Kirby Smart Talks Georgia vs South Carolina Matchup
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00:00 - All right, we'll go to straight questions today.
00:03 Raise your hand, we'll get up on the remote mics to you.
00:06 And I think you can get your hand up here.
00:10 (laughing)
00:11 Reminder, no live streaming.
00:12 Okay, ready to go.
00:13 - Just a couple days in this week, Coach.
00:21 Just how has practice been so far this week?
00:24 - Better today than yesterday.
00:26 - That's good.
00:27 - Yeah, Coach, I've heard you in years past
00:28 talk about rushing with proper lane integrity.
00:31 I've also heard you talk about schematically
00:34 forcing quarterbacks almost into a scramble.
00:36 I guess what goes into the decision to do either
00:39 and where would you put Spencer Rattler in the,
00:41 we want to keep him in the pocket
00:43 versus we want him scrambling discussion?
00:45 - You'll carry a game plan to do both,
00:48 pretty much against every quarterback.
00:51 Maybe just a traditional quarterback
00:53 versus a quarterback that's a little bit more
00:55 maybe just a traditional pocket guy that nobody moves,
00:59 which doesn't exist anymore, really.
01:01 We call them statues that just don't play
01:04 with those guys anymore.
01:05 But you wouldn't have a lot of alternative rushes for them.
01:08 But the guys we play nowadays,
01:10 you have to have a rush plan to do multiple things.
01:13 And you base that on situation, score,
01:15 down distance, coverage.
01:17 A lot of things go into how you rush the quarterback.
01:20 (mouse clicking)
01:23 - Gotten to see a decent bit of Roger Robinson
01:29 through two games.
01:30 How have you seen him progress
01:32 as he's going through his freshman year?
01:33 - Yeah, he got the spring ball to learn,
01:37 figure some things out, get caught up to speed,
01:41 and he's had an opportunity.
01:42 We've had some injured backs.
01:44 He's been healthy.
01:45 I've seen him mature.
01:47 He's very bright.
01:48 I think he has good vision.
01:50 He continues to improve in picking up his pass pro.
01:54 He should be a weapon at doing that
01:55 'cause he's big and physical.
01:57 So he should be able to do that.
01:58 It's something that all freshmen go through
02:00 in which they have to learn that.
02:02 They have to get comfortable picking up blitzing backers
02:05 at our level.
02:06 It's not something they do at their level.
02:07 So he continues to improve and I'm proud
02:10 of the work he's done.
02:11 - Yeah, with Ladd, is it more the same with his injury
02:18 in terms of his practice availability?
02:19 And then what kind of impact does not having him out there
02:22 have on this offense?
02:23 - Well, we have guys that have similar skill sets.
02:28 They don't have the experience.
02:29 I mean, we've got guys capable of filling the void
02:31 left by Ladd, but we don't have guys with the experience
02:35 in this offense.
02:36 I mean, two years, 15 games a year,
02:39 30 games experience is just immense.
02:42 So that's the part we missed.
02:45 But as far as his availability, he hasn't been available.
02:49 I mean, he's been injured and he's trying to come back
02:52 and we're trying to figure out what all we can do
02:55 to speed that process up.
02:56 - I guess this is a couple of years that David Daniels
03:04 has been a contributor on this team.
03:06 What does he bring to the table
03:07 when you guys put him out there?
03:08 What do you like about him?
03:09 - Very instinctive.
03:10 He's got good speed.
03:13 I mean, for, I guess for two years now,
03:14 he's come in and situational football,
03:16 I mean, in dime he's played, third down he's played.
03:19 Late in games he's played, he's played well.
03:22 He's had some really big hits.
03:23 He had a hit against Oregon last year, it was a good hit.
03:25 He had a hit against South Carolina late in the game.
03:28 I mean, he's shown up and played when asked to,
03:31 and he's played on special teams.
03:32 So he's a product of the development, the growth,
03:36 intelligence and persistence.
03:43 - We've obviously talked a lot about the loss
03:46 of Darnell Washington on this offense.
03:48 I guess speak a little bit to the impact
03:50 Broderick Jones had on your run game.
