Georgia Head Coach Kirby Smart Talks before MAtchup with UT Martin
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00:00 >> Hello everybody, thanks for coming.
00:01 Reminder, the Foley Field press box is available for you to use when you're done
00:05 here.
00:06 We'll, a few opening comments from Coach Martin, we'll take your questions.
00:11 Remember to raise your hand and we'll get one of the remote mics to you for
00:15 your question.
00:16 And a reminder, no live streaming, please.
00:18 >> Yeah, I'm excited to get started for game week prep.
00:22 We actually did some work on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, but
00:27 mainly Friday and Saturday on ourselves and our opponent, UT Martin.
00:32 But today, we'll be focused primarily on that.
00:35 I heard about the event today they did for
00:38 Coach Dooley in the Dooley Memorial Intersection, is that correct?
00:43 And it sounds like it's a great event.
00:44 I certainly have a lot of appreciation for Coach and his family and
00:50 what they've meant to this community.
00:51 It meant a lot to me personally as well, so I'm glad they were able to do that.
00:55 But for today, to UT Martin, we move on, got a lot of respect for UT Martin.
01:00 Coach Simpson and his staff have done a tremendous job.
01:02 I mean, when you talk about being conference champs, which they've been,
01:06 a lot of their stats within their conference look very similar to ours
01:09 in terms of being balanced, really good on offense and really good on defense.
01:13 And we played teams from that conference, and
01:16 I know a lot of coaches in that conference.
01:17 One of our coaches, Trey Scott, got his start there,
01:20 his first job by Coach Simpson and worked.
01:24 He knows their offensive coordinator really well, and
01:27 they've done a tremendous job with their program of building it from the ground up.
01:31 And they've got a great foundation laid.
01:33 So we're excited to have them come in, and hoping for some good weather.
01:37 Excited for our guys to get to go play somebody else.
01:40 They've worked tremendously hard this camp.
01:43 I mean, we probably have had one of the toughest camps since I've been here,
01:47 mainly because of the heat.
01:50 The heat was so different the last, I guess, three weeks.
01:54 It's just, you can't avoid it.
01:57 It's been tough.
01:58 Our guys have pushed through it.
02:00 And now we've got to set a standard for how we practice in season.
02:04 And that starts today, because you don't inherit that from previous teams.
02:08 >> Questions?
02:10 >> Hey Kirby, on the running backs, what's Dejon Edwards been dealing with?
02:18 And how is he and Kendall Milton, and
02:20 have you been looking at Dylan Bell at running back?
02:23 >> Well, we're looking at everybody at running back.
02:24 We're gonna try to find the best way possible to get the ball in the hands of
02:28 the playmakers.
02:30 But to answer your question specifically, Dejon was dealing with an MCL.
02:34 He had one last year.
02:36 But he's actually doing great.
02:39 And he's gonna be able to practice and do everything today.
02:42 So we feel good about Dejon's status.
02:44 It happened in the second scrimmage.
02:47 And so I don't know what that date was.
02:49 But would have been, I guess a week ago, Saturday.
02:54 And he's bounced back pretty good from that.
02:57 So he looks good.
02:57 Kendall, we've been dealing with a hamstring most of, almost all of camp.
03:02 He feels 80, 90%.
03:05 And we're hopeful to get him back today as well in terms of practicing,
03:10 taking reps.
03:11 The volume they do, we have to be careful of,
03:13 cuz they haven't been in the heat as much as the other guys in the last week.
03:16 But we feel good about both those guys.
03:18 I feel good about Andrew Ball.
03:20 Rod Robins has had a great camp.
03:22 Cash has had a good camp.
03:23 Really got a bunch of guys who've repped and done some good things there.
03:28 But Dylan, we need Dylan at wide out.
03:30 We need Dylan on special teams.
03:33 Dylan has had a really good camp in terms of being a wide receiver.
03:37 He played that some in high school.
03:38 So that's something he's done before.
03:40 But the way offenses are nowadays, you can get your touches a lot of ways.
03:46 And we've got a lot of plays that involve perimeter blocking,
03:50 direct runs, perimeter runs.
03:53 I mean, as a defensive coach, every offensive play has three plays on it.
03:57 So it could be a direct run with this and this.
04:01 And in those ways, you can get a lot of people touches.
04:04 So that would be the plan.
04:05 But I feel good about the backs we have.
04:06 I feel a lot better if Dejohn and Kendall are 100%, but
04:11 we'll see where they are today.
