ATHENS — The toughest part of preseason practice is over for Georgia.
The Bulldogs have concluded fall camp and are transitioning to game-week prep ahead of the 2026 season.
Georgia begins play on Sept. 5 against Tennessee State. Before then, the Bulldogs will want to continue to focus on becoming more explosive offensively and pressuring the opposing quarterback defensively.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart touched on areas of concern during his press conference on Tuesday. Below are Smart’s full remarks to the media.
Everything Georgia coach Kirby Smart said as Bulldogs look to address lingering concerns
Opening statement...
“Yep, we’re kind of through what we consider to be fall camp. We finished up practice, what was it, 15 or 16, on Saturday. We’re kind of moving on to some special-needs areas, areas that we gotta work on, some finer points, some things we’ve got to clean up for game time. Starting to work a little bit on opponents. I’s the second kind of phase of camp for us that we led into, the school part more than anything, and just getting the guys caught up and better in every facet of what we want to try to get with each side of the ball. So each coordinator is given things they want to work on, and we’re gonna try to target those things this week.”
On Georgia’s second scrimmage...
“Yeah, I thought there was really some positives on both sides of the ball. Offense continues to be effective and efficient in the red area. Run game in terms of putting dents in the defense and being physical was really good. Defensively, I think, there was some good. Some turnovers in there, some sacks and created some havoc, which is important. But all in all, I thought both sides of the ball continued to get better. I was very pleased with the performance on both sides of the ball.”
On Zykie Helton...
“Yeah, he’s a pleasure to coach. He’s in good spirits each day. He has FPE. That’s what we challenge players to have, and he has that. He has toughness. Combine that with talent, and you’ve got a good player. He’s grown into a role for us, not afraid to be challenged or afraid to be coached, and I think that’s a great quality in any age player.
“But it’s important that he sustains that and doesn’t become entitled or sensitive or complacent. Because he is a talented player that has to challenge himself day in and day out. And from what he came from in terms of Crohn’s disease and the things he went through, it’s a pretty incredible story. And he’s a product of a great home environment and great leadership.”
On Valdin Sone and PJ Dean...
“Yeah, Valdin has worked really hard. He’s created a role in terms of his twitch, his disruption. He’s really athletic. Maybe could get stronger and, you know, be able to hold the point better. But when it comes to getting off blocks, running the ball, chasing the ball, he’s gonna make us better. He’s gonna have a role this year and play in some form or fashion. He plays on special teams because he can run. He’s bright, he’s intelligent, he loves football.
“And then P.J. is probably just starting to scratch the surface. He did not get to go through all of spring. He was dealing with — he had an injury when he first got here in the weight room that he had to deal with, and he had injuries in the spring. He’s just consistently missed time.
“But now, fall camp’s here, he’s growing up rapidly. He’s helping us. He’s gonna be a good football player. You know, he’s gotta get a lot of the mistakes out of the way, and we’ve moved him into the — you know, he’s worked with the outside ‘backers more lately than defensive ends. He’s a little bit lighter than we imagined he would be, but he can run. And with Amaris Williams being out, we’ve gotta find ways to rush the passer, and I do think he’s gonna help us add depth. He’s a tremendous kid. He loves to work.”
On if he’s ready to name a backup quarterback between Ryan Montgomery and Ryan Puglisi...
“Yeah, I think all four of those guys have done a tremendous job. When you start talking about Buddha and Beaver and those guys, they’ve gone in, done work. Both those guys have taken reps with the ones — talking about the two Ryans. They’ve done a tremendous job.
“You know, that battle’s not over. It’s one of those things that we’ll continue to see, and, inevitably, you’d like to see it play out in live action. But is that live action through us, or is that live action through a game? I don’t know if we’ll get a chance to do that. But we have chances every day for them to go in critical, crucial, two-minute drives, third-down competitions. They both have had their good, and they both have had their bad. They continue to get better. So has Buddha. And Bryson’s a guy that we fight every day to try to get more reps for him so he can continue to grow.”
On Nick Chubb’s impact on Smart and on UGA...
“He’s just an incredible person, leader. I think it was more respect than it was necessarily growth. I got I guess it was two years with him, and his demeanor and the way he went about things and bought into what we were demanding. It was two very tough years for him. One was a bounce-back from a significant injury year where we made things really, really hard and tough in the program, and he never questioned any of those things. I don’t know that without he and Sony we’d get the same buy-in that they had.
“When you talk about human beings and respect for, like, where they come from, family, name on the back of your jersey, he has tremendous respect from this organization for what he stands for and what he’s done for, whether it’s his hometown or this university. He’s been an incredible ambassador. And to look at what he’s gone through with those two injuries, I don’t think you can find many people that come back from those two significant injuries.”
