Kirby Smart Press Conference 8-23
Kirby Smart Press Conference 8-23
Transcript
00:00 410, 450 today.
00:02 Just raise your hand if you have a question, we can get a mic over to you.
00:05 There's always a little live streaming, go straight to questions, thank you.
00:12 >> Appreciate it, what you guys got?
00:16 >> We just wanted to see if you had any updates on Ernest Green,
00:19 Raylan Wilson, Branson Robinson.
00:20 >> Ernest was able to go yesterday, some of the time,
00:25 he did him a little bit of ankle sprain, but he worked out, ran Monday.
00:29 And he practiced probably about 50% of the reps yesterday, so
00:33 we think he's gonna be okay.
00:35 Raylan's still dealing with a hyperextended knee.
00:37 Branson had a significant injury yesterday.
00:41 He had a non-contact ruptured patella tendon.
00:44 So he will be out for the season, tough, tough break for him.
00:49 He was coming back from a toe injury on the other leg,
00:54 and he actually was not even in a contact drill.
00:58 He cut and planted and ruptured the patella tendon.
01:02 So unfortunately, he'll get a full recovery, but he'll be out for
01:05 the season, which puts us in a tough situation at back.
01:09 Kendall's actually taking some more reps.
01:12 He's been able to do some things, but he's not 100%.
01:15 And Andrew is getting a ton of reps.
01:19 Rod Robinson is getting a ton of reps.
01:21 Cash is getting a lot of work.
01:24 So it'll be done by committee like it always has been here.
01:29 I hate it for Branson because he had really worked hard.
01:32 At the end of the spring when he had the turf toe,
01:34 he was battling back all off season.
01:38 He's had a great summer and
01:41 looked really good in the days leading up to this injury.
01:45 >> Yeah, Coach, I think you talked a little bit about it last time we got you.
01:49 But what does that transition look and feel like from I'm preparing my football
01:53 team for the season and I'm preparing my football team for an opponent?
01:58 >> It's very different in terms of what we do at practice.
02:01 We do a lot more against each other while we're preparing for the season.
02:07 It's a lot more about mental toughness, going in the heat, pushing through,
02:11 developing the entire roster.
02:13 When you start talking about game planning for a game, it's exactly that.
02:18 You start game planning for a game.
02:19 No, we're not to that point yet.
02:21 We're not working on our opponent.
02:24 We take this week and work on several of our future opponents so
02:28 that we have footage and material.
02:30 And I would say 25% of the practice is focused on an opponent and
02:35 75% of the practice is focused on us.
02:38 Cuz at the end of the day, we're trying to get us better.
02:40 But by Friday, our focus will have turned to our opponent.
02:45 [BLANK_AUDIO]
02:52 >> Kirby, obviously, we're getting a chance to talk to Carson today.
02:55 For the first time, it's QB1.
02:56 I just wonder from your vantage point,
02:58 having gotten to know him real well over these last four years,
03:02 what kind of sort of intangibilities do you see that he has?
03:05 Particularly personality in the locker room and now trying to lead an offense.
03:10 >> Yeah, I'm never in the locker room with him, so
03:13 he may have a different personality than I'm used to.
03:16 He's very bright, very intelligent.
03:19 He understands situational football.
03:22 He's a product of being here three seasons, I guess it is.
03:26 I mean, he's been around, so he understands the demands that we put on
03:32 the quarterback, but he also understands the demands that I put on situational
03:36 football, so there's not a day we go out there,
03:39 that we're not working on some specific situation at the end of the year.
03:43 That helps having been through that and seeing how JT handled it,
03:47 how Stetson handled it, how other guys handled it.
03:50 So he's wise and he's intelligent and he's got a personality that I think
03:56 the team draws to, cuz he's relatively quiet and doesn't show a lot of emotion.
04:04 So I think they have embraced him and he's done a great job in this fall camp.
04:10 >> Can we talk to Malachi last night?
04:13 He just talked a little bit about Javon moving back there to safety and
04:17 sort of what it's like to have that veteran back there.
04:19 Even though I met him this spring,
04:20 how do you feel like Javon has handled that move and everything that comes with it?
04:24 >> I think more has been made of it than it is.
04:26 He played that in high school, it's what we recruited him as.
04:28 The first tape I remember watching, he was playing the deep part of the field,
04:32 I call it.
04:32 So the spatial awareness is important back there.
04:35 The angles are critical.
