ATHENS — Kirby Smart has made it clear his team needs to focus and lock in for Auburn.
After losing a heartbreaker against Alabama this past weekend, Smart knows how challenging Auburn can be and what a win for them would mean in this rivalry.
Georgia takes on Auburn on Saturday, with the game set for a 3:30 p.m. ET start on ABC. Below are Smart’s full remarks following Tuesday’s press conference.
Kirby Smart said as Georgia head coach tries to warn his team about dangerous Auburn rival
On how practice has been so far this week...
“Good. Thought we were a little slow on Monday. Getting back late and getting a start. We did a little less than we normally do on Mondays, but we had a good one today. A really physical Tuesday and got after it. It was probably warmer than I expected. I don’t know what the temperature was, but it seemed warmer. We were outside for most of the day. We had, like, one period each inside, but they played physical.
They understand. We had a lot of coaches that have played in this game and coached in this game. We’ve got two Auburn alums, we’ve got a bunch of Georgia alums. The historic nature of this game is very personal, and e had guys talk about that and just explaining what the game means. I think the players recognize that. They certainly practiced hard.”
On the importance of eye discipline against this Auburn offense, particularly with the linebackers...
“To be honest with you, you’ve got to have eye discipline every game. There’s no team that doesn’t shift, motion, move, trade tight ends or move this guy. I mean, it’s like football now. Football has become this crazy event of moving people pre-snap to try to gain an advantage. I don’t know where it evolved to. It just continued to. You know, it used to be everybody standing still and hit each other, and now they all move.
So the eye discipline is extremely important, but it’s extremely important every game. I think with Hugh, he does a great job of changing things up, giving you different pictures. They did a tremendous job in the game last year. We had really good defense, and last year’s game has been very important to us in terms of the way he played us, what he did, things off of it. It will take great eye discipline to play well against them. Look, people misunderstand. They think that you’re just coach speak when you talk about Auburn. These guys have not really made like — they’re not getting stopped. They’re turning the ball over. Look at the stats of what they’ve done offensively. Don’t look at the points, the scores. Just look at them go up and down the field, and they’ve stopped themselves a lot of times. A lot of respect for the physicality they play with them, how they play. Sometimes it’s hard to control turnovers.”
On the final play on offense against Alabama and if Georgia would’ve gone for two...
“Yeah, a very interesting question. I can’t really say a lot about the play because I liked the play call. It had worked previous, you know? He’s a guy that — he gets on top of people. You throw it over the top and he gets behind people. You throw it underneath and he makes a big play a lot of times. Great play by their kid, I’ll say that. But I have no problem with the play call because we were getting on top of them prior to that.
But we had discussed that. I talked about it actually in length on the headphones, at two-minute mark.
We actually talked about it before the game because the LSU game came down to that with them. LSU was at home when they decided. We had discussed it previously, and I felt very strongly that if the clock was under 30 seconds that we would probably go for two. But talking to the analytics afterwards, it was suggested to not do it, to play overtime, kick it There’s a lot that goes into that because when you give a team enough time and they know what they need, meaning it’s not tied, they have more aggression. They had three timeouts. They would have had only needed a field goal. It would have played out possibly differently. But we had discussed it, and leaning towards more for two if it was under 30, which I think happened around 43 or something.”
On what makes Mykel Williams a good edge defender…
“Well, he has great length, great size, great athleticism. When you play on tackles, the number one requirement is arm length. Most of the tackles in our league have 35, 34-inch long arms. When you play with someone with short arms, they struggle to create an edge and set an edge. He’s able to set edges at a high level for us because he’s big enough to play it, but he’s also athletic enough to do some of the things outside backers do. So he’s cutting the cloth of what you want to play with out there on the edges.”
On what stands out about Jarquez Hunter…
“A lot. I mean, the dude, I don’t know if it’s the 27 thing, he reminds me so much of Nick Chubb. I mean, he’s got a straight line. He’s so physical. People just bounce off of him. And it goes back to all those squat records. You know, we’ve got one of our coaches coached him Coach Bobo had him, I think maybe his freshman year, I’m not sure, but he talks about how great a kid he is, how strong he is, and then people literally bounce off of him. Like, he’s just a super physical, downhill, like he makes you not want to tackle him. And he embarrassed us two years ago here, and then he had a really good game against us there. So we think he’s one of the best backs in the country. I don’t know the perception out there, but to us it is.
He’s very, very good.”
On if there’s anything Auburn does to lead to turnovers/anything UGA can do to create them…
“I wish. I wish I knew how to, like, sprinkle some dust and get them and stop them. If I could figure that out, man, then I’d be able to retire real soon because I could go around and just, like, give it to everybody, you know. But nobody knows. I mean, they don’t carry the ball poorly. They don’t have poor ball security. They’ve had some unfortunate events and fumbles, and they’ve had some unfortunate – they had tips. I mean, some of their interceptions are tips and overthrows. How do you control that? I mean, number one, catch the ball, but it’s hard to – it’s just hard to control. I don’t know. Every year somebody different wins the turnovers in the country. You just don’t want to be the team turning it over.”