On the Georgia pass rush...
“Well, I don’t know if I’ve seen that. I mean, we didn’t have a sack fest out there. That was not what it was at all. I mean, we aren’t where we need to be in terms of pass rush, because we’re missing some guys in terms of, dealing with Amaris (Williams) not being out there and some talent there, we’re having to do it in other ways. And we’ll have to do that probably all year in terms of the way we create pressure and how we go about it. So to say that we’re where we need to be pass-rush-wise, I don’t know that we are.
On financial literacy...
“Yeah, we’ve got people in-house that help our players. We bring in speakers, but speakers can only do so much. They can educate in a one-hour seminar. If you’re not providing in-house help, then you’re probably shorting these guys. And we have a tremendous group here that meet with our players constantly. We provide tax services for our players and investment opportunities. And I think that’s pretty much now the norm, is that how are you helping these guys, and are they willing to receive help? It’s probably a bigger question than how are we doing it, because anything you ask for in this program, we’ll find a way to help you. You have to be willing to receive that help.”
On Quintavious Johnson...
“Well, his leadership has grown. His toughness has grown. I love Q, because each and every day, it’s important to him. He gets better with each and every rep. And he kinda embodies the toughness of this organization. He has a great, durable body. He’s held up. He’s been really competitive and helped us at the SAM position and the JACK position. And we want him to continue to grow.”
On Isiah Canion...
“He’s come in and blended really well. I think he was comfortable in the room because of the players on the team. And having guys he played high school with and played against all his life, just the general Georgia consensus of being a Georgia player, he’s been around it. So he’s worked really hard. He’s relatively quiet, but he plays physical and he plays hard. He plays tough. He’s not afraid to go down and make hard blocks and dig people out. But he’s also got speed and athleticism to be a weapon on the perimeter. And he’s had a really good, quiet camp. And I’m very pleased with what he’s brought to our team, and great kid.”
On if there are ones-on-ones during the scrimmage...“Yeah, we do ones-on-ones the entire scrimmage. It’s the only way we scrimmage. And then in practice, it’s that way too, outside of periods when we’re trying to maybe get a look at something. And we want somebody to give a look, and it’s not our one-on-ones. But most of our practice is one-on-ones. And that’s why you rotate quarterbacks in there too, because you want to see guys go against the one defense. You want to see them perform with one offensive line, and see when you’re evaluating these quarterbacks, are you evaluating them across groups and getting across sections.”
On Gunner Stockton...
“Gunner’s been fine, he’s been good. He had some plays he wished he had back from the last scrimmage. He had some good plays in the first one and some bad ones in the first one. He had some good plays in the second one and some bad ones in the second one. He’s had a good camp. He’s in a much better place this year than he was last year, in my opinion, just from experience.”
On Quintavius Johnson coming out of high school...
“Yeah, it was probably an adjustment. But who is there not an adjustment for when you come into this place? I mean, you come in and there’s big, fast, strong people that are older than you. So it’s an adjustment for everybody. We like the fact he was a Wildcat quarterback. But probably the most intriguing thing, he played Mike (line)backer when he came at 7-on-7. He was an inside linebacker that dropped in play coverage in space. Most kids that have the spatial awareness to play off the ball don’t struggle to move on the ball. They might struggle with physicality, but they don’t struggle with the instincts, and knowledge, and ability to communicate, make plays, and adjustments. And that was the case with him. He was able to pick it up really well, and he’s got the size to go with it.”
On Kyron Jones...
“Yeah, on Kyron, I mean, I don’t wanna say there wasn’t a lot to learn or a lot to improve on, everyone has something to learn and improve on. But he’s been a product of our system. He’s a guy that grew up in the system, developed in the system, and his best football was really this time last year. He had a scrimmage two last year where he flashed and played well, and earned kind of the ability to be considered a starter and rotate play. The foot injury has not changed that, it’s just changed the volume with which he could practice and the volume with which we could play. And we had to prepare us if he was not there, because we don’t know what he’s gonna be able to give us. And so far, he’s done a good job. He’s been on a little bit of a pitch count, and we’ll have to rotate play guys with him. But he’s done a really nice job as an older player that the more you play in football period, the more you play in this defense, the better you play. And he’s a product of that, he’s a product of a guy that stuck around and stuck it out. And he’s a good football player right now, playing at a really good level. We just gotta continue to do that, and we gotta have a plan for him if he can’t.”