03:52 Specifically, y'all became a pretty counter heavy
03:54 football team last year.
03:55 Was that a by-product of his skillset
03:57 and what you guys have become now without him?
04:00 - I don't know that the Broderick effect
04:05 is anything relative to the Darnell effect.
04:07 I think obviously they're two different players.
04:10 We have two different guys or really multiple guys
04:13 fill in the shoes of those guys.
04:15 But Darnell is just different.
04:18 He's a generational player.
04:19 You may not coach a long time and have somebody that size
04:22 and that physical at that position.
04:24 But Broderick was, he was more of a pass pro.
04:28 He was a lead at pass pro, really good athlete.
04:30 He could pull and run, get in space, do a lot of things.
04:33 But I feel like our tackles now can do those same things.
04:35 So it's not as big a difference between,
04:39 maybe not, I'm not talking about ability,
04:40 but I'm talking about in the run game,
04:42 not as big a difference in the tackle and the tight ends.
04:45 - Kirby, is there a competition still for place kicking?
04:50 I mean, or once you settle, is it just settled?
04:52 Or how does that?
04:53 - No, it's a competition for everything.
04:54 It's hard.
04:56 Within a week, we get, I don't know,
04:58 maybe 10 to 12 kicks a week.
05:02 I mean, I'm talking about with 11 on 11,
05:04 not off on their own.
05:07 So we chart it, we keep up with it, we monitor it.
05:10 But we put weight on the preseason camp.
05:14 And I got a lot of confidence in our kicker.
05:16 I got a lot of confidence in both our kickers.
05:18 Both our kickers are a weapon.
05:20 - Any update on Javon and also Austin Blasky?
05:25 - Blasky's working his way back, might be available.
05:28 He's one of the toughest guys I've been around.
05:30 So he's trying to speed up that recovery
05:32 and make himself available for this game.
05:35 Javon's still unknown right now.
05:37 He's out there at practice,
05:39 but he wasn't able to do a lot.
05:41 (faint tapping)
05:43 - If I wanted to become a smarter football observer,
05:53 where would you direct me,
05:54 whether it be visual text or anything?
05:57 - I joined staff of an SEC program.
06:02 I don't understand what you're asking.
06:06 If you want to be a better football coach,
06:09 then go be around football coaches, right?
06:11 Or if you want to understand football better,
06:12 then get in the tunnels and the dark spots
06:17 and the organizations and watch it and learn it, I guess.
06:24 Is that what you're asking?
06:25 Yeah, football in general.
06:27 I mean, I don't think you can learn it on Twitter.
06:29 And I don't think you can learn it on TV
06:31 'cause it's scary what people think they know.
06:33 - Kind of in the same vein,
06:37 I was talking with Ben Watson
06:39 and asking him to contrast maybe you and Belichick
06:43 with the Saban tree.
06:45 Do you study coaches?
06:47 Did you study Belichick at any point
06:48 or are there certain coaches you watch?
06:50 - No, I just worked.
06:53 I mean, I respect coaches and I love to learn from them,
06:57 but I don't study them.
06:58 I mean, I don't go out and say,
07:00 what's his win-loss record?
07:02 What's, I mean, you learn from the people you work for.
07:04 So I spent a long time working
07:06 with some really good coaches in Bobby Bowden,
07:08 Mark Rick, my dad, Coach Saban.
07:10 I mean, so you emulate those that you work for
07:15 and you admire most.
07:16 - I saw somewhere that y'all taking the ball on Saturday
07:28 after winning the toss was the first time since like 2019.
07:31 What goes into that decision each week
07:33 and what went into it this past week?
07:36 - Biggest thing's weather.
07:37 There's concern of rain.
07:39 So you want your possessions to be in non-inclement weather.
07:43 If there's any percentage of chance,
07:44 you have to make a decision based on that.
07:47 Wind, sun, those are the biggest factors,
07:54 which, you know, you can say they're not a factor
07:57 because we're both going to have to play
07:58 to both directions, right?
07:59 But it's just a matter of which one you want
08:02 to start out with.
08:03 And I think trying to get momentum
08:05 and field position in a game sometimes impacts the game.
