ATHENS — Kirby Smart understands the importance of the Georgia-Georgia Tech rivalry. He played for Georgia and his final game as a player at Sanford Stadium was a loss to the Yellow Jackets.
So even with Georgia having clinched a spot in the SEC Championship game, Smart made sure that his focus this week was on the rival Yellow Jackets.
The Georgia head coach touched on a number of topics, including Georgia Tech coach Brent Key. Below are Smart’s full comments from Monday’s press confernce.
Georgia’s game against Georgia Tech is set for a 7:30 p.m. ET kick on ABC.
What Kirby Smart said about Brent Key, Georgia-Georgia Tech rivalry
Opening Statement...
“We’re on a tight schedule, trying to turn this thing around quickly. With today really being like a Tuesday for our players and for our staff that speeds things up.
I want to encourage fans to support the season of giving collection drive that the Athletic Association is doing. It supports families in need in our Athens community. They’re collecting items, I think, for December 10th and nd they want warm clothing items, hygiene kit materials, non-perishable food. All the stuff that can be dropped off at the main third floor entrance of this building, the Butts-Mehre building. So additionally, items will be collected at upcoming men’s and women’s basketball games, and at the end of the women’s volleyball match. I know Leland will send out a lot more details on that in the future, but that’s a big deal for our Athletic Association, and we want to push that out to folks.
We are on to Georgia Tech. We got started on them yesterday, which was like a Monday, which was very unique for us, because it was not Monday. But it was like a Monday in terms of practice for us and moving things up.Of all the years we’ve been here, I think this is the first time we’ve had kind of a different schedule, timeline schedule like this. So our guys are excited. This is a huge matchup.This is an interstate rivalry game that’s been part of history for a long, long time and it is a physical game. It was a very physical game last year. It’ll be a physical game this year. I’m excited to be at home on Friday night, and looking forward to our crowd impacting this game. We need them to impact this game, because we do have it at home.”
Thoughts on a chance to play in the SEC Championship game...
“My thoughts are on Georgia Tech. I mean it’s a great honor to be able to play in the SEC Championship game. It is probably one of the greatest events in all sports because the games that you play in are great matchups. But at this point in time, we don’t even know who that it is, nor do I care. My concern 100 percent is with Georgia Tech because of what that game means to so many in this state, so many on our team, and what it means to the season, and the seniors playing at home. So that’s the focus.”
On getting players rest and preparing the team on a short week...
“Yeah, so it’s a tough balance. I mean, there’s not a perfect remedy. We spent a lot of off-season time talking to programs that have Friday games after Saturday games. So you can imagine the teams from the country that play their game on Friday of this week, and we’ve talked to a lot of those guys about best way to manage it. But at this time of the year, you’re trying to dial back on contact anyway because it’s the end of the year. Now you add that to the schedule we’ve played, the injuries we have, and the turnaround, and it’s like a mountain of stuff there to kind of unpack. We’re trying to be smart, but we’re also trying to be physical. And Georgia Tech’s gonna be physical, so are we. So it’s gonna be one of those really tough physical games that I think to play tough and physical, you gotta practice tough and physical.”
On Georgia Tech QB Aaron Philo...
“Great poise, confidence. I mean, he broke the Georgia High School passing record, most ever passing yards. That’s a lot of really good quarterbacks who he surpassed to get that record. So he’s got confidence, he’s thrown the ball a lot. It’s not like it’s foreign to him. They’ve got some really good weapons. I mean, their backs catch the ball well out of the backfield. They’ve got speed on the perimeter. They do a really good job in the run game, so they keep you honest. But he’s played really well, played with confidence. To watch him play the game like he did Thursday night, he was at his best when his best was needed.”
On when he found out the game was going to be on Friday...
