ATHENS — It has been said “Man’s greatest fear is the unknown,” and that certainly applies in the control-heavy world of multi-million dollar football coaches.
Kirby Smart is one of the more tireless workers in the head coaching industry, leaving very little to chance, and engineering a process that ensures maximum time and energy efficiency.
But the combination of youth on his No. 3-ranked Georgia Bulldogs and newness on the No. 11-ranked Oregon Ducks has Smart on edge for the 3:30 p.m. game on Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
To be clear, Smart has said there’s always an element of the unknown in opening games with new players and team dynamics in place from season to season.
Smart elaborated on the unknown element, along with two breakout players and the subplot of facing a former assistant, during his opening game week press conference on Monday at Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall.
1. ‘Hell of a team’
“Matchups are easier to find when you know the team inside and out like an SEC team we play every year,” Smart said. “It’s pretty easy to try to figure out where your matchups are.
“It’s probably a little tougher in this situation of not knowing your opponent, and even the tape you have of the opponent may not be exactly what they’re doing. So that creates an interesting dynamic.”
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Oregon coach Dan Lanning, however, knows most all of the Georgia personnel as well as the most recent offensive and defensive schemes. Advantage, Ducks.
“(Former Oregon head coach) Mario Cristobal is a good friend of mine, and he’s done a great job recruiting players to Oregon,” Smart said. “Dan has taken those guys, and watching what they did in the spring game, and knowing the intensity and the organization and the leadership that Dan has, they’re going to be a hell of a team.”
2. Mykel Williams and Zion Logue
Smart shared insight into two emerging names Georgia fans will hear a lot more about as the defense grows into form.
Logue is a redshirt junior defensive tackle who has been marinating behind first-round picks Jordan Davis and Devonte Wyatt and is ready to step up.
“Zion is a guy that’s been kind of a product of our environment, culture I might say — he’s seen leaders before him,” Smart said. “He makes up for what he may or may not have in complete talent with effort, toughness, all the things we think are quality leadership things.”
Williams, a 5-star player from Columbus, has so much talent that fellow former 5-star Nolan Smith said he was a carbon copy of No. 1 overall draft pick Travon Walker.
Smart did nothing to lessen the buzz on the 6-5, 265-pounder, referring to him as a “nontraditional” freshman.
“He’s never been really impacted by accolades, hype, even intimidation by being here in terms of drills and knowing what to do, (and) he’s fit in really naturally,” Smart said. “He’s not had up and downs and lack of effort and tired and not understanding. He takes really good care of his body. He’s very intelligent.
“He learns the system well and he plays really hard. Those are attributes that help true freshmen get on the field.”
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3. Nothing personal, plenty familiar
And, about Dan Lanning, Smart said this matchup is nothing personal.
There is familiarity, however, to the punt Smart said Georgia is in the curious situation of watching film of its own defense.
“There probably is a little overlap there in terms of defense, and they’re watching our defense and we watch our defense to get ready for them,” Smart said. “At the end of the day it’s about how you execute.
“It’s not about Xs and Os. It’s about who has got the best players and do the best players play the best in the biggest moments.”
Smart put much of the weight of this game on the shoulders of himself and his coaching staff.
“You’re just trying to gather information, trying to figure out where the pieces will be, where is this guy going to play, and who is going to play,” Smart said. “That’s for us to worry about as coaches. For the players, we got to worry about what we got to do.”
