the challenges presented by Spencer Rattler and Xavier Leggette…
“Daylen played OK. He can play with a little more confidence. He’s a good football player. He’s still getting comfortable in the big games, the big moments. He understands the defense, tackles well, plays physical. He’s hard to block, which in this league, it’s a big man league. You’ve got to have some weight under you and be able to hold the point. As far as Leggette and Rattler, I’ve talked about them enough. They’re really good players.”
On not getting after the players at halftime after speaking with a sports psychologist…
“Where did you hear that? What are you talking about?… I don’t know. I don’t know what he’s referencing. I guess I would need better details as to, I was going to get on them… Not that I know of. We have a guy that works with the team and he does a great job, Drew. He gave our team a message on Friday before the game and he spent the game with us. But I don’t really know, I don’t know what you’re referencing as far as that goes. I have varying messages at halftime. It just depends on how we’re playing, what’s going on, if we’re playing with emotion, not playing with emotion. There’s a lot of decisions that go into how you approach it. At that time, I don’t know what good getting on them was going to do.”
On Nick Chubb and reaching out to him after his injury last night…
“He’s an incredible human being first and foremost. What kid still goes back to his high school weight room, strength coach program, track, and works out like he does? Just very rare in the sports world to find someone as humble and just a great person he is. I reached out to him. He’s probably flooded with all kinds of people reaching out to him, so no expectation of anything in return. Just a lot of respect for him and what he does for this program in terms of toughness, buy-in, giving back. He decided to come back when he did. I thought it was in his best interest to come back, but he certainly did UGA a favor returning too. What an outstanding year he had when he did. I talked to Ron about it today. I think he’ll make a full recovery and bounce back. That’s just who he is. He’ll be ready to get after it.”
On clock rules and complaints from offensive coaches…
“I don’t really know. I actually sent a text to the analytics people we have a subscription to. He sent me a text back immediately and said, I asked week one and he said, well, it’s more than they thought, he said, but you can’t judge it on one week. After week three, last weekend’s numbers were in. He texted right back and said, it’s right where we thought. He said ‘21, ‘22, I want to say he said 175 snaps a game maybe. Then it’s 170. So it’s five snaps a game after three weeks. You can quote me on it because I said it, but I don’t know if it’s fact. I’m going off what somebody told me. They told me 175 to 170 so it’s actually five plays difference, is that the same thing you’re hearing?… Three plays per team? That makes sense because they’re saying 5.5. So three per team is six and what I was told is five and a half. That’s not substantial, but I don’t know why I even feel like it’s more than that. I feel like, maybe they should study it by possession. I have not done the math on possessions, not plays. It seems less. It seems faster, you know what I mean? I don’t know what impact it’s had because the number, if you do it by number of plays that’s not, that’s just three plays per game per team, I don’t think that’s a major deal…. Possessions matter. I can’t sit here and tell you the possessions because I didn’t ask that number in possessions. If three plays are down, it shouldn’t be possessions down.
On Kendall Milton and Roderick Robinson’s status...
“Kendall’s been in rehab. He’s been rehabbing and working, and Roderick hasn’t been able to practice with us so they haven’t looked good in terms of practice ‘cause they haven’t been out there. I’m hoping that we can get them back. It looks very doubtful that Roderick’s going to be able to play this week. I’m still holding out hope that Kendall might be able to, but I can’t say that ‘cause he has not practiced.”
On Georgia being able to handle opposing crowd noise...
“Well, I mean, I don’t know what makes you think we’re not affected by crowd noise.”
The reporter points to past years...
“What’s a measure of that?”
The reporter says Tennessee had issues against Florida this year and issues last year against Georgia...
“Yeah, it’s tough, man. See, I think that NFL teams don’t experience it until the playoffs. I think the SEC teams and the SEC environment and, you know, I’m sure there’s other conferences — I’m not saying we’re the only ones with crowd noise. I know Florida went to Utah, and that was a game I got to see where it was impacting. It’s a major deal. I mean, I study it hard because I got through and watch third and fourth down reel of the league — every league game, and it’s amazing to me the team that’s on the road the number of times it impacts third and fourth downs is incredible. And you try like hell to avoid those, but we haven’t played in that environment, you know? We haven’t. I can’t remember last year — I think Missouri, we had a false start to open the game and maybe two others in the game. So I can’t sit here and tell you it has not affected us. It affects us when we go into a tough environment.”
