Dell McGee Press Conference
Dell McGee Press Conference
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00:00 you and reminded no larger.
00:01 Raise your hand.
00:03 Billy got to see Branson back out there on Tuesday working with the running
00:09 backs. What has his progress look like to this point?
00:12 First off, Branson had a really tremendous spring practice.
00:18 Unfortunately, he injured during the spring fall.
00:22 He's done a really, really good job of going to treatment and taking the middle
00:28 part of his game to the next level because he physically couldn't do
00:32 anything. And it's been a really, really good leader.
00:35 He's been exceptional in the classroom and also
00:39 leading some of the younger guys in reference to Rod Rodman's kind of being
00:45 a mentor to him. So I'm very pleased with his progress. It's really exciting
00:51 to see him back on the field, starting to move around a little bit. And the way
00:54 we structure practice and have our walkthroughs, we're able to get almost
00:59 close to full speed rest without all the banging and clanging. So it's very
01:03 good to see Branson back on the football field.
01:06 Bill, how you doing? What's it been like?
01:12 Kind of with your old pal, Mark Buckley.
01:15 Mike's a tremendous coach. Really not reunited. He was here last year and
01:24 he was a sponge on the coach Monk and
01:26 he's gonna do a tremendous job for us.
01:30 I think when we're here, the instructor and coach smart, we didn't change a lot
01:36 from a philosophical standpoint. We're still status quo on what we're gonna do.
01:40 Our kids have a lot of learning. Coach Bobo's definitely gonna implement his
01:45 style. You have his way of doing things and calling plays, but
01:50 in turn, we're still
01:53 finding out who the best players are, put those guys in the best position.
01:56 We're still doing a lot of things that we've done over the last three years
02:00 under Coach Monk. And I look forward to working with Bobo moving forward.
02:06 Another interesting point is we're still going to have input as coaches.
02:12 We kind of deviate a lot of things up on the staff and we all present our
02:18 ideas to Coach Bobo and he will take what he likes and tell us what he
02:24 doesn't like and he'll be in charge of calling those plays on game day.
02:28 Coach, you guys have kind of banged up even back in the spring. I'm curious as
02:35 a coach of your position, how do you make sure there's no drop off from one
02:38 guy to the other and how do you make sure the next guy is prepared?
02:41 Good question. I always gotta make sure the next guy's ready. So the expectation
02:47 is prepare everyone like they're a starter. And just like I spoke earlier
02:53 about the way we practice, we have two balls on two different fields to
02:58 maximize reps. So the bottom half of our roster is always getting developed and
03:03 they're able to see the mistakes that they're making or if they're doing
03:07 things the correct way and we're able to define roles. We're able to decide
03:13 who's gonna be the star based on how they're doing during practice. But right
03:17 now with the injured guys, we're just really trying to win the moment right
03:21 now and not worry about the outcome or looking forward. So we're gonna be where
03:25 our feet are and just really, really concentrate on our day to day and not
03:29 look past the day that we had in front of us.
03:32 Yeah, with Kendall Milton, you saw him at practice the other day. Just how is
03:39 he doing physically? And for a guy that has had so many injuries through his
03:43 career, how do you as a coach keep his spirits up when you may have another
03:46 one? It seems right at the start of camp.
03:48 He's dealt with injuries, so keeping his spirit up is not very hard. He
03:53 understands it's a physical game just like we all do. Injuries are gonna occur.
03:59 And the biggest thing for Kendall is he remains a leader for us and he's a
04:03 leader in that room. And he still has a great voice and influence on our room
04:10 and other players on the team. So I don't see his spirits being down. He
04:15 doesn't really second guess anything. It's just unfortunate that he's had
04:20 injuries since he's been here. And it's, you know, no one's trying to get hurt
04:25 or want to be heard as a player, as a competitor, which he is. He wants to be
04:29 out with his teammates, doing everything he can. But I will say while he's
04:34 rehabbing, he's maximizing those opportunities. He's going three times a
04:40 day. He has outside things he does as well as far as yoga and some other
04:45 massage therapists that comes in. We're just happy we got him on our team and
04:51 he's battling through fine.
04:55 Two more quick. Kirby talked last week about cash Jones. This moment. What
05:00 would have you seen from him? And you got a chance to reach out to Sony after
05:03 he, you know, hung up last week. Yes. First question of cash. We're really
05:09 glad we have him. He's uh, you want our actually, he was part of our strongest
05:13 guys on the team pound for pound, which speaks a lot for him with this size.
05:19 He's definitely
05:23 he played last year on special 10. I think he was a start on kickoff and
05:27 contributed on other areas in our kicking game. We still think he would do
05:32 a great job in that area. Cash catches the ball will either backfield. He's
05:36 somewhat of a matchup probably for
05:38 linebackers. Very similar to James Booth.
