ATHENS — Georgia coach Kirby Smart knows Saturday is a huge game.
“They do an unbelievable of whatever you call the game interaction, the crowd, the fans, their students,” Smart said on Monday. “Tremendous job they do. They’ve got a great football team.”
In addition to praising the Auburn crowd, Smart had plenty to say ahead of Saturday’s game.
Below is a full transcript of his remarks.
Saturday’s game is set for a 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff on ABC.
Everything Kirby Smart said as Georgia football prepares for hostile Auburn game
Opening statement
“All right, onto Auburn for us. What an atmosphere and an opportunity to play a night game at their place. They’ve got an incredible atmosphere, which is starting to be the common theme around our conference. But this place is really hard to play. They do an unbelievable of whatever you call the game interaction, the crowd, the fans, their students.Tremendous job they do. They’ve got a great football team. They’ve played two really, really hard road games in our league against two of the premier teams in our league right now. Playing really good defensively. Got a lot of weapons on offense, got a lot of great skill players, a lot of great players on special teams. Always respect Coach Freeze’s teams. They will strike you and hit you, really physical all across the board. You see it on tape. You see the physicality on tape. That’s just the way it is in our league. Week-in and week-out, you’re going to play a really tight team. The games they’ve played, they’ve been in basically one-possession games that came down to the wire, on the road, in tough environments. So a lot of respect for them. I know they’re coming off a week off. Our guys are coming off the Kentucky game, and trying to go play this one today.”
On preparing for Hugh Freeze offenses throughout his career and how the offense has evolved...
“I would say every offense kinda evolves. Every offensive coordinator, they take plays that work against other people, and they use those plays. He’s done the same through time. He was one of the first to really start using the RPOs. They still use those. It maximizes your skill on the perimeter, and it forces the hand of the defense to make decisions on how you wanna play the run game or the RPO game. Which, most people think of it as a pass game, but it’s really an extension of the run. They do a tremendous job of it. It’s one of the things Hugh has been really good at for a long time.”
On mitigating Auburn’s bye-week rest advantage...
“I don’t know that anything I can do to mitigate that because this is going to be a physical game. You have to practice football to get good at football. They’ll practice this week, just like we’ll practice this week. We’ve had the same number of byes as they’ve had, right? So we have two. I’m assuming they’ve had two. I don’t know if they’ve had their second one yet. You can’t look at that and try to make any excuse for it. So it is what it is. We’ve gotta go play well.”
On Drew Bobo’s importance...
“He’s been a tremendous asset in terms of communication. He calms everyone. His snap accuracy has been important. His ability to play at the first level when he’s covered up, he’s done a good job controlling the zero noses. Then looking at, when he’s uncovered, and getting to the second level and making calls has been good. When you’re sitting in the middle, and you’ve gotta communicate to your left and right, he has to be the guy to send the message down the line. A lot of that is points, Mikes, communication, which way we’re blocking and how we’re blocking it. There’s a lot of intricacies that go into that, and he does a good job with that.”
On Jackson Arnold film vs. stats...
“First thing is, his athleticism. He’s had two or three plays that were broken plays or plays that, maybe scramble plays, RPOs that were designed to be thrown, but maybe the look changed, and he takes off running. He runs for 60 yards. He runs for 70 yards. He doesn’t just run for 8-9 yards and go down. I mean, he runs like a running back. He runs over you, through you, around you, speed. They run gap schemes with him. They run perimeter runs with him. And then probably the toughest thing to defend is when he drops back, and he ends up taking off running. So he’s a weapon, and they’ve got weapons around him in terms of the ability to throw the ball down field.”
On the potential of Auburn’s offense with skill players...
“You see it in games. They’ve had several games where they’ve been explosive and use the skill they have. Like I said, playing on the road in our league is really tough. They’ve had two times they’ve gone into, you guys know A&M and Oklahoma’s environment, and it’s just tough places to play. They have the skill, and they have a lot of them. They’ve got a lot of speed out there with those guys. That includes their back. Their backs as receivers are fast, athletic guys.”
On Monroe Freeling, Earnest Greene and Jordan Hall injury updates...
“I think Jordan should be fine. He’s had the same issue for a while. He’s been dealing with some patellar tendonitis that he deals with week-in and week-out. Earnest is working out with us this week, and trying to recover. We’ll see where he’s at today. Monroe, has an ankle, but it’s probably not as severe as we thought. He’s not having any kind of surgery or anything. We’re hopeful to get him back this week. We’ll just have to wait and see. He’s not going to do a whole lot today, but we think there’s a chance he can go.”