On what Auburn’s running backs add to their RPO game…
“It makes you stop the run, right? Like, if you could sit back and play less people in the box and cover all the RPOs, well, you know, you play like a team that you – what do you call it? A lesser, lower-level team, the team you ply. They come in here and they run RPOs. You’re like, oh, okay, I can put one less in the box and I can cover these guys and dare you to run it. Well, you can’t do that with them. You’ve got to fill the box up. You’ve got to go stop the run. That’s why he does what he does. It puts you in conflict.
It’s a guaranteed one-on-one matchup that you better have people that can cover people. Because if you don’t, they’ll expose you.”
On Lawson Luckie…
Versatility, athleticism. He’s really a tough guy. I mean, he’s physically tough. He’s not afraid to get after it. But he’s also a good pass receiver. I mean, you say, what has he brought, he’s brought the versatility to run or pass. He’s getting better. He’s still young in my eyes. Most times your second year in college,you’re just starting to come out of your shell. He missed a lot of time last year for the injury. If you think back, I think it was this game that he was just coming back in with a TightRope. So you’re a year removed from that.
This sky is the limit, Lawson can be really good. He keeps getting better. I like his confidence and I like his leadership and his mindset. He’s got a toughness mindset.
On Benjamin Yurosek and the toughest adjustment…
“You know, I don’t really know that because I never asked him that. That would be a good question if you asked him that. I don’t know the comparison. You know, I know the speed of the game is really fast here. I can say that that’s the biggest difference, he would have to answer that.
On having others come in and talk about Auburn…
“No, it’s us. Yeah. It’s us. I mean, T-Rob and Stacy played there. A lot of us played in it between Jonas, myself, Jarvis, Bobo, all the guys that played in the game. So I think it’s important that you know that history.”
On Ellis Robinson…
“Ellis is getting better. He works his tail off. You know, we try to find roles for him on special teams. He’s continuing to grow. He practices with the twos, you know, all practices. He goes one-on-one reps. He gets better. He’s a good tackler. He’s physical with a lot of scrimmage. He does a good job with his hands. Good job with ball location, like getting balls down. He’s continuing to challenge those other guys. And we’ve had those guys this week all getting lots of reps and competing.”
On Daniel Harris…
“Well, he had opportunities. He does a good job with a lot of scrimmage. He had a really good play on fourth and one where he came closed and helped set an edge on the stop we had on them on fourth and one. Daniel continues to grow and mature. You know, he’s 193 pounds now. That’s a big corner. And he doesn’t even look 193. He could be 200 pounds easily because he’s so long. But his practice habits have improved the most. And I’ve challenged him to say, you know, if you could practice every day, I tell them all the time, what would Kamari do? What would Kamari do? They’d probably get sick of hearing it. Comparison is the peak of joy, but Kamari was such a great practice player and walk-through player that we have clips of him doing things in practice and walk-through that we want them to emulate. He, Julio, and Daylen and all those guys, they got to practice very intentional and stay focused. It helps them play better.”
On what success against Auburn’s offense looks like…
“Stops. That’s what it looks like. They’re hard to stop, guys. I mean, you’re going to say, everybody’s going to say I’m crazy, but they’re physical, they’ve got good scheme, good plays, experienced quarterback, talented wideouts, great backs. I mean, the tight ends, they’ve got to play forever. Those guys have been there playing football forever. So it’s not like the moment’s too big for them. Experience is value in our league and they got tremendous experience. But what looks good is punts. That’s what looks good.”
On if players when he played were more aware of the rivalry…
“We still had them. We had history lessons. We had coaches that told us the history of every game. I mean, we had them. I knew them because I grew up in a football family and loved football. All I did was football, but that’s not what these kids do today. I don’t think these kids know as much. I mean, they don’t watch football, a lot of them. They play it, but they don’t watch it. I don’t know. Ask them, like, who’s your favorite NFL team? I don’t know. They got more things to do. They got more attention options. They’re going to be on their phone looking at social media and doing whatever. They’re not going to watch. It’s just not what they do anymore. So, I think it’s important to make sure they understand.”
On Cash Jones, what he’s done to continue to earn a role in the offense…
“What hasn’t he done? He does everything he’s asked. He competes. He practices at a high level. He earns what he gets. As a matter of fact, he’s probably earned more than he’s got. It was his kind of game. He’s really good at pass pro. He’s really physical at pass pro. He’s really good at route running. He understands leverages. He’s been in our system a long time. Plays great on special teams. He’s earned everything he’s gotten.”
On Dillon Bell getting more touches…
“I think he’s gotten a lot better. I think Coley and Mike have done a good job taking what BMac did and transitioning that into more. He’s a very great young man. He’s from a great high school over in Houston. He’s got a great mom. Brother plays, I think, at Notre Dame (sic). He’s just a great kid, and he works so hard. He’s developed. I mean, he was a high school running back and could probably play running back. He did for us. But he’s developed and gotten better and better at route running. His hard work has really paid off for him. Just proud of what he’s done and the opportunities he’s taken advantage of. We’ve got to try to find more opportunities for a guy like him.”
