WATCH: Kirby Smart's Press Conference Before Georgia vs Florida
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00:00 [INAUDIBLE]
00:27 Thanks, Claude.
00:30 We'll start gearing up towards Florida.
00:31 We did a little work last week in terms of introducing
00:35 those guys on Thursday.
00:37 And today, we'll get back to work on these guys.
00:40 I know our guys will be excited to play in Jacksonville,
00:44 an incredible stadium and atmosphere.
00:46 I know our players love playing in this neutral site game.
00:49 It's just kind of different in terms of the start of it.
00:52 The fans, the split crowd, seems to be a momentum
00:56 flow type game, because a team that has momentum
01:00 is really at home for that moment.
01:02 And then it goes back and forth.
01:03 And it's been a game of momentum swings.
01:05 A lot of respect for Billy.
01:06 I always have liked Billy a lot.
01:09 He does a really good job as a football coach, as a man,
01:13 person.
01:14 Worked on staff with him.
01:15 Admire him and the way he coaches and goes about things.
01:18 He's very detail-oriented.
01:21 No stone left unturned.
01:25 And they play that way.
01:26 And got a lot of respect for the way they play.
01:29 And I know a lot of guys on their staff.
01:32 It'll be a physical game.
01:33 It always is.
01:35 I know our kids will be looking forward to it.
01:37 And with that, I'll open it up.
01:39 Yeah, Coach.
01:44 I was reading today.
01:45 I think since 2000, Georgia quarterbacks
01:47 who are facing Florida for the first time in their career
01:49 are 1 and 9.
01:50 I'm just curious.
01:51 What about this matchup makes it really, really difficult
01:54 for guys going for it the first time?
01:56 Couldn't tell you that.
01:59 Don't know.
01:59 Didn't know the stat.
02:02 I think it's all about working and executing
02:06 within your offense, which is what we'll ask Carson to do,
02:10 is to play within the offense.
02:12 And he's a quarterback with a lot of experience
02:15 under his belt. And I know he'll be
02:18 excited to play in Jacksonville.
02:21 Kirby, to your left, wide receiver Pearsall
02:23 has more yards receiving than the next three guys combined.
02:26 What makes him so effective when he gets the ball?
02:28 Is it yards after catches?
02:29 He's explosive in space.
02:31 What makes him so elite?
02:32 Well, I would say he's been available.
02:35 He's been healthy and been very consistent for them.
02:38 They've got some other guys that when you just look at stats,
02:41 sometimes it can be misleading.
02:42 They have guys who've missed games.
02:44 So therefore, they've missed opportunities to get stats.
02:48 He's been very consistent.
02:49 He's an explosive playmaker.
02:50 He's tough.
02:51 He does a lot of things.
02:53 They move him around a lot.
02:54 He's not just a sit there and play guy.
02:56 He's worked the slot.
02:57 He's done double moves.
02:58 He's been a vertical guy, makes a lot of plays.
03:01 But they have other weapons.
03:03 Some of those guys have been injured.
03:04 They lost a kid for a year.
03:06 They lost a couple guys for a couple games.
03:10 So it's been a myriad of injuries
03:13 that have led to the stats being that way.
03:17 Kirby, after Florida beat South Carolina,
03:20 Billy talked about that it was evident to him
03:22 that that Florida team is growing up.
03:24 Is that evident to you on what you've seen,
03:26 just getting ready for this game,
03:27 how they have improved as a team over the course of this year?
03:30 Yes, they've played their best football
03:33 probably the last two weeks or so.
03:36 And you look at the statistics on their quarterback,
03:38 he's probably, I mean, maybe the number one quarterback
03:42 in the country for two games.
03:44 In terms of the way he's played,
03:45 you can tell he's got a lot of confidence
03:46 in their offense and their system.
03:47 They're able to execute, do a lot of things with him.
03:50 He handles it well.
03:51 He makes a lot of good run checks for them.
03:53 Has done a really nice job of not putting them in harm's way
03:57 in his decision-making process.
03:58 So they're playing at a really high level right now
04:01 and doing a great job with it.
04:03 Coach, just wondering what you've seen from Oscar Delp
04:07 in these 10 days or so of preparation.