04:37 Decision making is different than at nickel, but
04:40 when he came here he had not played nickel.
04:41 So the questions were more about nickel star than they were about safety.
04:46 He's gotten more reps.
04:47 I think it was more about learning our terminology.
04:49 He's picked that up.
04:49 Coach Muschamp's done a tremendous job giving him confidence,
04:54 allowing him to grow, make plays, and he continues to get better.
04:58 I mean, in a lot of ways he reminds me of Chris in terms of stature.
05:01 He plays bigger than he probably is.
05:04 He's very intelligent and he makes a lot of plays on the ball.
05:08 >> Kirby, you've dealt with crowded quarterback rooms and
05:13 potential transfer, I guess like everyone else, as far back as everyone else.
05:17 You've talked about how that position is different and
05:20 that only one can be on the field.
05:21 And McElroy puts out this stat that top 50 quarterback recruits from 17.
05:26 Carson's the only one still around.
05:28 How have you managed Carson and how have you seen Carson grow where he's still here,
05:34 even though he hasn't started a game going into his fourth year?
05:37 >> I think that's Carson's question to answer more than anything.
05:41 We don't try to manage the players or manage that.
05:44 We coach them and we tell them that by choosing to come here,
05:48 we're gonna coach you.
05:49 We're gonna coach you and develop you and give you reps.
05:52 And nothing that we've told Carson or Gunnar or Brock is not the case.
05:57 We're gonna develop you.
05:58 We're gonna give you lots of reps.
05:59 We're gonna guarantee you more reps here than we think you can get anywhere else.
06:03 And I mean meaningful reps in terms of competitive third down situations,
06:08 challenging you, growing you.
06:11 What you wanna become as a quarterback, what they wanna emulate in the NFL,
06:16 they're gonna get to learn that here.
06:18 And Carson's seen that, he's seen that every year.
06:23 And he's been as close as there is to starting, and
06:27 then as far away as number two or three at times.
06:31 And at this point, he's the guy that gives the best chance.
06:35 So I know he's embracing it, but I don't think he's looking backwards at, okay,
06:40 should I stay, should I go?
06:42 I just think he's been where his feet are, and he's really grown as a player, and
06:45 he's had some really good quarterback coaches to work with him.
06:48 >> Yeah, Kirby, I think it was either you or one of the players last fall who said
06:53 Mike Hill was a guy who was always out there getting extra work after practice,
06:57 things like that.
06:57 How have you seen him develop, I guess, through the spring and
07:00 summer going into this year where he's maybe got a lot more expectations and
07:03 maybe a bigger role to play in the defense this fall?
07:05 >> Yeah, number one, he is an extremely hard worker.
07:10 But he has not had extra work in spring and
07:12 fall because he wasn't able to go.
07:15 I guess it was a couple days into the spring,
07:17 I don't know how many practices he got in the spring before we made the decision to
07:22 go ahead and have his surgery done.
07:24 And once he had that, he was in the healing stages.
07:27 He wasn't able to start ramping up until mid-July.
07:31 So it's still a conditioning process for him.
07:35 He has really good toughness.
07:37 He has a really good effort.
07:40 I think the biggest thing for him right now is can he play more snaps stamina wise
07:45 without the training that some of our guys would have had over the summer.
07:49 So we're trying to increase his ability to play more snaps,
07:53 cuz we certainly need him to play as many as he can.
07:55 >> Kirby, how much does Branson's injury and
07:59 just kind of change your all strategy going forward?
08:01 Do you wanna develop further down the depth chart so
08:05 that you're as strong as you can be at running back going into the year?
08:09 Or does it say that you have to live with being more of a passing team?
08:14 >> No, it's not gonna affect our run to pass ratio.
08:20 We have capable backs.
08:23 He was one of our better backs.
08:25 And when healthy last year, we think he was kind of coming into his own.
08:29 He was learning how to pass protect.
08:31 He was learning how to do this.
08:32 And he had a really good spring while he was going.
08:36 So we were really excited about where he was headed.
08:38 He was explosive, twitchy, could do some things in pass pro and
08:43 run in the ball that maybe some of the other guys couldn't do.
08:46 But we're not gonna have that luxury.
08:49 So we have other guys that can do it.
08:51 I don't think it changes philosophically when you've got Kendall Milton,
08:54 Dejohn Edwards Cash, and Andrew Paul who's had a good camp.