On how you prepare for that noise...
“Well, you just turn on crowd noise and try to simulate it, you know? You prepare by, you know, maybe doing a little less and taking a few plays out that are hard communication plays — checks, motions, adjustments. I mean, you’ve got to be smart. I call ‘em a relief play: you’ve got to line up and go play and see if you can block them without doing too much, you know? The more you try to do — I don’t think some coaches acknowledge that it’s a six-penalty advantage to play at home in the SEC possibly. I mean, it’s come out that way for us because teams have come here and gotten probably 5-6 more penalties on average. You’ve got to try to find a way to avoid that when you go on the road.”
On if Peyton Woodring will continue to be the kicker...
“Yeah, we’re having competition. I mean, like I said all along, it was going to be open regardless. We’re competing every week. The competition every week has been pretty consistent. They’ve been pretty even, but with the outcome of the games, you know, you have to continue to open it up. We did a bunch of exercises to try to put some pressure on those guys today, and we’re going to do the same thing throughout the week and then make a decision. That’s minute to minute, hour by hour.”
On how much Dillon Bell gets to pass protect at running back and if Bell will have to play at running back more...
“Well, he’s got a package, and the package each week they’ve tried to expand it and go piece by piece because we think he’s a very valuable receiver. And that’s what he remains is a receiver for us. His package first week was a few plays. His package the next week was a few plays, and we’ve added plays each and every week. Yeah, he does pass pro. He learns our protections. He’s really a very physical player — like, he plays on special teams, strikes people. He’s 210 pounds, so he’s bigger than Cash [Jones] and some of our other backs.”
On if Georgia evaluates potential portal entries beforehand or waits for them to enter...
“Yeah, I don’t — everybody’s got a new staff that goes and evaluates every player. I mean, I’ve been told there’s team out there on the sidelines of our games scouting our players in warm-ups because that’s their job for their team is to know something about that kid if he goes in. We’re not that advanced. I’m not really that interested in it. I mean, obviously, there’s never a kid that goes in the portal we would not consider unless we didn’t like him coming out [of high school] or had, you know, some reason not to recruit him coming out. But I’m not going to go in advance and do that because I just — you might scout 1,000 kids, and 10 of those 1,000, you know, end up going on. I could take that 10 minutes and go watch them when they go in. To be honest with you, from what I’ve seen when they go in they all know where they’re going. There’s not but one kid that when he told me he was leaving he didn’t already have a plan of where he was going.”
On Jalon Walker...
I don’t think he’s bulked up. He’s 240, 242. I think he was 236, 237 last year. Maybe he looks that way or maybe I’m just wrong. I don’t want him bulked up, I want him fast. He’s been an excellent edge rusher for us, he’s developing as an inside backer for us. I like him the way he is.
On linebackers playing inside and outside...
Not really. If you have to outside ‘backers that can rush, it’s a luxury to have an inside linebacker that can rush. Sorey has developed that skillset. When he came in, he was a natural, really speed guy, edge guy. The element in pro football and college football has become how much speed can you get on the field? With all the passing, they give us an abundance of speed and two of our fastest players are able to chase things down, run things down. They were both on the play on the screen. I hated it for both of them that neither did but that play is why they’re out there. For those kind of plays.
On Malaki Starks...
I don’t think you can get anymore pressure on a good player. Because it’s whatever the full amount of pressure it is, it’s the full amount. It doesn’t get any greater than infinity. So he’s a really good player. There was always that.
I think his home life, his mother, his father, the community of Jefferson. He was always very grounded. I don’t want to say homebody, he was just never really interested in going all of over the place. He reminded me of Charlie Woerner. He was like, ‘I don’t want to go to all those places, I want to go to Georgia, that’s what I want to do’ and he knew that. He came on campus as a ninth grader I remember and I can’t even remember who the db coach was here (it was Charlton Warren) it was so long ago, it might have been, I don’t know who it is. But he came over and said ‘His dad is here, he’s a ninth grader and he’s just coming off a broken leg from playing basketball. He ran really fast for us and had a really big frame. I remember thinking man ‘This kid is going to be a good player.’ He was playing quarterback so it was a tough evaluation. It was a projection as a safety. But once we got to know the kid, he came over here a 1,000 times over three years. Just loved the character and integrity of his family and what they stand for. And really him, he’s a great kid.