05:43 Kenny McIntosh, who have served in those roles. Thing I really, really like
05:48 about cash is he's very unselfish. He goes 1000% every single day and he does
05:55 it with a smile on his face. So anything you ask of cash, he's more than willing
05:59 to do it. And then with Sony, yes, I have spoken with him. He's actually in
06:04 Boston
06:05 is his wife and seeing his in laws.
06:10 Right now he's in good spirits. He knows the direction he wants to go in life.
06:16 And, you know, he had a tremendous career and he still has an influence
06:20 on this program and the standard that was set for the running backs that our
06:24 kids deal, admired and look up to him.
06:27 So you mentioned the cash out of the backfields of past picture. How are you
06:34 other running backs from that aspect of their games? Yes, I will say this with
06:38 injuries with Kendall and what Branson and even Andrew Paul come up a C. L.
06:43 You don't get a chance to get those those physical reps. So you lose out on
06:48 that. So they have to really, really, really do extra, whether it's on their
06:53 home or music coach taking time out and making sure that they're getting those
07:00 necessary route development and hand development that's needed to catch. All
07:05 of our guys have improved in that area.
07:09 We can't let we can't let our injuries or not being there be an excuse to not
07:16 catch the ball. Their numbers called in the past game. They're expected to
07:21 catch it.
07:22 Yes. Speaking of Andrew Paul, just what have you seen from him over the past
07:30 89 months coming back from that a scale? Where is he at now in terms of getting
07:35 closer to full speed? He is getting closer. His confidence is growing daily.
07:40 Just like anyone that's been through a C. L. He was reluctant to wear his
07:46 brace and he put the brace back on, took it off. So him taking a brace off is
07:52 really a good sign that he's in a good headspace and he's really worked hard
07:59 to get back to where he is. Of course, with camp, you get a little bit worn
08:04 down, so you got to kind of distinguish between my soul. Where's my need?
08:09 Really, really bothering me. And he's really been very open and honest with
08:14 our training staff and myself on when he feels like he can go in when he
08:20 can.
08:20 Hey, Coach, I wanted to ask you about Roderick Robinson, one of the younger
08:29 guys in the group. What have you kind of seen from him through this process? And
08:33 I mean, especially the opportunities he's maybe gotten with so many injuries
08:36 going on in that room. Yes, definitely has got an opportunity to get a lot of
08:41 reps. Even coming out of spring football, you can see his growth, his
08:45 development. This is probably the hardest thing he's had to do
08:49 since being in high school, just going through fall camp. I think that has a
08:54 impact on most freshmen when they come in. Just the hours, the mental and
09:00 physical toughness that you got to have to go day to day with the banging and
09:06 clanging and also just having some
09:09 some time constraints where you got to get off the beat, get up early, go to
09:16 treatment, do it over and over and over and over for the days we got left in
09:20 camp. But very happy where he is, especially like you got a flower that
09:26 you're planning. He still needs fertilizer and he has a lot of room to
09:30 grow. So we're still cultivating run as a player, not only as a football player,
09:36 but just things off the field, how to study film and just kind of put it all
09:41 together.
09:41 Coach, I heard you talk about the game plan being a collective effort. You
09:50 coached here as a position coach under several different office coordinators.
09:53 Is that is that something that's been consistent throughout? Or is that
09:56 something you implemented as years have gone by?
09:58 I think it's been consistent throughout. I would say when coach Monk and came,
10:04 it became a little bit more detailed and a little bit more organized oriented.
10:10 Where is a certain day of coaches gonna present this another day of coaches
10:15 gonna present this area. And I think when he came in, he gave every coach
10:20 that he assigned an area kind of a sense of pride of the game plan. You're
10:25 taking a piece of the game plan, you're making it your own. But ultimately,
10:29 it was up to the coordinator whether you want to keep or take out or tweak
10:35 what our other coaches thought that were important in parts of the game plan.
10:39 Like I said previously, coach Bobo is going to do the same exact thing. So
10:44 nothing's really changed from that perspective.
10:46 Yeah, going in your eighth season now, you've been here working with a ton of
10:53 different running backs. How over that time have your views evolved in terms
10:58 of what you look for traits you look for when recruiting running backs from
11:01 the University of Georgia?
11:03 I would say philosophically,
11:06 where we've gone from the three coordinates that we've had, it's kind of
11:12 changed because of who we had in the room. First getting there with coach
11:17 Chaney, just establishing that line of scrimmage, running game. Plus, we had
11:23 two really good backs that were older that had cared to load and understood
11:29 it running the football and it wasn't a whole lot to teach there.