08:59 Although he's coming off an ACL and then Rod.
09:01 I mean, we've got capable backs there and
09:03 we've got people around them to get the ball to.
09:06 So I don't see that changing who we are offensively.
09:09 It's just, it probably makes another injury more significant.
09:14 It makes you rethink what special teams roles do you want the backs playing?
09:19 Because you gotta be aware of at what point there's a drop off.
09:23 [BLANK_AUDIO]
09:26 >> Kirby, have you settled on a kicker yet?
09:28 And who is working at the return positions, punt return, kick return?
09:33 >> Yeah, punt return, we've done it by committee.
09:35 I mean, Laz has been back there before.
09:36 Mews did a good job in the spring, has been back there.
09:39 Dom has done it both at Missouri and he's done it here with us since arriving.
09:43 Anthony Evans, Yazeed.
09:45 So we got five or six guys working punt returns, kickoff returns.
09:48 Mews, Dylan Bell, Dejohn, we've got Jonell back there.
09:53 Malachi has been back there.
09:56 I mean, kickoff returns, probably six guys working for two spots.
10:00 Punt returns, probably four or five guys working for two spots.
10:03 I wouldn't say we've settled on anybody at either location yet
10:06 as we continue those.
10:08 And then field goal kicker has been a really tight race.
10:10 They've both been extremely accurate outside of the one scrimmage and
10:15 we haven't decided yet.
10:16 >> Kirby, I wanted to ask you about the offensive line and
10:20 specifically the interior spots, Micah, Dylan Fairchild.
10:24 How have those guys kind of come along through spring and preseason and
10:28 how close are they to kind of breaking in and earning some snaps there?
10:32 I know you guys have rotated on the offensive line some.
10:35 >> Yeah, both Dylan and Micah have had tremendous springs and fall camps.
10:40 Micah's been a little dinged up, so he's missed a few reps in and out.
10:43 But he's really significant on trap plays and pulling plays.
10:50 He's physical, he doesn't shy away from contact.
10:53 He gets movement.
10:54 Again, he needs to improve his stamina to be able to play
10:59 to the level of a starter consistently every snap.
11:02 Dylan's had a great camp.
11:03 Dylan's worked at tackle and guard, and he's done a great job.
11:07 He's really physical, I think.
11:09 He's kind of come into his own where he's one of our strongest weight room players.
11:13 And you can see that taking effect with the offensive line.
11:17 I mean, I look at those two guys as starters, and they can play and
11:22 roll and play in there with those other guys.
11:23 >> Kirby, have you seen Dane Ailon Morrisett kind of come into his own,
11:29 coming back from his suspension?
11:32 >> Danilo's done a good job.
11:35 He's dealing with a little bit of a groin injury right now.
11:38 He had a sports hernia on the other side, and
11:40 he had a groin yesterday that started bothering him.
11:43 But the first couple days he's been out there with us, he's done a really nice job
11:47 and competitive, tough.
11:49 He brings something to the receiver room in terms of physicality, but
11:53 probably haven't had the whole body of work that we've had with the other players
11:56 to judge it.
11:58 >> Kirby, we talked Dominic Lovett here shortly.
12:02 And what was it that you identified from him that made you wanna seek him out as
12:07 a transfer when it's obviously you're not taking too many transfers into the program?
12:11 >> Well, we felt like he gave us a depth and
12:14 gave us a playmaker at positions that we needed it.
12:17 I mean, we were gonna lose some good wideouts last year.
12:21 We lost a couple in the last couple years, and we played against him.
12:24 So we had seen him in high school, we knew about him in recruiting.
12:27 We saw what he did to us when we played him, and just felt like he was a really
12:32 good player and a good asset to the program.
12:34 And once we were around him and knew what kind of person he was and his family,
12:39 we thought he was a good fit and a good match.
12:40 And he's been just a tremendous blessing.
12:43 I think he'd be the first to tell you the demands and what we're asking him to do
12:49 every day at practice is taxing him more, but it's making him a more,
12:55 hopefully, gonna be a more complete player, which is what he wanted.
12:58 >> Yeah, you've coached obviously a lot of great players in your time,
13:03 both at Georgia and Alabama.
13:04 And with Brock Bowers in particular,
13:08 a guy does everything right, great competitive excellence.
13:11 How does him being as great as he is maybe challenge you or
13:15 push you to be a better coach to try and get the most out of a guy who just
13:19 intrinsically always seems to do that?
