ATHENS — Georgia co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach Travaris Robinson knows last year’s 27-24 loss to Alabama is a sensitive subject.
While Robinson is always willing to verbally joust with his players, he knows better than to bring up that result. Robinson served as Alabama’s cornerbacks coach last season, getting to celebrate the victory of winning the SEC.
“It was just two good football teams going at it and one football team happened to win the game,” Robinson said when speaking to reporters in August. “It was nothing that they gave away, it was nothing like that. It was just two really good football teams battling and competing. They’ve got the same mindset because they came from the same type of environment.”
Saturday marks the next battle in the war between the two programs. With Robinson spurning Kalen DeBoer’s staff for Kirby Smart’s, he provides a unique perspective on this game.
“Well, he’s a really good coach, he’s a really good recruiter, he’s a great person,” Smart said of Robinson. “So he’s brought a lot of energy, enthusiasm, confidence day-to-day in our players. He’s a good football coach so we’re very fortunate to have him, and he’s got a lot of knowledge.”
But as for this Alabama team, Robinson may not have the intel many would think. There was significant turnover at Alabama following Nick Saban’s retirement. Specifically in the defensive back room, as the likes of Caleb Downs and Dezz Ricks transferred elsewhere. In total, 10 of the defensive backs that were on Alabama’s roster last season are no longer with the Crimson Tide.
Robinson did recruit a few of the defensive backs still on the roster, but he’s nearly as familiar with them as he now is with the likes of Malaki Starks, KJ Bolden and Dan Jackson.
“So like intricacies into what they do defensively or offensively, not a lot there,” Smart said. “I mean, he knows some of their players, but we know a lot of their players too, because we recruited a lot of them. And I mean, Donte (Williams) was out with some of them out in California. So it’s not a lot to speak of, a lot of things that you hang your hat on. You’re worried about how we play, not particulars about their players.”
It’s a new era in the Georgia-Alabama rivalry, with Saturday being the first time Smart and Kalen DeBoer square off.
For all the newness, on both sides, though, Robinson does understand the intensity that comes with playing in a game of this magnitude. It’s still the No. 2 team in the country, Georgia, against the No. 4 team, Alabama.
“He’s such a competitive person,” Starks said of Robinson. “I think that’s the biggest thing, you know, from this week is just like he wants to go out there and compete and win, you know. There’s no bad blood or hatred or anything. He just wants to gow in and be competitive. He knows, like, they have good players, we have good players, so it’s going to be a really good game, but he just wants us to go out there and do our job and just let loose.”
How Georgia’s secondary plays will go a long way in determining if Robinson gets to celebrate once again in this rivalry. Jalen Milroe gave Georgia plenty of problems last season. His top pass-catching weapon is Ryan Williams, who was a junior in high school when these two teams met last December.
Williams skipped his senior year of high school and enrolled at Alabama this summer. In three games, he has caught 4 touchdowns and has 285 yards.
“Yeah, don’t let the age fool you. He can go. I think a bunch of people kind of got to saying, ‘He’s a young player in the SEC. Whatever, blah, blah, blah,’ but he can play,” Starks said. You got to be on your P’s and Q’s just being able to be on the same page. He’s got a great catch radius. He’s fast, quick, he can move. That’s going to be very competitive, and the whole game is going to be very competitive. So we’re very excited about it.”
If Robinson is able to slow Alabama the way he did Georgia last season — Georgia had a season-low 24 points and Carson Beck was held without a touchdown pass — Robinson finally may be able to discuss a Georgia-Alabama game with his players in a positive way.
Saturday’s game is set for a 7:30 p.m. ET start on ABC.