On the offensive line with Mims being out...
Truss has worked guard and tackle like he always has. More tackle this week. Blaske has practiced. Man he is a tough dude. But he’s hurting. He’s trying his best out there. O line is a position you might be able to get away with an MCL because you’re not out there in space running and cutting but he’s not 100 percent healthy.
He’s out there working. Monroe (Freeling) is out there at tackle, Bo (Hughley) has been developing at tackle. Dylan (Fairchild) can go out and play tackle, Micah (Morris) can go out there and play tackle. Chad Lindberg plays tackle. We’ve got musical chairs. We’re just trying to get it where if the next guy goes down, we can get the best guy in.
On Eddie Gordon...
He’s a great recruiter, he’s a great coach, he’s a hard worker. I have a lot of respect for Eddie. Of the people we’ve had in the organization and left, somebody told me it’s like 24 guys that have come here worked in some capacity and moved on to another on the field role or a role higher than when they were here. He was loyal, he worked hard. He recruited a lot of good players here. He was right alongside Sam, Matt Luke, Searels. He has a personality about him. He never backed down from coaching players hard, and I respect that in a coach because he didn’t try to be their friend. He coached them hard, recruited them hard, and I’ve got a lot of respect for him. You see it in the way his o-line plays. They’re going to be wound up for this one because I know Eddie. Eddie wants to represent and have his kids play well.”
On Dylan Fairchild...
“Dylan played well. I think the amount of time he had leading up to that game helped him. He had played meaningful minutes. He had practiced with the ones. He had gone against our defensive line all of camp, so I think he came in pretty confident. He had a few errors, but they all did. He played well. It’s like I said, we think of him, Jared (Wilson), Micah (Morris), all those guys as starters.”
On Javon Bullard injury update...
“Yeah, he hasn’t done much. He warmed up, didn’t feel great in warmups, we shut him down and he hasn’t done much this week in terms of being able to practice. I asked him today, and he’s underwater running, got a boot on, but he has not been able to practice.”
On impact transfer portal has had on high school recruiting...
“We’re recruiting the top 10 percent. I don’t think that part has changed. I think it has definitely changed at a different level. I don’t think at the SEC level the pool, the pool of the kids we’d be signing probably wouldn’t be signing in the SEC. They’d be signing somewhere else. If anything it may help our walk-on and preferred walk-on programs because those kids that would have gotten scholarships other places, they’re all taking kids out of the portal. I think that’s the right of a coach. You can look and point at some teams that have done an incredible job, and it’s helped them come up really fast versus some where if you don’t get enough out of the portal then you end up in a bad situation. I don’t know because we’re not in the portal industry as much. We’re going to always look and try to take a great player, but I’m not going to live and die by it. I want to develop players, bring them in as freshmen all the way up.”
On Will Meyers as new director of player personnel...
“He’s done a lot. We don’t put evaluation on that position like some people do. Our coaches, my position coaches are always going to be evaluators. I don’t believe in a system where somebody comes in and tells you who fits your program. Matt didn’t do that. He was a very valuable asset in terms of opinions and looking over the top. You have someone looking at all these players and another looking at all these players, who’s comparing this row to this row? Who’s comparing the receivers to the offensive linemen? That’s a hard comparison. Which one is a greater need? That’s what they help with more than anything.
I don’t know how we really found out about Will. He worked with Muschamp at South Carolina so there was a little bit there. We had a couple other links, he had been over at ULL so a lot of the same coaching tree. We thought it was good to be around him in the interview, thought he was very organized. That’s what we need in that position.”
On the practice jacket...
“Everybody doesn’t like it. For me it’s the first one I pick up every time I go in there. They said something about how they don’t make them any more like this one with the band at the bottom. I don’t like the kind that hangs loose. There’s 64 coaches jackets in my locker that hang loose and there’s only one that has the band at the bottom so I wear the one that has the band at the bottom.”