04:13 >> Coach, you talked about kind of preparing for a new team, Martin, of course.
04:18 Obviously, they're starting quarterback.
04:19 They named just recently in King Kent.
04:20 Then I think he's only got about nine passes combined over his college career.
04:25 Most of his film is holding kicks.
04:26 So how do you kind of prepare for a guy like that with limited film?
04:30 >> Well, you don't prepare for the guy.
04:32 You prepare for the offense.
04:34 You don't like when we go play somebody, we don't prepare for the guy.
04:38 We might try to find something out about him in terms of
04:41 what did he do in high school?
04:42 What does he excel at?
04:44 What does he struggle with?
04:46 Is he a guy that doesn't read coverage as well?
04:48 Is he a runner?
04:49 Is he not a runner?
04:50 I mean, there's all kinds of things we'll try to discover.
04:52 But they have an offense, they have an offensive system, and
04:54 they'll cater that offensive system to fit his skill set.
04:58 So we go off what they've done in the past and
05:00 a little bit of research on him as well.
05:02 >> Coach, I was wondering if you could speak about UT Martin schematically, and
05:07 if there's any similarities to anybody you might face down the road,
05:10 maybe in conference.
05:12 And if so, do you use that as an opportunity to maybe, not necessarily
05:15 experiment, but maybe put something on tape that you might try later down the road?
05:18 >> No, I mean, we look at them schematically, and
05:22 we try to figure out who they are, what they've done.
05:24 You watch all their games.
05:26 You worry about yourself.
05:27 You try to improve the things you do yourself.
05:29 I think it's really important.
05:30 First game of the year, we always look back at things that gave us problems,
05:33 because that's probably what they're looking at.
05:35 And you wanna research and say, all right, what have they done well?
05:39 What have they done poorly?
05:40 What have we done well?
05:41 And what have we done poorly?
05:42 Because we're gonna see some of that.
05:44 They are a well-coached, very good scheme team offensively.
05:48 They're like everybody you play.
05:49 Now, there's nobody that's really different anymore, that's more of the same.
05:53 You don't see a triple option.
05:54 So it's like, okay, well, what do they do offensively?
05:57 They're very similar to everybody else.
05:59 They got the ability to throw the ball in the perimeter.
06:00 They throw RBOs.
06:01 They run the ball well.
06:03 They have plays.
06:03 They don't block anybody in the interior.
06:05 And it doesn't matter, because the ball goes on the perimeter.
06:08 So they do a good job of that defensively.
06:10 They're similar to us.
06:12 They can go three down, they can go four down.
06:14 They primarily go out of an odd look and a three down look.
06:18 And we get to look at that a lot, cuz we do it defensively.
06:21 So we share ideas in terms of schematics.
06:26 When you watch us and them, and you watch their conference,
06:28 you see some similarities there.
06:30 [BLANK_AUDIO]
06:34 >> Coach, two questions.
06:36 Can you tell us a little bit about what LeNique and White had, and
06:38 maybe we can expect to see again?
06:40 And what's the status on the Ladd-McConnell?
06:43 >> Ladd's doing great.
06:44 We had to shut him down for a little bit.
06:46 He had a little bit of a back injury, but he's fine.
06:49 He's dealt with it before.
06:50 He's had it last year.
06:52 He practiced Saturday, and was good, and
06:56 expected to be out there today, so he should be fine.
06:58 In terms of LeNique,
06:59 he's dealt with a little bit of a knee injury during camp.
07:02 It was bothering him, but he's battled back from that.
07:05 He's trying to learn our offensive system still, and pick up on things, and
07:09 kind of find his fit, and where he fits in this running back group.
07:14 And he's done a good job, giving us a great look, and continue to work, and
07:18 get opportunities.
07:19 There's a certain lot of opportunities at the running back position for
07:22 guys to get carries and show us what they can do.
07:24 [BLANK_AUDIO]
07:26 >> Kirby, just updates on Kamari, David Daniel, and Smile.
07:30 >> Yeah, those guys look good.
07:32 They've been practicing.
07:33 David Daniel's had a little bit of a turf toe.
07:35 He came back out Saturday, was able to run, hit some high speeds.
07:38 He'll be practicing with us.
07:39 Kamari and Smile have been practicing for the last couple weeks.
07:42 [BLANK_AUDIO]
07:45 >> Yeah, how much does Carson's game benefit by having a guy like Cedric be
07:49 a center in front of him and playing behind someone that has so
07:53 much game experience and has already seen so much?