04:10 And has Brock been able to rejoin the team
04:14 in any capacity so far physically?
04:16 Delp's been fine.
04:18 We're not asking Delp to do anything different
04:19 than he's normally done, nor anybody on the team.
04:22 Yeah, Brock's been at walkthroughs.
04:24 He's been out there with the team,
04:27 some of it last week, some of it different times.
04:30 Kirby, are you expecting Roderick Robinson
04:34 to be available Saturday?
04:35 I don't know what his recovery is looking like.
04:36 And is Tate Rattledge dealing with an elbow of some sort?
04:40 Tate had an elbow coming out of the Vanderbilt game,
04:42 but he's been fine.
04:43 He practiced all last week with that elbow.
04:46 And Rod was able to go a lot of last week as well.
04:50 Montgomery Van Gorder's been on the program
04:53 for about three, four years.
04:54 Just what's it been his impact and his rise
04:56 kind of as a coach and on the field
04:58 and connection with the players?
05:00 Well, I mean, he does a great job.
05:03 He's a coach's son.
05:04 He's grown up around football his entire life.
05:08 He's a quarterback, understands the game.
05:10 He does a nice job assisting our offensive staff
05:15 with weekly things.
05:18 Coach Bobo puts him in charge of things.
05:20 He takes those things very serious
05:23 and he'll be a good coach.
05:26 Yeah, how are things looking for Amirius Mims
05:30 and Xavier Truss as they both recover
05:32 from their ankle injuries?
05:33 Yeah, we'll find out a lot more today.
05:35 They both were able to do some different things last week
05:39 in the off week and a lot of rehab, a lot of maintenance,
05:42 a lot of getting back.
05:43 But until I see them out there today,
05:45 I probably wouldn't be a good judge to be able to tell.
05:48 Coach, I think a couple of weeks ago,
05:56 I asked you about Florida defensively.
05:57 You said they were similar, but not the same.
05:59 When you have a defense that does kind of some stuff
06:03 that you do, do you ever walk into Coach Bobo's office
06:06 and be like, "Hey, look, this stresses us."
06:08 Or do you ever, I guess, have meetings in the minds?
06:13 Well, we do that every week.
06:14 I mean, there's some merit
06:17 to watching what teams do defensively.
06:19 And we get to see the teams in our league on defense
06:24 as we watch offenses.
06:26 So you overlap some with teams
06:28 and you might bring an idea up here or there.
06:32 But a lot of times, offensively,
06:33 they look at things through a different lens.
06:36 They're trying to measure our strengths
06:40 and their strengths against each other and our weaknesses.
06:42 And their weaknesses against each other.
06:44 And try to figure that out.
06:45 But you can get too caught up in the scheme, I think.
06:50 A lot of times, this game boils down
06:52 to physicality, line of scrimmage,
06:55 team that can rush the ball, team that tackles well,
06:57 team that doesn't turn it over.
06:58 And those don't have to do with schemes.
07:01 Coach, hard not to notice the stats
07:07 that Graham Mertz has put up
07:08 and the kind of the way he's played lately.
07:11 And you counter that with, he's been sacked a lot,
07:14 I think 19 times on that team.
07:17 What have you seen from Mertz?
07:19 Just your comments on his game
07:21 and how do you defend this guy?
07:23 Is it all about pressure?
07:25 No, it's never all about pressure.
07:26 I mean, it's about controlling the line of scrimmage
07:29 and not giving up explosives.
07:32 Who can not let somebody run the ball
07:34 and not give up explosives?
07:35 That's what you're looking for.
07:36 And that's what football's become, a game of explosives.
07:40 And teams are trying to find them.
07:43 They throw the ball vertically down the field.
07:45 Billy always has.
07:46 I mean, a team that runs the ball well,
07:47 that's what they should do.
07:48 They've got a stable of backs that are really good,
07:51 as good of backs as we've faced.
07:53 Gene Wilson is a elite player.
07:56 He's the guy that's missed a couple games
07:59 and is a weapon in that he breaks lots of tackles.
08:04 They are creative in their ways of getting him the football.
08:09 And I think Mertz knows that.
08:10 He does a great job within Billy's system
08:12 of knowing when to take the shot,
08:14 when to take the check down,
08:15 when to put him in the right play.