13:21 >> Yeah, I think you would see that with Coach Hartley and Coach Bobo a lot.
13:24 For me, it's not so much about just Brock, it's about our team and
13:29 how can I provide that same service to every player on the team.
13:32 I think if you ask Coach Hartley that question when he was up here, and
13:36 he'll tell you the guy challenges him every day cuz you're trying to create
13:40 ways to make him better.
13:41 And he's certainly at his best for a long time and
13:46 longer than most players can sustain cuz he's in really great shape and
13:50 he's tough and he's competitive.
13:52 And then our offensive staff is charged with finding ways to be creative to use
13:58 him that maybe the defense isn't used to.
14:01 But for me personally, he's a guy on the team that leads by example.
14:06 And if every player could take care of their body and
14:10 work as hard as he did, we'd be in a phenomenal place.
14:13 >> Following up on the O-line, Coach,
14:17 actually a transition at either tackle, but
14:21 much less both is usually a pretty big deal for an O-line.
14:24 But it seems like every term we've asked about it,
14:26 there's a lot of confidence in the various mims and
14:29 the two guys that are working primarily over at the left tackle.
14:32 Can you just talk about how you feel about that transition, and mims in
14:36 particular sort of making that step to being kind of the guy it seems like?
14:41 >> Yeah, mims was a starter last year in my opinion.
14:44 He repped as a starter, he all camp, he played as a one.
14:48 He's flip flopped and played both sides.
14:50 He played in really big football games as a starter.
14:52 So having him back is like having a returning starter back.
14:57 Ernest was unable to go at this time last year.
15:00 Otherwise, he probably would have been in that conversation.
15:02 He would have gotten some playing time, but
15:04 he had a pretty significant injury this time last year.
15:07 And he's done a great job coming back from that.
15:10 We're probably not in the same location in terms of depth.
15:13 Obviously, Blaski and Ernest have been competing for that spot.
15:17 And Blaski's played really well.
15:20 He's had more struggles this fall camp than he has any other time in terms of
15:24 the heat has been so different.
15:27 But those three guys will provide depth.
15:30 Xavier Truss has repped out there and played.
15:33 And then Monroe gets out there and gets repped.
15:35 So we're like everybody else in the country.
15:37 You're constantly in need of tackles.
15:40 So we've tried to rotate guys and make sure that we have a fourth and
15:44 fifth and sixth answer should we need that.
15:46 >> Kirby, how have you seen Malachi grow as he goes into his second season?
15:52 And what are the next stages of that development that you wanna continue to
15:55 see?
15:56 >> The next stages are more leadership, more vocal, which is not natural for him.
16:00 He's a quiet, intelligent, very consistent kid.
16:04 I think it's important that a guy like himself that never had to go through
16:07 the struggle of fighting to earn things.
16:10 I mean, he came in and he was talented and we needed him.
16:14 So if we'd had two returning starters and he couldn't have beat one of them out,
16:19 then he wouldn't have been in that position.
16:20 He would have had to struggle through what some of our other players struggle
16:22 through.
16:23 He didn't get that.
16:24 So the struggle for him is, how do I consistently work to get better and
16:28 not be happy with where I am?
16:30 And he's not wired that way.
16:32 He's a hard worker and he's very conscientious, comes from a great home.
16:35 And I don't think that'll happen, but we as coaches have to keep,
16:39 we owe it to him to make sure he gets better each and every day.
16:42 [BLANK_AUDIO]
16:45 >> Kirby here to your left.
16:47 I know every team in every season is unique, but
16:50 given the backdrop of the last two years, what have you learned sort of
16:55 in terms of preventing guys from having sort of this sense of entitlement going
17:00 into the season and then have a follow up to?
17:01 >> You're asking what now exactly?
17:07 >> Well, in terms of the difficulty sometimes in motivating guys who,
17:12 given the last two years, might have some sort of sense of entitlement.
17:14 >> Yeah, I worry about complacency every day.
17:18 There's not a day that I don't go out on the field that I don't worry about it.
17:21 But you look for it, you look for signs of it, and it's like a fire.
17:25 You try to stomp it out.
17:26 You don't allow it to happen if you can help it.
17:30 What prevents that from happening?
17:32 Well, competition is the first way.
17:35 Second way is acknowledging it and confronting it.