07:56 [BLANK_AUDIO]
07:57 >> One of the benefits of that?
07:59 >> Yeah.
07:59 >> I would say familiarity.
08:03 I mean, he knows that Cedric's been there, but
08:06 that is probably overrated cuz Carson understands fronts, coverages, pressures.
08:11 He can ID protections, he can point runs, he can do a lot of different things.
08:15 So he doesn't have to rely on Cedric like maybe a new quarterback would,
08:22 cuz I don't really just don't see Carson that way.
08:25 He understands that he gets it, he's had a ton of reps.
08:27 So I think the fact that he's got somebody that's played in big moments,
08:32 someone to snap the ball in tough environments is comforting.
08:37 But as far as what Cedric provides for Carson is probably reassurance.
08:41 [BLANK_AUDIO]
08:43 >> Coach, I wanna ask about the secondary room.
08:45 I mean, you got four guys competing to either start alongside Kamari or
08:49 in place of him if he can't go this weekend.
08:52 How is those four guys kinda looked, and
08:54 has any of them stood out to maybe earn one of those starting spots?
08:57 >> Are you asking about the safety of the star position or where you-
09:02 >> More specifically the cornerbacks.
09:04 >> Yeah, we've got a group of cornerbacks who, I mean, Kamari's really been going
09:08 now for a little over a week and practicing and taking his reps.
09:11 He's been in the black jersey some, but that's more precautionary.
09:14 We know he can hit and tackle, he's a really physical tackler.
09:17 So he's been up to tackling individual drills and things, so he's been great.
09:23 The other guys have all competed there and
09:24 had really good competition between Madeline AJ, Humphrey Julian, and
09:30 Taylor, they've all four taken reps and gotten work there.
09:34 And I don't know that we're ready to say anybody's stood out beyond somebody else.
09:38 And we'll have practices this week that are game speed, game light.
09:43 We make a determination this week or a determination in the game.
09:48 Staying healthy and all those guys have done a good job.
09:50 >> Yeah, asking about the safety of the stars, what do you like about how
09:55 the defense is playing with Javon at safety, maybe Tyke, he hit star.
09:59 And how will that change the defense,
10:02 having those guys playing more overall without Chris here?
10:03 >> Not a lot of difference.
10:06 I mean, we're running the defense we run.
10:09 Those guys are competing, we're trying to build depth.
10:12 We're trying to get experience for Javon.
10:15 It's a different transition when you go backwards than when you go forwards in
10:19 a defense, he's going backwards.
10:20 But he's going somewhere he's played before.
10:24 So that transition's been great.
10:26 How are we playing right now?
10:27 I can't tell you that because we haven't played anybody.
10:30 So we gotta go play to kind of find out where we are and
10:33 see where we need to grow up at.
10:35 But number one, staying healthy at those two positions and
10:39 building depth for if we're not are the key.
10:41 >> Coach, you seem to have come to a decision yet on the kicker duties,
10:46 field goal at the point, kick off, that sort of thing.
10:48 >> Yeah, I haven't completely come to a conclusion of what we're gonna do there.
10:52 Obviously, the punting duties are sealed up.
10:53 But the kickoff and field goal kicking duties will be decided probably shortly.
10:58 [BLANK_AUDIO]
11:01 >> Coach, with the way the schedule presents itself,
11:04 having these first two weeks before conference play starts,
11:07 how many of these position battles might extend on into maybe the South Carolina
11:10 week and give you an opportunity to really truly evaluate game reps?
11:15 >> Well, unfortunately here, the U.S. never decided.
11:18 I mean, it's just that it changes the week of.
11:20 I mean, outside of a few positions, I don't care who you are.
11:23 If you don't go out there and practice good, you're not gonna play.
11:25 So the position battles here will go on throughout the year.
11:30 I think what you're kind of directing it towards is you're playing
11:34 what would be considered, some would say it was a lesser opponent.
11:39 I certainly don't look at it that way.
11:40 We don't look at it that way, or
11:41 we don't look at it as a luxury to be able to do this or that.
11:44 We wanna go out and get great rhythm and start fast and dominate and play well.
11:48 We wanna play our best each and every game and grow from that.
11:52 But as far as the opportunities for guys to start playing,
11:55 they get that opportunity every day.
11:56 We're gonna go out there today and do best on best and see who plays.
12:00 And the guy that plays better is gonna be the guy that get to play regardless of
12:03 whether they start in the first or second game.
12:04 >> Kirby, what's the latest on Lawson's prognosis and
12:10 what did you see in the last couple weeks as far as depth and that?