08:16 If you're just in the right play more often,
08:18 you tend to have more success.
08:21 And he's done a really good job of that for them.
08:25 - Coach, obviously a rivalry game.
08:27 What do you kind of tell these young guys
08:28 as they go into their first experience in this game
08:30 between you guys and Florida?
08:32 - Yeah, that welcome to the SEC.
08:34 I mean, every game's going to be a rivalry game
08:35 when you get in the SEC.
08:36 They're all tough games.
08:38 This one's unique because of where it's played.
08:41 And it'll be a new experience for some of our guys.
08:44 But I think that's, you forget about that
08:47 after the whistle blows and you kick it off,
08:48 you get out there and go play.
08:50 - Kirby, another quick question on Brock.
08:54 I mean, his work ethic's kind of legendary around here.
08:56 Everybody always mentions it.
08:57 I just wondered, how's he attacked his rehab
09:00 thus far as his recovery from it?
09:01 And is he able to bear any weight yet off of that injury?
09:05 - I'm not going to focus on that right now.
09:07 I think that's all speculation
09:09 and I'm not getting into the speculation part of it.
09:11 I mean, most important thing right now is our guys
09:14 and getting prepared for Florida.
09:16 - Yeah, you were talking about the line of scrimmage.
09:19 With your offensive line,
09:21 just how would you kind of sum up the state of that group
09:23 coming out of the bye week and after some of the
09:24 self-scouting they were able to do last week?
09:27 - I think it's important that we get more depth.
09:29 You know, we're an injury away from being down
09:32 this guy, that guy.
09:33 We're also trying to get guys back.
09:35 So it's like, you're always a balance of who you are.
09:38 We tried really hard last week to work on fundamentals.
09:41 I mean, at the end of the day,
09:43 you're not going to trick people in our league.
09:44 They've seen every play.
09:45 It's not like a new play is going to win you the game.
09:48 It's going to win you the game is can you block better
09:50 than the other team?
09:51 Can you execute?
09:53 Can you protect the ball?
09:54 Can you convert third downs?
09:55 Can you play well in the red area?
09:56 Those are the things we tried to work on.
09:58 And as offensive line group,
09:59 I'm very proud and pleased of the work ethic,
10:02 the leadership, the practices we have.
10:05 And we have an interesting group.
10:06 We have a group that has played a lot of games.
10:09 They have a group that has not played a lot of games.
10:12 So you have experience there and you're trying to balance
10:14 out how you get the older group better without injury
10:19 and how you get the younger group more reps at the same time.
10:22 - Kirby, I'm doing something on fourth downs.
10:25 Coaches are getting, taking more risky decisions
10:29 these days, probably analytics,
10:32 probably just a need to score more points.
10:35 How much of it is that and how much has all that kind of
10:37 changed your own thinking on those fourth down calls?
10:40 - I think it depends on the flow of the game.
10:43 I think it depends on your defense and your kicking game.
10:46 If you're not giving up a lot to take a smaller risk,
10:52 then you're gaining a chance to score points.
10:55 And at the end of the day,
10:56 the ultimate goal is to score more points
10:58 than the other team.
10:59 I would probably say historically,
11:01 teams have been probably overly conservative.
11:04 Coaches have been overly conservative
11:05 and they're probably erring towards overly aggressive.
11:09 I don't know.
11:10 It's hard to say what's right or wrong.
11:11 It only comes out right if it works
11:14 and it only comes out wrong if it doesn't.
11:16 But I don't look at it that way.
11:17 I just look at it as, can you out execute the other team
11:20 and can you stop the other team?
11:23 And what do you think the point totals are going to be?
11:27 - Two questions.
11:28 How did Kenda Milton look last week?
11:30 I know you were a little precautionary about his MCL.
11:32 And then a couple of weeks ago,
11:33 you said that you watched every third and short
11:35 and fourth and short around the SEC
11:37 and kind of saw what all the teams were doing.
11:39 What are your takeaways from that?
11:40 How often are they converting those?
11:42 You have a pretty good third down conversion yourself.
11:45 What are your takeaways from that?
11:46 - Well, what I've referenced looking at that
11:49 is I'm talking about third and one and two
11:51 and fourth and one and two,
11:52 which we're not in those all the time.