17:40 And then the third way is mentally making sure they understand that you're not gonna
17:44 get the same team week in and week out that you might have gotten had you not won.
17:52 So we try to visually paint a picture for our players to see that.
17:56 And we tell them that the biggest threat we have,
18:01 the biggest opponent we have the entire year is Georgia.
18:05 And I think they respect that.
18:06 And we spend a lot of time trying to cover that.
18:10 And we do that regardless of what we did the previous year.
18:13 So it's all about what we do and not really what our opponents do.
18:17 And that's how you avoid the complacency factor.
18:21 >> Got time for two more questions.
18:22 >> And then a quick follow up.
18:24 You face a situation maybe to a slight lesser degree last year.
18:28 But after the second championship,
18:31 some things were said by players about nobody thought we were gonna win.
18:34 One player said we were gonna go seven and five.
18:37 You said whatever you said at the victory parade.
18:40 It seemed apparent that somewhere along the way, you either sort of lied or
18:44 skewed the truth in terms of what was being said or written out there.
18:48 I'm just wondering, could you sort of acknowledge that now?
18:51 And to what degree and how often do you actually do that?
18:54 >> I never thought, if anybody, I ever thought we're gonna go seven and five,
18:58 they need to check me into a psychiatric ward cuz I never thought that.
19:02 I never said that.
19:04 I never expressed that.
19:06 That's never been a thing.
19:07 I saw something where a player said that on the field or something.
19:09 But these players read more stuff on Twitter and social media than I do.
19:15 So what I paint to them is maybe a level of disrespect before maybe one game or
19:20 two games, but not a season or not a thought of that.
19:24 I don't think that works when you're Georgia.
19:28 I just don't think that works.
19:29 I think what works is what are we doing this week against this opponent
19:35 to be better than them?
19:37 And a lot of times we may be lined up and be favored or be better than them.
19:41 So then what are we doing to ourselves to make sure that we're trying to beat
19:45 everybody in the country and not somebody?
19:48 I'm a lot more passionate and adamant about what we're doing over
19:54 what we're selling as what the outside world might say or this narrative.
19:59 That is like you need this narrative of the world against us.
20:05 I think we may have had that once or twice last year.
20:07 But that's not something that we're painting the whole time and
20:10 we're certainly not trying to paint that this year.
20:13 We're focused on better never rest.
20:16 We're focused on being the best we can.
20:18 >> I'm sorry, correct me if I'm wrong, but did you have some comments at the big
20:21 parade something not the exact word is something that you're
20:24 correct in fact that nobody believed in us or whatever it was?
20:27 >> A lot of people doubted us throughout the season.
20:29 And you go back and watch some of the games before we play the team that was
20:34 ranked higher than us.
20:35 So that may have been a case for one game, but not necessarily the whole season.
20:41 >> Last question.
20:42 >> Yeah, coach, you talked about asking the question about sticking around for
20:45 Carson, but it's not necessarily just Carson.
20:47 18 of that 20, that COVID class, that COVID babies have stuck around.
20:52 What's been the key to this program and in the retention rates?
20:55 And I asked this or we asked this question to coach Harley,
20:57 he attributed it to practice.
20:59 What specifically are y'all doing in practice that makes guys want to stick
21:03 around this place?
21:04 >> I don't know if you did it based on practice, they probably want to leave
21:06 because they have tough physical practices.
21:09 I do think that the first question is what do you bring into your program?
21:15 So if you're bringing kids in that like hard, that want to develop, and
21:18 they truly all say that in recruiting.
21:20 But if you actually get the ones that want to develop and want to grow and
21:23 get better, they embrace hard.
21:25 They embrace the challenge of being physical at practice and doing that.
21:29 But as far as our retention, it's investment.
21:31 It's the same thing you do anything else.
21:33 If you invest in your organization, your people, your employees,
21:37 your players in this case, guess what?
21:41 They're usually gonna want to stay because they have a sense of
21:44 wanting to do well and servicing each other.
21:47 I promise you, we spend a lot of time on how can we improve our freshmen?
21:54 How can we improve our sophomores?
21:55 And we get return on that investment towards the junior and senior year.
22:00 And I'm not talking about improving them with a drill.
22:03 I'm talking about improving them mentally and
22:05 physically so that they can go out there and succeed in tough environments.
22:09 So we've been able to keep a lot of those guys because we spend a lot of time
22:12 with them.
22:13 Thanks.
22:14 [BLANK_AUDIO]