12:14 >> Yeah, Lawson ended up getting the tightrope surgery.
12:18 And we don't know when to expect him back.
12:21 He's already out of a boot and walking with pressure on him,
12:23 which is great news.
12:25 And he's out at walk-throughs, at meetings, he's very attentive.
12:29 He's gonna help us special teams wise.
12:30 But in the time that he's been gone, Oscar,
12:34 Pierce have both picked up the load, done a great job.
12:38 We've had some other guys audition and move around that position.
12:41 But I mean, it's a position that if you have the luxury of depth at receiver,
12:45 you don't have to play as much 12.
12:47 If you've got 12 personnel, you better have two viable backups that can play there.
12:52 And we certainly have worked towards that.
12:54 We'll continue to see where it goes.
12:56 But Pierce has done a nice job and with Lawson's injury,
12:59 he's got more opportunities.
13:01 >> Coach, obviously, as you're eight year older, your kids are older,
13:06 the demands of the job have not slowed down.
13:09 In fact, they've probably cramped up a little bit.
13:12 Can you give us an idea of how you're managing all that and
13:15 maybe an update kind of on your family and kids?
13:17 I mean, they're teenagers now, getting to be teenagers.
13:20 And do you feel like you're doing a pretty decent job of balancing that?
13:25 >> Yeah, that part has actually become easier.
13:27 The demands of the job have increased, but so has the retention of my staff,
13:32 which has allowed me to afford people the opportunities to lead the team,
13:37 lead their unit, delegate more duties, which in turn allows me to be a better
13:44 husband and father, which is probably the primary goal of what I wanna do as a man.
13:48 And I certainly have had more time in the last two to three years
13:52 with my family than I have previous.
13:54 And that has a lot to do with maturing as a coach and
13:58 having a staff that allows you to do that, a support staff.
14:02 With former head coaches on our staff, between Will, BoBo,
14:06 Monk and being here at the time.
14:08 You got guys, Dale, that's been here forever, Schumann,
14:10 they understand what you want and what you demand.
14:12 And allowing those guys opportunities to lead the team,
14:16 lead certain areas of the team,
14:18 it affords me the opportunity to be a better husband and father.
14:21 >> Kurt, we've seen you in a leadership position, college football,
14:27 being on this rules committee.
14:29 Obviously, come from the turf, a veteran coach.
14:32 The Big Ten's moving to this availability report every week, and
14:34 I know LSU's doing that.
14:36 You're pretty transparent with us as well.
14:39 Would you be in favor of a SEC weekly availability report?
14:43 And do you think that that will help in the efforts to maybe curb some of
14:47 the gambling issues?
14:48 >> I'm for whatever helps curb the gambling issues.
14:52 I think it's a major issue in all of sports,
14:55 with the states now taking on more and more gambling.
14:58 The tax revenues that states are able to get,
15:01 the pressure that they put on student athletes sometimes trying to get
15:05 information, which I have no proof that happens.
15:07 But it certainly scares you as a coach.
15:11 You worry about pitfalls, and
15:12 you worry about where your kids can make mistakes.
15:14 That's an area that's really hard to police for us as coaches.
15:18 Cuz outside of this building, what they come in contact with,
15:22 what information they may or may not share is scary.
15:25 But as far as uniform injury policy, I would have no issue with that.
15:30 I always defer to, say, the leadership of our conference.
15:34 But he does such a good job of seeing it from 10,000 feet and
15:38 not from the view of just one coach.
15:41 I don't, again, I don't have a lot to hide.
15:43 If you wanna ask me about it, I'll tell you.
15:45 I can never say sometimes whether they're gonna play in the game or not.
15:47 Cuz I don't know.
15:49 I don't know till right up to the game sometimes,
15:51 because we're trying to make every player available we can.
15:53 And we don't know the most accurate information.
15:55 If there was a standard reporting procedure, it was more uniform,
15:59 it'd probably make it better.
16:00 But you're not gonna make the people go away that still wanna go dig and
16:04 find and ask questions and try to gather a competitive advantage.
16:07 >> I hate to hurry.
16:10 How would you like to stay in the moment and
16:12 kill the day and not looking too far down the road?
16:15 >> That's correct.
16:16 >> [LAUGH] >> I think I've got that right.
16:19 >> I'm sure you're gonna ask anyway.
16:20 >> Is there any way you use the prospect of having a chance to win three straight
16:25 national finals not done in the whole era?