On some of the older players recovering from injury...“And then your other question about the other injured guys, I mean, injured or not, those guys would have been on a pitch count this fall. Because I think a couple of them are fifth years, and a couple of them are fourth years. And fifth and fourth years for us, if they’re a returning starter like Gabe (Harris) is, and Drew (Bobo) is, and I really count Jordan (Hall) in that group, you don’t take every snap. There’s not enough snaps to go around, so we spread them out more, and those guys have been on pitch counts in terms of snap counts for practices.”
On Tyler Williams and Thomas Blackshear….“Yeah, they both have flashed and made plays. Need to contribute on special teams. They both have ability. They wouldn’t be here if they didn’t. I’m pleased with that entire room, and those guys enjoy work. They come out to get better every day, and they’ve both had shining moments. They both made some plays in the scrimmages and done a nice job, and they’ve got to continue to do that.”
On the inspiration for the mic at practice...
“Well, I start thinking about that, but about period three, I have not thought about that anymore. But there was no inspiration for it. It came from my voice, and I couldn’t get across what I wanted to say without being hoarse every day or having a headache. So it was a better solution to a communication problem that I couldn’t get to the other end of the field with my voice. So that thing would. So I think it’s, personally, I think it’s overrated in terms of it because some of the players can’t even hear it, and they have headphones in, and they listen to the dots. So it’s, a lot of times, it’s for organization purposes when we change drills and things like that.”
On if the staff is evaluating players on NFL rosters and thoughts on those guys coming back to college...
“No, we’re not currently evaluating anybody that’s on NFL rosters. My thought is just, to each his own, is my thought. I’m worried about our team, our organization, how we do things. The opportunities presented to the guys on our team is important to me. They’ve earned those opportunities through an offseason, through a summer program, through a really tough fall camp. You have to decide, each and every person, if that’s valuable enough to warrant replacing your players that have worked with your team with others that might be better. So our job is to upgrade and try to get better as much as we can and win games. So some people feel like that gives them an opportunity to be better and doesn’t change their culture and more power to them.
But this thing, it’s tough. It’s not affecting us in terms of timing, it’s just, I think it’s affecting everyone else. People don’t follow the chronological history of this thing of a year’s experience where 20, 25 years ago, we had a guy play one play in the SEC Championship and he lost an entire year of eligibility at LSU because he played one play. He was only given four years to play, and that one play cost him an entire year. He didn’t get that year back, he didn’t get those opportunities back. So then the advent of the rule went so far as to say, okay, we’re going to give you four games plus four years. Some people during that time lost out on a chance to get that because the rule came into place at a time when they had missed the opportunity to play in those four games. I didn’t get afforded that opportunity when you play four games. Back when we did redshirt, redshirt was one play, that was it. Then they came in and said, okay, you can have postseason be exempt. There were people that missed out on those postseason exemptions. They didn’t get a part to be in those postseason exemptions, SEC Championship, bowl games. But all those rules came about because they were needed, because rosters were dwindling, people were transferring, people were not playing in bowl games. So they made them exempt and they changed them. But it affected different people each time they changed those rules. And this is a better rule, five for five, this is a better rule. So you can play as much or as little and you get five years. So it’s affecting different people in different ways."
On Nate Frazier losing his dad and how the program helps players in that situation...
“Yeah, I think you could ask Nate that question. He’s a tremendous young man. He’s really close with his mother and respects his dad so much. The loss of his father was impactful on him. We have a tremendous mental health staff here. University of Georgia Athletics supports that piece. We have numerous people that our players can reach out to. Brad Hambric does a tremendous job. And then, T-Set (Thomas Settles, team chaplain). T-Set’s been a part of our program for long before I was here. Coach Richt brought T-Set on. I don’t know that I’ve met someone that is as talented at his professional career, as caring as he is about the players. I think he’s married double digits of players, as the official person acting in the wedding. He has spent a lot of time with Nate and knows Nate well. He spends time with our injured players. There’s so many things behind the scenes that we’re very fortunate to have. People like Brad and T-Set that I’m thankful the University of Georgia supports us to have those guys be part of our program.”
On Terrell Foster...
“Well, he’s already contributed to the team. His character is undeniably one of the best on the team. He’s one of the highest-character individuals I’ve been a part of. Never heard the guy complain. I saw him out there three years ago, hitting sleds all by himself outside my office, just trying to get better. He’s been on the scout team in some form or fashion every year. He doesn’t take a scout team rep any different than his rep. He started on special teams unit. He’s one of the most dependable, accountable, upstanding Georgia representatives there is. We’re very fortunate to have him. He’s fighting for time in the rotation. He’s probably in that top four linebacker group to get playing time and help our team.”