On the secondary getting hands on people...
“Getting hands on people helps you cover them. Just don’t hold them. We had two or three holdings the other day late in the game that hurt us in tempo, in terms of getting off the field. If you wanna cover somebody, you’ve gotta put your hands on them. You’ve gotta affect the timing of a route. If you’re going to be up on somebody, there’s not a lot of purpose of being there if you aren’t using your hands. The advantage in college football over NFL is you can touch them past 5 yards. So you have to try to use that advantage and knock people off their route as you cover them.”
On challenge of contributing immediately as a transfer...
“Well, I think it’s easy to come in and play. I think we’ve had a pretty strong history of guys. I thought London came in and played well. Colbie has came in and contributed and played well. We’ve had some success going into the portal and bringing guys in to help our team. I look at Etienne last year and the impact he had. So it’s easy to do. You have to be the best player or one of the better players at your position. You have to execute at a high level. You’ve gotta be better than the guys in front of you. You’ve gotta play better than the guys in front of you. That’s the truth, whether we’re here or anywhere. I’ve been very pleased with the guys we’ve gotten out of there and what they’ve done to help us.”
On what improves from first road game to second and difficulty of Jordan-Hare...
“It’s not necessarily what makes it hard at Jordan-Hare. It’s what makes it hard anytime you go on the road. It’s an intense, crazy environment. The night games are more so than the day games, in terms of that atmosphere that’s created, but, we practice in that. We create an environment of chaos and noise and try to create some confusion so we have to communicate in that. So our guys get to practice in it. We’ll have to go out and execute it. I don’t know what increases from game one to game two on the road more. I think you’ve got a lot of freshmen who may not have as much anxiety because they’ve done it once. There’s certainly more anxiety the first time you go do it, but it’s not like that goes away. You have to be confident and know your plan and execute your plan.”
On Justin Williams playing time...
“Well he’s always been very competitive. He embodies our FPE. He plays hard. He’s instinctive. He’s probably the most positive guy over there. Every game we’re in, he’s in somebody’s ear cheering them on. He’s on the special teams, cheering them on. He’s just a joy to be around and a joy to coach because he’s full of positive energy. I enjoy Justin, and he’s grown up. He’s getting better. He’s getting strong. He’s getting more physical. He’s very instinctive, and we need him to keep playing more snap, so we can divide those snaps up among those guys better.”
On Demello Jones and Ellis Jones, and Daylen Everette’s veteran role...
“I think both those kids are growing up. They’re getting more reps. They’re getting confidence while they’re on the field. The understanding of the defense, the leverages, the looks, playing snaps. You get that through practices, but you get that through the confidence in the games. Daylen brings a steady presence. He’s a tackle. He’s physical. He’s heavy-handed, so he uses his hands. He’s strong. He’s been in the program. He’s been in the weight room for multiple years. All those things matter. At corner, so much of our league is, can you tackle a back? Can you hold up on a screen or an RPO where you’ve gotta take on a blocker, maybe a tight end? That’s one of Daylen’s strengths is his size and toughness.”
On Brock Bowers taking over at Auburn two years ago and if he’s better to have a go-to guy and if Georgia could still get that on this year’s team...
“If you’re asking me do I wish I had Brock Bowers still? Yeah. I mean, it’d be great, right? Could be a generational player for all I know. I don’t know, but I don’t prefer it either way.
“I love the team we have. I love the team we had. There is no I would rather have one dominant player they can key on and stop. I mean, we had a lot of good players around Brock, so it was great to have him. We’ve got a lot of really good players now that we have a lot of confidence in and a lot of ability to spread the ball around to a group of people. It’s dictated by the defense.
“I don’t think people really understand a lot of our reads are based on what the defense does because it gives you an advantage if they do this. It’s not just ‘him plays’, and ‘him plays’ get you in trouble sometimes.”
On Jesse Palmer saying that Georgia’s defense needs more creativity on third down and if that’s a fair assessment...
“I don’t know. You’d have to ask Jesse. I’m happy for Jesse. I’m glad he makes a living getting to make those decisions. I focus on what gives us a chance to be successful, play well, execute well, who’s in the game, what strategy do they have on offense. Are they going fast? Are they going slow? I don’t concern myself with it much.”
On what was different in terms of the fast start against Kentucky and if Georgia changed anything up on offense...