16:27 Can you use that without getting out of the moment, but
16:31 at least give the guys that character to shoot for?
16:34 Maybe is there some sort of motivational way you can use
16:39 the chance to do something that's never been done?
16:42 >> Absolutely not.
16:43 I just don't think you can make it about that.
16:45 Because the minute you do that, you open yourself to distractions,
16:50 added pressure.
16:51 What if it doesn't happen?
16:53 What do you plan for?
16:54 I mean, there's just so many things that I just don't believe philosophically in
16:59 doing that because what the previous two teams did has no bearing on this team.
17:05 Has no bearing.
17:06 Our focus is UT Martin and really us.
17:11 And that's gonna be true whoever we play is.
17:13 We have to remain focused on us and we have to, like I said,
17:17 set a standard of the way this team's gonna practice in a game week.
17:20 That's kinda like being where your feet are.
17:22 Cuz you don't inherit practice habits.
17:25 You don't inherit standards.
17:27 You set them and they change year to year and you gotta kind of acknowledge them.
17:31 So that's where our focus is.
17:33 I know it's so hard for people to believe that we're not talking about the other,
17:36 but we got a lot of work to be done before we start talking about that.
17:41 >> Kerbeer, I've heard you talk about reinventing yourself to be better than
17:46 you were last year.
17:47 How is your program doing that this year?
17:49 >> I think when you do it based on who you have.
17:52 I think offensively, defensively, special teams,
17:55 we're looking at things to change that are gonna make us better.
17:58 We're looking at different ways we walk through.
18:00 We're looking at a different practice format today than it was last year on
18:03 this Monday.
18:04 We're looking at what this team needs relative to where we are.
18:08 This is not the same team we had two years ago or last year.
18:12 So what do they need?
18:13 And that's how you reinvent yourself to be better.
18:16 We're looking at that every day.
18:17 [BLANK_AUDIO]
18:21 >> Just in the offseason, and specifically before camp,
18:24 where have you seen this offensive line grow and
18:27 what are maybe weaknesses you've seen out of them?
18:29 >> Well, not weakness, the fear is reading what you all say about them.
18:35 Or believing that what Warren Brinson says about them are his memes is
18:40 gonna be the gospel.
18:41 I mean, you have to earn that.
18:43 You have to go out and earn what you get and do it on tape.
18:47 You just get told that you're this or that, doesn't make you that.
18:53 And I can show you countless examples on tape where that hasn't been true.
18:58 I can also show you countless examples where it has been.
19:02 And you're only as good as your last practice.
19:03 That's what this offensive line are worried about.
19:07 Depth is a concern.
19:08 How many guys can we play?
19:11 How do we avoid injury and stay healthy?
19:15 Some of that comes with luck.
19:17 >> Let's take two more questions.
19:18 >> So we'll use your words, not ours.
19:20 What excites you about this team?
19:22 >> What excites me about this team is the maturity level,
19:24 the approach they've taken to their work.
19:27 So we had an off-season workout program.
19:30 We had a spring practice, which I was very pleased with.
19:32 We had summer workouts, which I was very pleased with.
19:35 We had camp that, it wasn't our very best camp, but
19:39 we also had a lot tougher circumstances than we've ever had in camp.
19:43 I can say that we've had better practices, but we've never had 110 degree heat.
19:48 So I'm very excited about, every day you go to work with this group,
19:52 they're fun to be around.
19:54 Because they actually listen to what you say and
19:55 they try to do it like you say it.
19:57 And that's important.
19:59 I mean, who you are intangibly is really important and
20:03 they've done a great job with that.
20:05 Now, still gotta transition to the field and the game.
20:09 >> Kirby, did you watch any games this weekend to see how the new clock rules
20:14 were working out with the clock stopping on first downs?
20:18 And just finish your overall take on that.
20:20 >> Yeah, there's a lot of talk, a lot of text going around, but
20:22 I didn't, we worked on Saturday, so I didn't get to really see any games.
20:25 We practiced and worked, but we talked to some analytics people that had it from
20:31 65 to 69 offensive snaps, or 69 to 65, meaning it was three, four lower.
20:37 But people factor Navy game in, I guess, their name, Navy is very different.
20:42 We'll see more as the year goes on.
20:44 We all thought that it would be less, thought it would be three to five less.
20:47 On average, first weekend, I think it was right around that.
20:49 That's not including some special teams plays that might have gone down in there
20:53 as well, but I don't think we'll know until we get into conference play.
20:56 >> Thank you.
20:57 [BLANK_AUDIO]