ATHENS — Kirby Smart will tell you there are a laundry list of things for his Georgia football team to get dialed in on this week leading up to the game against Alabama.

It’s true, the No. 5-ranked Bulldogs (3-0, 1-0 SEC) learned a lot about themselves in their 44-41 overtime win against Tennessee last Saturday, and not all of it was good.

Georgia will surely build around the positives: the much-improved play at the receiver position, the production from the running backs, and the clutch play at quarterback from Gunner Stockton.

But there are obvious questions and areas that need improvement this week, and with the youth of this season’s Georgia football team, each week those areas of need could change.

The offensive line, specifically the right side, is the most notable area that needs to take a step up before the 7:30 p.m. kickoff against the Tide on Saturday.

Defensively, Georgia needs a more effective pass rush, which goes hand-in-hand with the improved coverage in the secondary the fans and coaches want to see.

Indeed, the Bulldogs have given up as many sacks (4) as they have generated against their opponents.

Smart said last week the offensive line will remain a work in progress.

“Growth, walkthroughs help them, (and) meetings help them,” Smart said. “They’re just so far from their ceiling, because they haven’t had the same amount of work. They also have to be healthy, which makes it hard, because you’re balancing health and reps, trying to get guys back healthy.”

Georgia right tackle Earnest Greene lll, a former FWAA Freshman All-American with 25 career starts, played 32 snaps against Tennessee, while redshirt freshman Michael Uini played 48 snaps and redshirt sophomore Bo Hughley played 15 snaps.

The right guard position has also been unsettled with two true freshmen rotating against the Vols. Opening game starter Juan Gaston (6-foot-7, 360 pounds), who’s coming off an ankle injury, was limited to 26 snaps while Dontrell Glover played 69 snaps.

Georgia will work to get those positions playing at an elite level, even if it means platooning.

The same sorts of issues come up in every game for every team to varying degrees.

The Bulldogs’ defensive performance against Tennessee wasn’t the best.

But Smart pointed out the Vols’ style of play had a lot to do with that in more ways than one.

The linebackers, for example, were particularly taxed in the game.

“The Tennessee game was certainly a very different game because their offense creates a style of play, (and) we didn’t get a lot of third downs,” Smart said. “When we got people to third down, we usually got them off the field, but we didn’t get them to third down a lot.”

To Smart’s point, only 12 of the Vols’ 70 plays over their 13 possessions were third-down plays.

The issues that flared up in the Georgia secondary are also fixable, the head coach noted.

“They’re not things that aren’t correctable,” Smart said. “There’s some eye-control things.”

Redshirt sophomore Kyron Jones has started each game at the safety position next to KJ Bolden this season, but senior JaCorey Thomas is also getting quality reps next to Bolden.

Jones played 41 snaps at safety against Tennessee while Thomas played 33 snaps at the position.

Smart has taken advantage of Georgia’s great depth in the secondary before, keeping his teams fresh over what have become longer seasons with the addition of the College Football Playoff.

There has also been and will be more drill work in practices, especially with Alabama bringing one of the more elite receiving corps into Sanford Stadium.

“There are drills that we work on year-round; .one of the three characteristics of defensive backs that you must have is the ability to play the ball in the deep part of the field, and it’s a critical factor that can be improved,” Smart said.

“Some people are inherently better than others at it, and we try to put them in those situations every day. You can’t do that enough to simulate it.”

Smart and his Georgia football team will get back to work this week focused on Alabama, but there will still be plenty of teaching and competition within the team going on.