ATHENS — Georgia football held its first scrimmage of the fall this past Saturday.
And after marinating on the performance for a few days, Smart ultimately liked what he saw from the team.
Smart spoke on Tuesday about the team’s performance as Georgia inches ever-closer to the start of the upcoming college football season.
Below is a full transcript of what Smart had to say.
Everything Kirby Smart said about first Georgia football scrimmage
On general takeaways from the first scrimmage...
“Yeah, the temperature made things not as trying, not as mentally tough. I thought the speeds were good. You look back over the years, and the first scrimmage there’s always a lot of heat. And also, they’re coming after hot practices, so it’s not just that day — it’s what’s happened the previous three or four days. And the totality of practicing in 110, 105 heat index a couple days in a row can take its toll on that scrimmage. That wasn’t the case this time. I don’t think that’s any indication that we’re in any better shape. I think it’s just an indication of the weather.
“So really competitive drives, several long drives. I was pleased with the effort for the first scrimmage. We didn’t tackle exactly great, which is the first time we really tackled live. We’ve done a little more live tackling than we have in the past, so we did do some prior to the scrimmage. But I was really pleased with the effort on special teams. I think that’s where we set ourselves apart in scrimmages because we do the special teams within the scrimmage. We have guys competing for spots on those units, and I thought they competed really hard. So I was pleased. Some silly procedural penalties both ways, but pleased with the effort of both groups. We’re just not where we need to be yet.”
On if he’s seeing the expected improvement from players going into their season year at Georgia...
“I guess you’re talking about second-year players. Yeah, in some cases. We’ve had some guys that were injured a little bit last year and didn’t get to see them as much, and now they’re getting more reps. The guys who play, they still have a lot of growth. We have freshmen who played last year that are still seeing growth. But I’m very pleased where that group is.”
On summer enrollees Thomas Blackshear and Rasean Dinkins...
“Yeah, they really worked out hard all summer. So it’s like, in the olden days, those guys would have shown up in August. So they show up in the summer, but they’re late. But they show up in the summer, which is really not late because we’re doing more in the summer than we’ve ever done to get these young guys ready. So I feel like because they’ve done so much in the summer, they’re allowed to walk, they’re allowed to meet, they’re allowed to do all these things, condition. They’re probably like our mid-years were in the spring where it’s a little bit of a shock to them: the tempo of practice, the volume of practice.
“Thomas is dealing with a groin injury that’s been nagging, and so he’s not able to take his rep load. He’s fighting to stay healthy, and camp’s not a good time to be fighting that fight because you get one day off a week, and it’s like, ‘OK, I’m back out there every day.’ He’s flashed and done some things on special teams, and Dink is a good football player. He’s good, he’s young. He’s still learning, but he’s instinctive and he understands football.”
On the competition behind Drew Bobo at center...
“Yeah, all those guys are competing and battling, doing a really good job there. Drew’s been a great for us. Very consistent, understands it, leads it, covers down, great shape, great effort player.
“There’s a battle there behind him. Malachi is dealing with an ankle. But those guys are all competing and really proud of where they are. Waltclaire had to push through some pain and injury Saturday, and he was able to do that. Cortez is on time, on schedule for a freshman o-lineman to be as consistent as he is. And then Dontrell’s done a good job just going in there and snapping and providing us some backup ability.”
On what Josh McCray has been able to do and how far behind he is because of his sickness...
“Yeah, I don’t know that he’s behind. I think the biggest thing is just getting him in shape, caught up to speed, reps, volume, pick-ups, words, all those things. And he continues to push to get where he needs to.”
On Chris Cole...
“Yeah, Chris does a good job for us. He’s very talented in different facets. He can stack back, play inside backer, or he can play on the edges. He can walk out in space and play apex. He’s long, he’s rangy, but the number one thing is he’s a high-effort player. He’s a high IQ player. So we need him to be a good inside backer. We need him to be a good third-down factor.
“We need him to be a guy that can line up and play on tight ends because of his length. And he’s given us that ability.”
On where things stand at the running back position...
“At running back, pleased with where those guys are. That scrimmage is where we got to tackle live. All those guys continue to compete. The biggest thing is staying healthy so we can develop depth at that position.”
On where Nate Frazier has improved the most...
“His knowledge and pickups. Third down, pass pro, knowing when I can get in, when I can get out, when I have to stay in and protect, how I protect. The knowledge and understanding of that is not having to rely on the quarterback to tell you, I think that’s big. His confidence in his run and his ability to give effort and conditioning level is much better than he was as a freshman.”
On Juan Gaston...
“Yeah, Juan has got to get in better shape. He’s a talented player, but he plays a lot of snaps. And as his volume goes up, he struggles to sustain, which is usually the case with freshmen. They just can’t handle the volume, the practice load that they get. And he’s growing at that. He’s lost 25, 30 pounds since being here, but he continues to work hard and work with the ones and the twos in pickups, pass pro pickups, and the different things he has to do.”
On Elo Modozie...
“Elo’s still finding his way in the defense in terms of knowledge, understanding leverages. He’s playing a little bit different role than he played in his place, so he’s adjusted to that. I love his work ethic. I love the way he competes. He’s twitchy, and he’s going against two good tackles every day in our guys.”
On how the offensive line played and what he needs to see from them in what’s left of camp...
“Yeah, I want to continue to see an identity. An identity of toughness, physical, setting edges, delivering the run game, denting the defense. And it’s what we have to be, and we need to have a great run game to, number one, help our quarterback, relieve third and longs, feature backs, and then utilize play action. So those guys are working really hard. I’ve been pleased with the group. They continue to work hard and do what we need to do.”
