There was another viral video of Kirby Smart yelling into a microphone at practice released onto the internet this week, and the source of Smart’s ire seems to fit in well with some dominant themes for the Bulldogs.
In the video, rising sophomore tight end Elyiss Williams was congratulated for delivering a hard block to recent UGA transfer defensive end Amaris Williams.
What makes Smart’s clip compelling is two-fold. On the one hand, Elyiss Williams is one of the most impressive looking athletes UGA has added in recent years. However, to be an effective tight end in the Bulldogs offense, he’ll also need to master the physical aspects of the position -- including being a willing blocker. It sounds like he’s on his way to doing that.
Furthermore, Amaris Williams’ arrival at Georgia was greeted with much fanfare. He has a chance to be a special pass rusher. However, Smart’s recorded admonition of him should also remind us that to earn the opportunity to chase down quarterbacks, he’ll first have to prove stout in his run-stop efforts -- something he apparently fell short of doing recently.
Brief snapshots like this don’t tell us much, but they do reveal some things, and what this clip proves about the Bulldogs is this year’s spring practice is as intense as ever.
Hope you have a great weekend, and check out the rest of our coverage below.
Trivia time
How many No. 1 overall draft picks has Smart produced at Georgia?
Answer is at the bottom of the newsletter.
Inside the Glenn Schumann method for finding elite LBs
When one gets the chance to talk to Glenn Schumann about how he finds a Georgia linebacker, it is not an ordinary conversation.
It’s akin to getting Steve Spurrier to discuss zingers. Lane Kiffin to catalog his sharpest tweets. Or Nick Saban to break down his ideal DB.
When it comes to linebackers, Schumann is an expert’s expert. The open team media session at the Sugar Bowl last season offered the chance to ask him this question:
What do you look for in an ideal Georgia linebacker?
Then he is off. The 11th-year Georgia coaching vet did not come up for air as he glided through 12 rapid-fire topics across 139 well-used seconds.
It felt like that scene in “Old School” when Will Ferrell was called to debate James Carville. The high notes from that included...
Use the link below to read more.
UGA athletics daily schedule
Monday, March 30
- Women’s golf: Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic
5-star Georgia football RB commit shares his why
What Kemon Spell has done on the 7-on-7 circuit this spring is uncommon. The matchup hunting, then seeing him catch passes all over the field, screams “three down-back” over and over again.
He sometimes goes to defense to stack up more big plays. We just don’t see that from 5-star RBs. The spring 7-on-7 circuit is not a showcase for running backs, but nobody has told him that.
While it shows he’s a pure football player, that’s not what he does best.
Put him in pads. He humbles would-be tacklers. That is not the touch football he’s excelled at this spring. Spell breaks as many tackles as he does ankles.
Spell has 10 other siblings. He’s one of nine brothers and two sisters. He’s in the middle of all those children from different parents.
He dreams of playing for the Dallas Cowboys one day. Keith Jones, his father, loved the Cowboys while he was growing up. He’s seen him play football more than anyone else.
“It used to be remarkable and unbelievable,” Jones said. “But since I’ve been seeing it now since he was at a very young age, nothing really surprises me anymore with this kid.”
The junior highlights meet the criteria of going beyond what one might expect for the clips for the nation’s top-rated back.
Photo of the day
Quote of the day
Spell in his grandmother:
“She had a big influence. I lived with her. I didn’t want to go to school. I didn’t want to go to practice. You know, after school, I wanted to come home and play the [video] game. Because that’s what all the other kids were doing. I didn’t want to go to practice, but she was motivating me because she knew I had the talent. My grandma knew I had the talent because she saw me when I came out for football. She knew I had it. So she was forcing me to go to practice every day. To work out when I can. That’s the impact she had on my life. She’s the reason why I’m in this position, now, because she was always pushing me to be who I am today.”
How a priority OT found a new way to impress Georgia football
The rankings are not ranking properly when it comes to the regard the Georgia football program has for Pennsylvania 4-star tackle Jimmy Kalis.
The 6-foot-8, 290-pounder is the son of a former NFL offensive lineman, Todd Kalis. He works out every day with another 4-star 2027 tackle committed to Notre Dame.
Spell, Georgia’s centerpiece recruit of the 2027 class, sends him timely reminders that he knows his home is in Athens.
Georgia’s coaches have even told him that they want both his parents with him on every visit.
Coachable. Massive. Physical. Technically sound. Violent. Those words string together like pearls to describe his junior tape. But there’s a new word to add to that strand.
Meticulous.
What Kalis did on his last visit would fit into the Create-A-Dawg player prototype that swirls around Smart and line coach Phil Rauscher’s heads.
Trivia answer
One