“I don’t remember when I found out. I mean, I don’t keep up with time like that. I don’t know. It was sometime last year when it was up for debate, maybe after the season or maybe even before the season last year it was brought to our attention that it was a possibility and would both teams be interested? The thought was, number one, you could get more exposure for both programs in terms of that game time, that slot being available. Also, checking with Georgia High School it was going to be a good slot to not conflict with high school playoffs. So where you say it does, something happened this year with the hurricane where it pushed everything back and it made a bigger conflict. Otherwise, this would have been really no issue, and that was checked on first. So I think due to weather that affected us. I think both teams agreed to doing it, and that’s kind of how it came about.”
On how Brent Key has built the Georgia Tech program...
“What stood out is he’s doing it the good old-fashioned way: hard work, recruiting. They’re in those same recruiting battles we are. They’re going after the best players in the state just like we are. They’re doing a better job on that front in terms of being able to recruit them, but they’re still really physical. He coached with Nick, he coached with George O’Leary, who’s one of the best there is at managing a program and being physical. He knows what he’s doing. He’s got a great staff. I mean, he’s hired a really good staff, and they’ve got good football players.”
On having to explain to players what this rivalry means and if that’s different than in the past...
”Yeah, I mean, I think you do that every week, you know? Every time you have a rivalry game, you explain the rivalry and what it means. It’s just more significant when it’s inside your state. Like we have a lot of rivals in Georgia because of the geographic nature of our state. We touch all these other states that are all SEC states, so you end up playing a lot of SEC opponents that are contiguous with us. When you go to Georgia Tech, they’re in our state. They’ve got a tremendous program, and more and more of our kids have been recruited by them. They know. I mean, they get a sense of the importance of the game from the older players on the team who’ve played in it and the coaches who have.
On what’s most important for the defense going against Georgia Tech’s two-QB system...
”Well, regardless of the quarterback, the importance is to strike, play physical, understand what you’re getting yourself into in terms of what kind of game this is going to be. So before you even know who the quarterback is, you got to know what kind of game it’s going to be. And it’s going to be physical, it’s going to be tough. And to play good football you’ve got to swarm. Like good defensive football, you got to swarm and tackle well. So it’s all about us and not just about the quarterback. But that will be a key ingredient. They know that too. So, I mean, Philo can run. He ran the other night, and they ran design runs with him. He can do those things, and Haynes King is a really good player that got after us last year. We know what they’re capable of, and Buster was here so both staffs know a lot about each other.”
On the Georgia Tech defense...
“Yeah, they’re really good. They’re talented. They’ve upgraded in terms of through the portal and the way they play. Defensive staff’s doing a tremendous job. They play really hard, play physical. Pressure, they do a great job with their disguise packages. They’ve got a really good defense. They’re playing well.”
On Christen Miller...
“Yeah, he’s banged up. Didn’t do much yesterday. Don’t know what he’ll be able to do today. Still trying to kind of assess, becasue we didn’t, like on Monday, I didn’t get to see much yesterday, and we weren’t in pads. So we’ll find out more as the week goes.”
On Dillon Bell and Anthony Evans...
“Yeah, they’re both, did some stuff yesterday, went out and worked out. Think both of them are gonna be good to go and be able to help us. But we’ll see, because I’ll know a lot more after today’s practice.”
On Kirby Smart’s emotions on this game...
“Yeah, I don’t think you get real emotional about things like that. I think you’re a lot better, coach when you stay composed and you coach your players and you teach your players what it’s gonna take to win the game. Which it will be a emotional game, but I don’t get emotional about it. It’s interstate rivalry, it’s a chance at a state championship. It’s a lot of pride, it’s a lot of history in the game, but the game’s played between the lines, between the players.”
On Ryan Puglisi and Jaden Rashada...
“Yeah, they’re both really good quarterbacks who have gotten better in their system. As you know, Ryan was here in the spring, but missed considerable time in the spring with injury. And then Rashada didn’t get afforded the opportunity in spring, so he’s been having to pick it up quickly from being here summer and fall camp and picking all those things up. But they’re both doing a great job.”
On the logistics of prepping for the SEC Championship game...