On Ryan Puglisi...
“Yeah, he prepares really hard. He studies, he’s smart, he picks things up. He makes mistakes, which they all do, and he learns from them. He generally knows when he messed up. He’s walking off the field in the scrimmage and didn’t change the protection on the play that he knew he should have. And he knew it messed him up, but he knew it right away, which is different than where he was this time last year. He’s still trying to figure that out. So he’s made some really good throws. He’s more comfortable in the pocket than he’s been. He understands things much better, and he has a confidence about him that has helped him. So his growth is a tribute to Coach (Brandon) Streeter and Coach (Mike) Bobo, working diligently with him and him absorbing that information.”
On special teams and Zach Branch...
“Yeah, we didn’t do much in terms of, I mean, it’s not live. They just catch the kick, right? So I don’t know what you’d be asking or measuring because they’re not tackling them, they’re not live. So it’s not, it’s hard measurement to say. He doesn’t play the positions where you’re like getting off a block, covering, doing those things. He’s just catching the ball. So that’s something that we don’t do live. It’s a high-injury, high-impact play. So we avoid that.”
On the right guard position battle...
“I feel good about those guys.”
On Daniel Calhoun and Michael Uini...
“Yeah, they have intelligence, they have size, they have mass, they have quickness, they have more experience. But the things you want in guards are size and mass to control the pocket.”
On the play of the tight ends...
Well, I don’t know what you would base that on. I mean, I guess you don’t look into maybe what somebody reported to you. I really don’t know. But I look at the tight ends as a whole in that room and each one of them did some really good things in the scrimmage. And then each one of them did some really poor things in the scrimmage. And that includes (Jaden) Reddell, and that includes Oscar (Delp), and that includes Lawson (Luckie), and that includes Elyiss (Williams), and that includes Colton (Heinrich). And that includes, who’s the last one there, Ethan (Barbour). So they all had some positives and some negatives when it comes to that. So I’m hoping they continue to get better and have more positives than negatives. And I hope that they contribute on special teams, because we need those guys to be able to help us in special teams. At the end of the day, you get judged at tight end not on a play action pass where you’re wide open. You didn’t do anything. Like, what did you do? You get judged on, can you break tackles? I don’t know that we had any tight ends break any tackles. Like, I don’t know that we had any, there’s not probably one tight end that broke a tackle. So when you break tackles, it’s something that, it’s what great players do. Good players just catch the ball and go down when they hit you."
On what he has seen out of Ryan Montgomery so far...
“Yeah, mentally he gets it, he’s very into the mental side of it. He throws a very catchable ball, very accurate passer. A little overwhelmed at times and probably thinking too much in terms of, we get the quarterback a lot. We give a freshman quarterback a lot because it’s a lot greater than what they’re used to. But he’s handled that volume well. He does a good job processing information and taking coaching to the field, which is a good sign for a quarterback.”
On how Ellis Robinson is dealing with his high expectations for himself and what he wants to see out of him this season...
“Just to be the best version of himself. I don’t know a freshman that we sign anymore that doesn’t come in with high expectations of themselves. I want that. Like if they don’t have high expectations of themselves, then we probably got the wrong guy. Because honestly, they have to be ready to play because of the volume of players we have. We have 50 percent of our team is year one and two. So if you don’t come in on year one thinking you’re going to play, then probably the wrong place. Doesn’t mean they’re all going to play, but he’s improved. He’s worked really hard. He competes in practice. He can play physical. He doesn’t always do it. He needs to do it more consistently, but he is not shy or afraid of contact. He’s got ball skills. He makes plays on the ball a lot. And that’s a big part of being a corner.”
On JJ Hanne...
“Yeah, he’s growing up. He’s learning technique, plays hard. Football’s important to him. You always see him out there doing extra work after practice. He’s one of the kids who wasn’t born and raised in the States. So he doesn’t take this opportunity for granted, and that’s a key ingredient to success.”
On Adrian Maddox and his development...
“Yeah, I think he’s more comfortable in the defense. The checks, the things we put on a safety are probably greater than any position outside of linebacker and quarterback. So he’s more comfortable in practice, whatever we had, 15 and then 10 or 11, so he’s around 25, 26. He’s much more comfortable than he was in the spring. He has some really good redeeming qualities. He’s passionate, he’s instinctive. He runs to the ball hard, he plays hard. He has a knack for getting balls out. But he’s got to play within the defense and understand leverages and what we call not playing rat trap. He’s got to consistently do that to play winning football. But I’m very excited about what the future holds for him.”
On the leaders of the WR room and what he saw from them in the scrimmage...
“London is one of our leaders. He sets the tone each and every day. Branch does a great job. He’s a passionate guy, he gives you great energy every day. He goes out and works hard. Dillon’s been running longer than anybody in terms of work ethic and doing things the right way. I mean, you can’t really look at that group and say, there’s just one leader. They lead by committee. There’s a lot of them in there that work hard and do what you’re asked. Even the young guys are, they’ve got great examples to follow in those older guys. So, in the scrimmage, some good, some bad, right? We had a couple explosive plays. A couple plays I thought the receiver should have made, but I was very pleased with their effort.”
On what the team needs to improve on beginning with today’s practice...
“Yeah, we practice this afternoon. So I’m hoping that we get to see them improve on tackling, being more physical. We’re going to work on some situational things. We’re excited to see them work, honestly, because we’re kind of mid-week right now before scrimmage two. We’re getting near the end of our installs, so we should be nearing the volume of football we have to put in. And then we start working on us.”