08:07 - Kirby, Shane Beamer was talking today
08:13 about his time here with you, you know,
08:16 as you guys kind of comboed on special teams
08:18 or you helped him with that.
08:20 He mentioned the play in the championship game
08:22 on the punt block with Tyler Simmons.
08:24 He was joking about how he is not really able
08:27 to get past it, the call.
08:29 I'm wondering how long it might've taken you
08:31 after that game to get over that.
08:33 - I mean, I was over after it happened
08:35 'cause I just assumed that they, you know,
08:37 they made the call that they saw
08:38 and they felt confident about.
08:40 But in all reality, it should've come back anyway
08:43 'cause they had people moving before the snap.
08:45 So it wasn't about whether he's onside or not.
08:47 It was the movement pre-snap should've negated the play,
08:50 but it's something we've worked hard on.
08:53 - Kirby, did you get what you wanted
08:56 out of the first two games in terms of some of the personnel
08:58 that were able to get extended?
09:00 I know you don't go into the games looking for it,
09:01 but in hindsight, when you see the snap count,
09:03 are you pleased with the looks a lot of guys got?
09:05 - You're saying pleased with the performance
09:09 or pleased with the number of snaps?
09:12 I don't know.
09:17 I mean, I didn't have a preset notion
09:20 of what it should be or shouldn't be.
09:22 I certainly would like to get more players playing time.
09:25 Therefore, when they do play,
09:27 they can lean on the experience of their game time.
09:30 It concerns me that we haven't played
09:32 as many snaps with our starters.
09:35 That's a concerning thing
09:36 'cause you're going to catch a hot game
09:38 where you're playing 80 to 90 snaps,
09:40 and that's what we condition all summer for us,
09:42 what we condition in practice for us,
09:43 what we work really hard for.
09:44 So the concern is on the ability
09:48 to play as many snaps as it takes.
09:50 Am I happy that some of those guys got to play
09:52 and some of those guys experienced?
09:53 Absolutely.
09:54 They've worked their tail off and they need it,
09:57 and they need a lot more.
09:59 (mouse clicking)
10:02 - Gary, what are the biggest challenges
10:08 for a secondary going into a game like this
10:10 where Spencer Adler can move and not necessarily scramble,
10:13 but keep plays alive in the pocket,
10:15 and just things that a secondary has to keep in mind
10:17 when you go up against a quarterback like this?
10:19 - Yeah, poise and performance.
10:21 He's going to hit some plays.
10:22 He's going to hit some shots.
10:23 That's what he does.
10:24 He does it well.
10:25 Playing the ball in the deep part of the field
10:27 is one of the number one characteristics
10:30 of a defensive back.
10:31 And if you have that flaw, it can be fatal.
10:34 And it tends to show up in games like this
10:37 because he's going to get opportunities.
10:39 He's going to throw the ball down the field.
10:40 They have big, physical, fast wide outs.
10:43 I mean, there's a reason why they're third or fourth
10:45 in the country in passing yards
10:46 because he throws the ball extremely well.
10:49 He sees the field extremely well.
10:51 He can throw the ball to all parts of the field,
10:53 and he's throwing it to people
10:54 that can do something with it after they catch it.
10:56 So it's going to be a big time test
11:00 for our secondary to play the ball in the air
11:04 or tackle the man with the ball after it's caught.
11:07 - Speaking of your secondary, Coach,
11:11 are you at the point going into SEC slate
11:13 where you're ready to kind of narrow down
11:15 the rotations at corner?
11:16 - It'll be based on practice week, like right now.
11:20 We're out there practicing right now.
11:22 We're shooting balls out of jugs, deep balls.
11:24 We're throwing the ball all over the yard.
11:26 We're getting extra throws.
11:27 We're getting extra scrambles,
11:28 and we're judging how guys play.
11:30 So we're trying to simulate what may happen in the game.
11:33 And we're going to play the guys
11:36 that do the best job in practice,
11:38 whether that's five guys or two guys.
11:40 - Kirby, on Andrew Paul,
11:48 how would you assess his play through two games
11:50 as he continues to make his way back from that ACL injury?