“No. I mean, I don’t really know what you’re asking. Do we want to start fast? Yes. What made us start fast? I can’t give you [an answer]. We didn’t take a pill, we didn’t inject anything, we didn’t put a different pregame meal. You know, we go out to execute every game. Sometimes the opponent makes that really hard. Sometimes we make it hard because we bust.
“But that’s the objective every game: how do we start fast, what do we do to start fast, and how can we execute better than the other team because at the end of the day that’s what it’s about.”
On Bo Hughley against Kentucky and his progress over the year...
“Bo, like I talked about after the game, he embodies fire, passion, and energy. The guy’s happy every day at practice. He loves football. He works his butt off. I mean, he competes. He goes out, and it doesn’t matter who’s in front of him, he’s going to go to war and fight with them. And he’s done it at the left and right tackle. He’s come in in the pinch and played well in multiple games. He’s a kid that I enjoy coaching and love being around and continues to get better. He’ll continue to get better because of the way he works and the way he practices.”
On what makes Auburn’s pass rush so effective...
“The twitch they have. They’re really twitchy even at the inside positions. Two edge rushers that are probably their, you know, premier players on defense. They both can cause havoc, can wreck a game plan, get off the ball, rush the passer. And they do a good job changing up their looks so it’s not like, oh, just let them sit here and rush. They change things up with a lot of different looks and pressures. Getting those guys in one-on-one situations is their goal, and they do a good job of that.”
On Elyiss Williams growth as a blocker...
“Yeah, he’s really physical. I never realized a kid that size would take so much pride in growing as a blocker. You know, most kids come in and that’s the hardest thing to get used to. They can all catch passes and run and run routes, but in-line and C-area blocking, he has taken pride [in that]. And give Coach Hartley a lot of credit for investing that time on his improvement and him working at it.
“He worked all spring. And, you know, I was like, ‘Well, he’s better than an average blocker for a freshman.’ And then as the year went on this year, he’s grown, he’s gone over with us. he’s gone against really good people. He’s not afraid of contact. So I enjoy watching him grow, and he’s gotten better as a route runner and understanding our offense. He’s kind of worked his way into some of the role. Some of the stuff that happened for him the other day was just really happenstance that it ended up going to him, but I was happy for him.”
On Thomas Blackshear’s absence and what’s holding Daniel Harris back...
“Thomas Blackshear is dealing with a groin injury he’s had that he’s been trying to fight back from. He’s really had it all camp, all year, and continues to work the rehab to get back from that.
“And Daniel has continued to play well on special teams. He’s done a great job for us. He’s dealing with a little bit of a hamstring issue. But it’s about, you know, practicing during the week and the guys that practice the best and play the ball the best and compete, and they’re going to play in the games.”
On Eric Singleton’s impact on the Auburn offense...
“Well, he’s a weapon. I mean, he’s a vertical weapon. He’s a horizontal and vertical speed. We’ve seen him, you know, at Georgia Tech. He’s a great player. They do a great job getting touches. They put him in the backfield, they motion him out of the backfield, they hand him sweeps, they take him vertical, they throw him screenings. I mean, you have to defend the guy every way possible. That’s what good offensive coordinators do with good offensive players.”
On Jackson Arnold holding onto the football and if that affects how you rush...
“I don’t understand the question.”
The reporter says Arnold has a propensity to hold onto the ball...
“I don’t know. I think that may be a PFF stat or something. I don’t know. I don’t have any proof that what you’re saying is true, so I don’t want to make an answer to an assumption that you’ve made.
“That’s not something that I necessarily believe. I think that he has designed runs, and he looks to run the ball when things aren’t there. But I also see him versus pressure to get the ball out really quick, and he’s had accuracy doing that. He’s played in our league for two years, so I don’t really have a plan for a quarterback that per se holds the ball.”
On if Georgia-Auburn rivalry is special for him as a southwest Georgia guy and if he ever played in Jordan-Hare at night...
“Yeah, they’re all special. I mean, they’re all special. I mean, look at the league and look at the people we play and look at the competitive rivalries. There’s obviously a longer-standing tradition with this one, which gives you guys something to write about.
“Our kids and their kids, I promise you, neither one of them know how many years Georgia’s been playing Auburn. but it is in history, and it’s been going on for a long time. It was played in Columbus for quite a while. But that’s neither here nor there for this game because this game is completely independent of the other 100-and-however-many-times these two have played. Yes, I played there at night and coached there at night.”