11:54 Those come up periodically within games.
11:56 I think they're important to determine the outcome of games
11:59 is your ability to get a yard when you got to have a yard.
12:03 And it's never been harder in all of college football
12:06 to gain a yard when you have to gain a yard
12:08 because the defenses play you differently now
12:11 than they have in the past.
12:12 There's no concession of a yard in our league.
12:15 So I just like watching it to see what's out there,
12:18 what people are doing and how they're doing it.
12:21 Kendall was good last week.
12:22 He pushed through and did a good job
12:25 and we'll see where he's at today.
12:27 - Kirby, this team obviously has won
12:31 a bunch of games in a row.
12:32 I'm curious what you do to kind of alleviate
12:35 the stress level they might feel
12:36 heading into big games,
12:37 knowing that they're part of a program
12:39 that's had a lot of success.
12:41 - Don't think about it a lot.
12:43 I mean, I don't, it doesn't,
12:45 what consumes me is how we're going to gain a yard,
12:48 what we're going to do in this situation,
12:51 what we're going to do at practice.
12:52 I can't speak for every kid on the team,
12:55 but the focus is not on the wins and losses of the games.
13:00 Like I've said all the time,
13:01 that's going to come to an end.
13:03 I've been part of a lot of streaks.
13:05 That's going to come to an end at some point.
13:06 And when it does, we'll worry about the next game.
13:09 But I don't think you can be consumed
13:10 with that thought process or think that way.
13:12 You got to think towards what you can do
13:14 to help your team win.
13:15 - Coach, what's been the biggest point of emphasis
13:20 that you've been preaching to your guys
13:21 this week at practice during the bye week,
13:24 especially with this upcoming game against Florida?
13:26 - Yeah, it was focused, it's about us.
13:28 That's all it was about last week.
13:29 It's not about Florida or anybody we play, it's about us.
13:32 And this week it'll be about us again
13:35 and just be about us getting ready for Florida.
13:37 So last week was, you know, a work week,
13:40 a chance for us to get better.
13:41 And in some ways refueling to restart
13:46 and refueling looks different ways sometimes.
13:48 It's not all rest and recovery.
13:51 It's where can you get better
13:52 and where can you create an advantage for yourself?
13:55 - Yeah, with Oscar Delp and him getting a chance
14:00 to sort of see Brock and how competitive he is
14:02 and how hard he works in practice,
14:03 how much do you think being in proximity to Brock
14:06 has helped him in his development,
14:08 regardless of even these last like 10 days or so,
14:11 but just over the course of his college career
14:12 to this point?
14:13 - Yeah, I think being around Darnell and Brock,
14:16 last year was a great learning tool for him
14:19 because from the side of being a Y and a physical blocker,
14:22 he got to see Darnell and be around Darnell
14:25 and he got to see Brock do the things he's done.
14:29 So his growth has been good.
14:30 I don't know that if he didn't have those two,
14:33 he would be where he is
14:34 'cause those two demanded that he do things right
14:38 in order to get on the field.
14:40 He had to earn the right to play
14:42 and he's earned that by how he's practiced
14:44 and how he's played.
14:45 - There was a kind of,
14:50 to us there was open competition at that other
14:52 cornerback spot before the season started,
14:54 then Dalyn Everett's been there.
14:55 How would you assess his play through half the season?
14:58 - He's been good.
14:59 He's done good things.
15:00 I mean, I think he's starting to play
15:01 with a little more confidence.
15:02 He's gotten to go out there
15:03 and make some plays with his back to the ball.
15:06 Had a couple of big stops in games.
15:08 He's a good physical tackler.
15:09 He's not afraid of contact.
15:11 Continues to work to get better.
15:13 And Julian as well.
15:15 Julian's played a considerable amount of minutes.
15:18 He's gotten a lot of work with Kamari,
15:22 being up and down and having some injuries over there.
15:25 He's gotten a lot of work in practice.
15:27 So the two of those guys,
15:29 I look at them as co-starters
15:30 and continue to improve and get better.
15:33 - Kirby, over your last seven plus years here,
15:36 has your philosophy of where this game has played changed?
15:39 And would you be open to maybe a home-home
15:41 and then a Jacksonville and Mercedes-Benz kind of a rotation?