11:53 - Just that, just continuing to make his way back.
11:56 He's feeling his way through it.
11:57 He has not probably really cut loose.
12:00 I think he would tell you he's feeling his way
12:02 through contact, trying to get used to it.
12:05 He hasn't had a lot of opportunities.
12:06 You know, he's had a few, but with Kendall coming back,
12:10 and it's been a little more limited.
12:13 I think he's a young back
12:15 that's still getting his confidence back.
12:16 He's flashed and had some really good runs in camp,
12:19 and I'm hoping that we get to see more of him
12:20 so he gets to do that.
12:23 - Yeah, and you guys sort of third and long pressure package
12:26 week one, I noticed Jordan Hall was there,
12:28 and then last week, Warren Brinson was in on that.
12:31 Any reason for the change, just trying to build depth there?
12:33 And what have you sort of seen?
12:34 - Who was the first week you said?
12:35 - Jordan Hall.
12:36 - I think it's really about series.
12:38 So relative to who's playing,
12:40 you may have seen one first and then the other,
12:42 but if Warren plays a lot of snaps,
12:44 then it's Jordan to be fresh.
12:46 And if it's Jordan plays a lot of snaps, then it's Warren.
12:49 It's interchangeable.
12:50 I mean, as far as no rhyme or reason,
12:53 they both are very capable, both very athletic.
12:56 It's just trying to keep fresh guys in there.
12:59 - Just following up on what you said
13:02 about Dylan Bell yesterday being selfless
13:04 and can do a lot of things,
13:06 is that something that you see moving forward with him,
13:09 regardless of the depth,
13:11 the fact that he can catch the ball in the backfield
13:13 and show that element?
13:14 - We'll always have that element,
13:16 whether it's he or Mews or the other guys
13:19 that can line up in the backfield and do it.
13:21 So that's always going to be there.
13:23 We have backs capable of doing that too
13:25 when we're a hundred percent healthy.
13:27 So I don't know if I can answer that.
13:29 And will we keep it there?
13:30 Probably depends on how many wide outs are healthy,
13:33 what we have week to week, what the game plan is,
13:36 but certainly like to.
13:38 - Kamaru was kind of playing catch up
13:46 after being hurt during fall camp.
13:47 How do you feel like he's performed
13:49 in these first few games?
13:50 - Really good leader, solid, tough, physical tackler.
13:53 He's confident, playing really well right now, playing hard.
13:58 I just like the way he goes about his business.
14:01 He is, practices like a pro.
14:04 He walks through like a pro.
14:05 He takes notes like a pro.
14:07 He just, he's very driven and focused.
14:18 - The Alabama's lost Saturday night.
14:20 Georgia now has the longest home win streak in the nation.
14:24 And I guess the last one was South Carolina.
14:27 Did you reference, use that as a reference point at all
14:30 for your team about, that was a team
14:32 that kind of snuck up, I guess.
14:33 They weren't real good that year.
14:34 Did you bring that up or did you talk
14:36 about the home win streak at all?
14:37 - No, I wouldn't want to give B-Mac and Will the pleasure.
14:45 Sorry, totally blanked, I want my question.
14:49 - Time for two more questions, anybody?
14:56 - You have enough coaches that are probably familiar
15:04 with South Carolina's personnel,
15:05 but I wonder if Brandon Streeter,
15:06 you know, what he offers in a week like this?
15:09 - You know, I can't answer that good.
15:11 I know he helped with the offensive staff
15:14 in terms of coaching the coaches
15:16 and giving input about the kids he knew about,
15:18 maybe recruited them.
15:19 I was actually not in on that meeting.
15:20 I was over with the defense
15:21 when he gave the kind of personnel report,
15:24 but I know he did do that.
15:25 I don't know what kind of insight he had.
15:27 - I saw the Regions commercial last weekend.
15:32 How many takes did it take for you to get that one?
15:35 - I don't remember.
15:36 It was shorter than I thought it would be,
15:41 but it was more difficult than I thought it would be
15:43 in terms of trying to keep my composure and not laugh.
15:48 Thanks.
15:48 (chewing)
15:51 [BLANK_AUDIO]