11:32 Kind of progressing to through Coley and even into Monk and getting the backs
11:40 more involved in the passing game has tremendously increased. And
11:47 I think
11:49 your recruiting philosophy has to change a little bit to kind of cater to
11:53 what the coordinator wants. And when Monk was here, he showed that you want
11:58 to have running backs that were able to create things in space, catch the
12:03 football, create matchups for linebackers. And I think that philosophy
12:09 would still stand. So it does change according to what that coordinator
12:14 wants and also the leadership of coach Smart. So everything still goes through
12:19 coach Smart. So we are looking for
12:21 guys out of town, guys that can run fast, guys that got vision, things that
12:28 you really don't have to teach.
12:29 And then just maximize whatever the redeeming qualities that they have.
12:35 Yeah.
12:35 Coach, I know you can't talk specifically about recruits, but you
12:43 have three committed in this class. How do you sell three top running backs
12:47 that all come in the same recruiting class?
12:49 I would say that they see the room. We have two seniors and Kim
12:58 Millimilton and Dejan Edwards that are leading the program. We have Andrew
13:04 Paul, who's come off an injury. It still takes time for running backs to
13:08 get their legs up on them. They also saw the fact that Branson was dealing
13:13 with an injury, and we still haven't got to our allotted number of six
13:17 running backs. So we've been under our allotted number. We're basically just
13:22 getting to six, and I really don't. It wasn't really a sale. Like I've said
13:28 previously, running backs have all flourished here at the University of
13:31 Georgia, and that's the expectation. They want to be a part of that.
13:36 You know, just being competitive, having a chance to better themselves as men
13:43 and just the influence of me being in their life out there plays a big, big
13:47 part of
13:48 that.
13:49 Where do the running backs stand at this point in ballgaming in comparison
13:58 to the last couple years?
14:00 Um, we're still a work in progress right now because of the injuries. A
14:05 lot of guys have had to take a bigger load. Speaking of Dejan Edwards,
14:10 Cash Jones, even walk on, say one Clark is his workload has increased due to
14:17 our injuries. But at the same token,
14:20 it's my job to prepare whoever available, whoever helped to perform at
14:27 a high level. And we're just really, really concentrating on each day, each
14:32 moment. When you know, small moment moments without looking into the future,
14:37 looking at future outcomes. It's basically how do I get better daily?
14:42 Now, what specifically is Kendall dealing with? And when you look at the
14:47 running back ring as it stands right now, how confident are you with what
14:50 you've got?
14:53 Um, I'm very confident. I think we have the right guys. They have the right
14:57 mindset.
14:58 They're working on butts off.
15:01 They do extra for us. Film study
15:05 really connected as a group
15:08 and all things
15:10 live and die by running back. You got really, really good players all over
15:16 the football field. So I think our running back room would be
15:21 by committee. Whoever has the hot hand
15:23 on those touches.
15:25 We'll spread the ball out and find out who needs to touch the ball as the game
15:32 goes on.
15:32 You talked about when you came in, you had a couple guys that had a lot of
15:43 experience running the ball, but you've coached up your wife.
15:48 In your eight years, what is the hardest thing to teach a running back
15:51 about?
15:52 Biggest thing is when you come out of high school, they don't have an
15:56 opportunity to pass protect and see the
15:58 multiple multitude blitzes and
16:02 things that especially our defense girls that are running back. So
16:07 the nonverbal communication between the center quarterback and running back is
16:11 something that they
16:15 how physical and big linebackers that are blitzing. The running back is
16:21 definitely different. Most of the linebackers that we're picking up are
16:24 bigger than us. So picking up blitz protection, learning the nonverbal
16:30 communication is probably the hardest thing for most running backs come out
16:35 of high school. It just takes reps and reps and reps and reps and me getting
16:39 chewed out
16:41 bad coach. So I just take it hard and just continue to grind and get better
16:46 at
16:46 that time for maybe two more questions. Anybody
16:50 coach you talked about getting chewed out. Is it refreshing that like when
16:56 you walk around the building, I would imagine Coach Mark kind of gives that
16:59 smoke to everyone. Is it fair game? Everybody gets that smoke. So
17:03 everybody. So Coach Mark has set the standard in this organization. He
17:09 doesn't let any minute detail go past. There's things that he will remember
17:15 56 years ago, and he'll bring that up. And it's like, wow, that's amazing. He
17:21 remembers that minute detail or we did this on that day. So Coach Mark has
17:28 done a tremendous job of establishing the culture and reinventing himself
17:35 throughout his eight years of being here.
17:38 I credit him to a lot of my knowledge. I think he challenges the entire staff
17:44 to grow and not be stagnant or stale. He always challenges us to find a
17:50 different way. Find a better way. Are we doing this
17:53 the right way? Us bringing in other coaches from other programs. We lean on
18:00 those coaches as well. Hey, how did you do this particular drill? So
18:05 Coach Smart is demanding, but he also allows us to have our voice and opinion
18:11 while he's still putting this film up. Give us that smoke issue.
18:16 Obviously, a lot of experience.