15:44 - Don't really even think about it anymore.
15:47 I mean, we are where we are.
15:49 That really has not even crossed my mind
15:52 besides the off-season when I get asked about it.
15:55 I'm a lot more concerned with how we play
15:59 than where we play.
16:01 - Kirby, I think Carson got a UGA offer
16:05 when maybe James Cooley came on as coordinator.
16:07 Do you remember what, as a staff,
16:09 you all looked at at that time
16:10 in terms of why you wanted him to become part of this program?
16:13 - I don't remember the exact timing of it.
16:16 I really don't.
16:16 I would be misspoken if I did.
16:20 I know that what we liked is his leadership.
16:24 You know, he won a state championship
16:27 in the toughest classification of Florida
16:30 in a school in Jacksonville
16:31 that has not had many teams win that level of competition.
16:35 It was very impressive what he was able to do there
16:37 at Mandarin in terms of leadership
16:39 and being a quarterback at a high level
16:42 and playing against some really good
16:44 high school football teams.
16:45 So to me, that was that.
16:47 And the demeanor and approach that he has to the game
16:51 was something that attracted us to him.
16:53 But in terms of when that went about,
16:56 I don't really recall.
16:57 - Yeah, Kirby, you mentioned Carson being from Jacksonville.
17:02 Obviously, he's pretty notoriously flatline.
17:04 Have you noticed any difference in him
17:06 going back home this weekend?
17:08 - Not, nothing.
17:09 I mean, nothing from last week.
17:10 I thought he was good last week
17:13 and continues to work on the things
17:16 that are gonna give us a chance to win.
17:17 You know, him being accurate, him making good decisions,
17:19 him putting us in right plays.
17:21 He's a bright kid.
17:23 He sees a lot of defense in the off season
17:25 and walkthroughs here.
17:26 So when you see a lot of defense,
17:28 you've been exposed to a lot of things.
17:30 And I think that gives him confidence
17:32 and he knows it's not all on him.
17:34 He's got people around him to help him.
17:36 (footsteps)
17:38 - Earlier in the season, Peyton Woodring
17:45 missed a couple field goals, but you stuck with him.
17:46 You said that you had a chance to be really good.
17:48 All of a sudden, he's hitting a lot.
17:50 What changed?
17:51 - I don't know.
17:54 I mean, it's like a hitter, man.
17:55 You go out there, you can't get a base hit every single time.
18:00 His mental approach has, I think, been better.
18:03 I think creating a thought process of being a kicker.
18:08 You know, he was a position player in high school,
18:11 so he never had the thought process
18:15 of sitting on the sideline and wondering,
18:17 when am I going to go in?
18:18 When am I going to kick?
18:19 When's this going to happen?
18:20 And there's a lot of thoughts that can go through your head
18:22 during that time.
18:23 And being a position player, he never had those thoughts.
18:25 So this was his first football games of, you know,
18:28 when am I going out there?
18:29 One shot, one opportunity.
18:31 I got to go make the most of it.
18:32 And I think he's grown a little more accustomed
18:35 to having to do that.
18:36 And, you know, he's had some help
18:38 from people here in our organization,
18:40 but he's had help from the kickers outside our building
18:43 that kicked here at one time to help him as well.
18:46 - We have time for two more questions.
18:48 - Yeah, obviously a few years ago,
18:49 Marcus suffered a pretty bad injury in this game.
18:52 From that point on, especially to what he has been able
18:54 to do for you guys this season,
18:55 how have you seen him grow in what he brings,
18:57 not just to this offense, but to this team as a whole?
19:00 - Well, the biggest thing he's grown in
19:02 is a leadership standpoint.
19:03 When that happened, you know,
19:04 he was a young kid coming on strong
19:08 in a receiving core that was very thin,
19:11 and he helped us tremendously, you know,
19:12 as a freshman, very confident and a good playmaker.
19:16 And fast forward to now, he's an emotional leader,
19:20 a toughness leader, believes in doing things the right way,
19:24 and sells the culture and value
19:27 of the organization really well.
19:30 - Thanks.
19:31 - Thank you.
19:32 - Thanks.
19:33 - Thank you.
19:34 (clanking)