ATHENS — Kirby Smart made it very clear his thoughts are on the upcoming game against Texas.
He made it a point to say he was focused on the game, instead of dealing with those who may be looking at the transfer portal. Georgia saw cornerback Julian Humphrey enter the transfer portal on Sunday.
The Bulldogs have a big game against Texas this coming Saturday. And while Smart did spend time speaking on Humphrey and the transfer portal, he spent most of his news conference discussing the upcoming game against Texas.
Below are Smart’s full comments from his Sunday teleconference. Georgia takes on Texas in the SEC Championship game on Saturday.
What Kirby Smart said about the transfer portal, Texas ahead of 2024 SEC Championship Game
Opening statement...
“Yeah, our guys are excited to return to Atlanta and one of the most iconic games there is of championship games. I think when you look over the history of this game, it’s got a great tradition, a great atmosphere. I know having coached in it a lot of years between Alabama and Georgia it’s absolutely an incredible atmosphere. It’s two teams battling for a conference championship, which has alluded many teams in this conference. And with the new teams in our conference, the strength of this thing is just incredible. And to look at an opportunity to play for the championships of this conference, it’s really a special moment. You know, so many fan bases are tied to Atlanta. The fact that it’s held in Mercedes, it’s just such a good venue. And now we look forward to games after that as well in the college football playoff, which is new. So it should be a great atmosphere.
Texas has got a super-quality team. I have so much respect for Sark for the rivalry game they played in last night. It was a extremely physical game for them, emotional game for them. Their team has really navigated the SEC really well, especially on a first-year team coming in. He built the roster to be SEC compatible, and they’re extremely big and physical across both fronts. And they have experience at a multitude of positions, and they’ve got a great team. So it’ll be a great challenge for us, and we’re looking forward to playing there in Atlanta.”
On any dramatic changes he’s seen from the Texas offense from the October meeting to now and if any of those changes worry him...
“Well, if you don’t know anything about me, I worry about everything. I’m very concerned about everything about Texas because they have an extremely talented roster. They have great special teams. They’ve got wideouts, backs. I mean, even through the injuries, I think both of us have had significant injuries at running back. Significant. I mean, I think we were out — we’ve been without three of the backs that were supposed to be our best. So has Texas, and both teams have navigated that well. I think it’s a credit to their offensive staff.
But Texas’ backs have been elite, have played really good. Their defense is elite, one of the best in the country. Special teams are elite. So when you ask about worries throughout from the last month and a half, I was worried a month and a half ago and I’m worried now because they got really good players, and they do a great job. I know the job Sark does offensively and with his overall staff.”
On how much Smart pays attention to what he saw from Texas six weeks ago versus what Texas has done since then...
“We look at it all. I mean, as coaches you watch all the tape and try to make the best decisions that fit your team.”
On if the SEC title game has lost some luster in a 12-team playoff...
“It depends on who you ask. But when you ask a guy that’s been in the SEC for about 30 years and has only been a part of five or six of them and only been a part of five or six national championships, it’s equal to that to me because it’s just as hard. It’s just as elusive. I mean, it has been for us.
It’s an extreme honor, number one, to make this game with the schedule that you have to go through. And then with the opportunity to win it, we put the years of SEC championships on the wall and it’s there forever. And there’s not that many more of those than there are national championships, so it’s hard to attain. So I still find value in it.”
On the status of Julian Humphrey...
“No status that I’m aware of. I mean, I saw the same thing you saw. So, we’re worried about the guys that we’re going to go play Texas with.”
On if Humphrey will be with the team this weekend...
“I’m not sure of that, Connor. Again, like I said, I’m worried about the guys that are here.”
On the job Steve Sarkisian did getting to the SEC championship game in year one in the SEC...
“Well, I don’t know if it’s ever been done before in terms of the first year in. I think I heard somebody reference, you know, besides the first year they had it, somebody had to be first. First-year teams have not been able to win their league east and west. And now he’s done it. It’s not east and west, but he still had the best record in the conference and played a really tough Michigan team at Michigan and beat them. They’ve done a tremendous job all together to make it to this game. He’s got a talented roster. I mean, when you look at it across the board, they’ve got, they’ve done a great job recruiting and they’ve made their team better in the portal. Best thing they’ve done is gone out each year and filled holes in the portal. And that’s what makes them have a lot of depth and good players.”
On why a 3-loss SEC team should make the playoff over teams from other leagues...
“Tough question, because it boils down to who the best teams are. And I don’t, you know, I have repeatedly said, I don’t know the objective of the committee. I’ve openly said that. I mean, you know, if they’re evaluators, they probably need to get some more coaches and call some, you know, people that evaluate football for a living of the quality of it, the depth of it, the teams, because that’s how I understand it. They watch the games. If you’re going to watch the games and watch it, you can’t measure one team against another that doesn’t play each other. So that makes it hard first and foremost. And it’s hard to measure across conference. I think the most telling stats are how the conferences play against each other when they line up and play. But it’s a tough judgment. I know that. And this is what everybody wanted. So the debate goes from, you know, 4th, 5th, 6th to 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, who falls in there. So I don’t think you can measure things just based on how many losses you have, because the quality of the schedule you play has to mean something.”
On the challenge of matching up against Texas on the lines of scrimmage...
“Well, it’s just that. They have tremendous size and they have major disruption in their defensive line and defensive edges. They’ve got quick, athletic, big people. They’re physical on both sides of the ball. You know, I thought their offensive line was really elite last night in terms of what they were able to do against the Texas A&M front that may be the best in our conference. So just tremendous lines of scrimmage. And like I said, Sark knew that was coming and he built the team that way and did a tremendous job in preparation of coming into this league.”