“Not one thing different. Not one thing different, because we would have been playing this game still not knowing. Difference is we know, but we don’t know who it is. I mean, there’s things that could have happened this coming weekend that would have determined whether we played or not, so we would have had to prepare the same way, which is no preparation. The preparation is Georgia Tech. There’s nothing we can really do, and we don’t really worry about it. We worry about one game at a time. I mean, we know when we played Alabama that we had Auburn the next week, right? We don’t do anything for Auburn. We’re worried about the game we have.”
On Jalon Walker...
“Well, what does he mean to me personally? He’s an unbelievable kid, Christian, believes in his thoughts and processes. And he was raised in a wonderful family where he has a lot of confidence in himself to stand up, talk to the team, command leadership, demand respect, do things the hard way, and set a standard the right way. I mean, he is a great young man. I would be hard measured to say what his greatest attribute is, because his could be character. His could be the ability to run, the ability to strike people and be violent and hit and flip a switch on the field. But he’s elite in all those things. This kid is a very, very special person on and off the field first. But he’s also very talented. So I’m very honored and happy for him, he deserves that.”
On Buster Faulkner...
“Buster was incredible in terms of insight, ideas, work habits, recruiting. He recruited really hard while he was here. He was very loyal. He didn’t try to overstep his boundaries, which when you’re in that role, sometimes as an analyst, which he was here, you have to be careful. You’re trying to assert yourself and prove that you’re a good coach, but you don’t want to overstep the other coaches. And his rules while he was here was to coach the coaches and help us. He did a tremendous job of that. He made me a better coach, and he’s also a great father and husband as well.”
On Georgia analyst Andrew Thacker, who came from Georgia Tech...
“Yeah, he does a great job. He’s got a lot of energy, enthusiasm. Defensively, he’s been great for our defense in terms of energy, excitement. Players really like him. He does a great job of knowing his role, of defining his role, and being very helpful, and he’s been a big asset for us.”
On Georgia RBs coach Josh Crawford, who came from Georgia Tech...
“Yeah, I don’t know many people that have had to go out and play with three true freshmen in a critical, pivotal game which really happened against Tennessee. Those kids didn’t flinch. He didn’t flinch. You prepare year round to have them ready for a moment like that. He’s done that. He’s very intelligent and does a good job of demanding excellence from those kids. That’s a big part. He was a really good high school coach in the state as well, which I think is big.”
On health of Georgia running backs...
“We’ll know more today. Branson (Robinson) and Rod (Roderick Robinson) have both looked good in the last week in terms of picking up their pace, running, cutting. We’re going to progress them today. They’re going to do more today than they have. I guess y’all saw them Saturday run. They did more yesterday. We’re day by day with those guys, but there’s a possibility so we’re excited about them getting back to work.”
On focus with the defensive backs...
“Yeah, reps. I mean, reps and reps. Tennessee week, we probably had a broken record for volume of plays down the field, playing the ball, what we call in and out of phase. There’s a lot of those that are one-on-one, and they’re not a fluke, you get beat, but when you have two guys there, that’s when it just looks that much worse. It’s like, playing the ball, that’s been a huge emphasis for us this year is playing the ball in the air and being able to. You get beat sometimes and you gotta have confidence with your back to the ball. But then there’s times where your back’s not to the ball, and you’ve got to locate it and find it. Or you’re a safety breaking over the top, and you’ve got to make a hit or tackle, and you’ve got to target the right area, and you’ve got to aim for the right spots, and you’ve got to tackle people so that what happened the other day doesn’t happen.”
On best teams in the SEC having difficulty on the road...
“I don’t know what to attribute to you. First question I would ask is what was the record last year on the road for ranked teams? Because I don’t think it’s changed. It’s hard. It’s hard to play on the road in the SEC. Now maybe more of them are happening at night because of the television contract. I don’t know that, I don’t really know that, I don’t know those stats. It’s not any harder this year than it was last year. It’s just hard. And so maybe it’s showing up more.”