On younger corners helping out with corner depth with Julian Humphrey transferring...
“All those guys - we have multiple guys but really it doesn’t have anything to do with the redshirt rule or not or postseason plans because don’t have many around that are threshold - but they continue to get better. They’re going to give us an opportunity to be better,” Smart said when asked about the cornerbacks further down the depth chart than Humphrey previously. “Ellis, particularly, and Demello, both have gotten better throughout the year. They have taken an abundance of reps with our twos and continue to grow up and get better.”
On if Texas has changed its identity since the game against Georgia...
“No, they’re really physical and they’re committed to the run. I think their backs are playing at an elite level. I think their front’s playing at an elite level. They are a physical group. They’ve got a great passer in their quarterback, they’ve got great wideouts. They find ways, they’re very creative in the pass game, the RPO game, the play action game, they’re tight ends playing probably one of the best in the country right now and they do a tremendous job. But when you look at what the backs have done, they’ve been off the charts in terms of that run game. I mean, even the Oklahoma game before they played us, I’ve thought the backs have been elite.”
On things he wants to see improvement on from the last few games...
“The list is too long, Kirk.”
On Georgia running backs health, UGA run game...
“Well, our running game is not where it’s needed to be. I can promise you that, but there’s a lot of combinations and parts of that. I mean, we’ve had a dang merry-go-round offensive line year. I’ve never been around a group that’s had to change lineups, especially in practice. I mean, we’ve had probably five starters miss entire weeks of practice and it hasn’t always equated to game time, but it equates to game playing ability. So that’s one of the biggest things that we’ve struggled with is just staying healthy on the offensive line and that would help our run game some, not to mention being healthy at running back would help some.
But I don’t know if we’re going to be — I don’t see how you could say we could be a hundred percent because Branson and Rod are neither 100% and they’re out there trying to play. You know, Trevor’s a ways away. I still don’t know because we haven’t even seen those guys. He wasn’t really close to playing last week. So I don’t know how that’s going to play out. I know that Nate’s playing really hard. He’s growing up. I don’t see him as a freshman anymore and we’ve got to keep getting everybody ready.”
On Georgia’s matchup against the Texas defensive line...
“Yeah. I don’t really know how we match up. I mean, I want to see the last couple of games. I haven’t watched all of their games. I only have the thoughts that, you know, we didn’t run the ball real well in that, that game against them last time. We didn’t do a lot of things particularly well. That’s why they’re the number one defense in the conference and one of the number one defenses in the country. So there’s a lot of work to be done on our side to try to prepare for them.”
On what he’s learned about the SEC Championship Game over the years...
“Whoever you’re playing is really good.”
On the key to playing a team twice...
“Don’t overthink it. You know, don’t overthink the entire process. You know, you have to do what you do well and you’ve got to stop what they do well. Offensive coordinators, defense coordinators, they want to want to make it about the scheme. They want to make it about changes. They want to make it about how can we execute at a higher level? But at the end of the day, it’s going to come down to those guys on the field and the strain they play with and probably who executes better. So, you know, the more things you do differently, sometimes the more you mess things up. You’ve got to go out and execute.”
On the UGA pass rush...
“Well, I don’t, I don’t really assess our unit based on pass rush. I assess it on ability to affect the quarterback, get off the field on third down, get people to third down, tackling. And then we’ve had our struggles. I mean, I’ll be honest with you, we haven’t, we haven’t, we haven’t, we played a better game actually the other night up front defensively than we did against UMass and some other teams. But it was not going to be about the pass rush the other night. I mean, they were, they have five sacks in the entire year and they don’t throw the ball. So it was a very different kind of game, but there’s been a lot of games in between this game, you know, our last game against Texas and all the way to Georgia Tech that we haven’t played as well as I would like. And you can’t put an exact finger on what that might be. But I know this, we’re going to have to play better than we’ve been playing because Texas is playing really good.”
On how the SEC is as a conference this year...
“Relative to what? It’s history, I guess. Okay, so I’m comparing the 2024 SEC to the 2023, 2022, 2021 or to the rest of the country or what are we asking here?”
On if the SEC is down because of adding more teams...
“No, I don’t think you can say Oklahoma and Texas came in the conference and it became weaker.”
On preparing for more games with the transfer portal opening soon...
“Oh, I’m not dealing with it. I mean, I’m worried about my team. I mean, I’ve learned in this thing that you worry about the players that are with you, not the ones that aren’t.
And you focus on the guys that are out there on that field playing it and in trying to win games and eight overtimes and like they love the University of Georgia and want to compete and be part of it. And you don’t really try to focus on the guys that aren’t because they’ll be looking for the next stop. We got guys all over the place that aren’t here now that wish they could come back. So it’s a decision each kid has to make. Okay.”
On if he’s spoken with Julian Humphrey...
“No, I’ve been at work today. I’m still at work today. I’m not chasing all the stuff around y’all are looking at. I’m worried about Texas.”
On the approach to getting more rest...
We haven’t really. I mean, we don’t have to approach it just yet because it’s Sunday. So, you know, our guys had off yesterday, which is a little unique for us. We’ve never had a Friday game. We’ll decide how we go forward based on how we look, Injury-wise tomorrow.”
On Monroe Freeling...
“He’s had his moments. I mean, he’s played well at moments and he struggled sometimes. I think he’s a kid that’s growing up. It’s getting better. It’s the hardest position to play probably in football outside of maybe quarterback. And he and Earnest have manned that position well. And whoever’s been healthy and been in the game is doing a good job. I’m really proud of the things both those kids have done.”
