The No. 1 ranked Georgia Bulldogs welcome the Vanderbilt Commodores to Sanford Stadium for a Week 7 football game. Below you can find live updates from Kirby Smart’s press conference, injury news, practice notes and more.

Georgia is coming off a 42-10 win over Auburn this past Saturday. Vanderbilt meanwhile lost to Ole Miss 52-28 last weekend. This will be the first time Vanderbilt plays in Athens since 2018.

Georgia football-Vanderbilt live updates, practice notes for Week 7

6 p.m. update: Georgia coach Kirby Smart will speak with reporters. Cornerback Kamari Lassiter and linebacker Rian Davis will follow.

  • Grit, toughness. I like the way they practice. A little different than last year’s group. I feel like last year’s team was around a little longer.
  • “AD has looked better but he hasn’t looked as good as he did in pregame. I thought we might be able to use him more. He’s been very similar. Jalen is still not practicing with us. Trezmen warms up, gets loose. Smael has been very similar for the past week. Kendall has not practiced with us. He’s probably probable.” -- Smart on AD Mitchell, Jalen Carter, Trezmen Marshall, Smael Mondon and Kendall Milton.
  • “He got his opportunity Saturday and made the most of it.” -- Smart on Rian Davis.
  • “It means we’re not on a bus or plane for a two-hour window. I would just say that it’s a little more time they can get treated and not travel.” -- Smart on back-to-back home games.
  • “The amount of time we have is the amount of time we have. We have meetings Friday night, Saturday morning. It’s constant. We try to meet with every kid we possibly can.” -- Smart on recruiting during home games.
  • “I didn’t know anything about 16, that’s what they gave me. It really hasn’t changed that much. It changed if you’d allow it to change.” -- Smart on jersey numbers.
  • “He’s played good but there’s probably a couple areas where he’d tell you he can play better.” -- Smart on Kamari Lassiter.
  • “I should exercise more but I don’t. I like to eat and that doesn’t couple well with the lack of exercise. I used to run a lot more.” -- Smart on his weekly routine.
  • “We just had a little bit of a 13 package. We put him in there and he played. We thought that was an opportunity to take advantage of that.” -- Smart on Oscar Delp.
  • “It’s great when players deliver messages. He was frustrated when he came out of coverage. We talk all the time in our organization about accepting criticism. I thought he handled it well. He’s said the same thing when he’s gotten on people.” -- Smart on Kamari Lassiter-Jamon Dumas-Johnson exchange against Missouri.
  • “He’s grown up.” -- Smart on Rian Davis.
  • “I wouldn’t have cared. I don’t trust the source.” -- Smart on Georgia being the national title favorite.
  • “You’ve got a really special group when you’re doing that relentlessly.” -- Smart on offensive lineman pushing Georgia ground game.
  • :

12 p.m. update: Georgia coach Kirby Smart will speak with reporters ahead of the game against Vanderbilt.

Opening Statement

“I want to open with thanking the fans, again, for a tremendous home environment. That’s the expectation we’ve set at UGA; for an environment to be intense and fun and exciting, and I thought that the crowd did that. And we want the same this week. Vanderbilt, got a lot of respect for Clark. You know, he’s an alumnus to the school, similar to me. I’ve always respected the work and job he did. He did a tremendous job when he was at Wake. And we copied a lot of the things he did defensively there. And then competed against him as a defensive coordinator at Notre Dame, as well. So through the SEC head coaches’ meetings and gotten to know him better. And I have a lot of respect for the way he carries himself and the way he leads his program. So with that, we’re on to Vandy.”

On the slow offensive starts…

“Not that I can speak of. I mean, some missed opportunities. But there’s an opportunity to grow and get better each day at practice. And our guys have kind of adopted the mentality that they’re going to do that each and every day. They get to go against a really good defense in practice. And I think everybody defines “slow” differently. So I don’t let our guys fall vulnerable to maybe what you think’s slow and what we think is slow. I think that’s a definition for each party. I think when you play in the SEC, you play against really good quality defenses. And usually at the start of the game, they’re at their best.”

On the performance of Branson Robinson…

“He was able to do it because of opportunity. And he was able to do it because a really good game plan in the run game and our offensive line moving their defensive line. But he was given the opportunity to do it and he seized that opportunity. He created that opportunity for himself through his work habits, how hard he’s worked since arriving. But it’s not like he hadn’t been talented the whole time he’s here. He’s earned the opportunity through the work he’s done. And you gain confidence through what you do in practice. And I think he continues to grow, have attention to detail in terms of pickups on checks and protection, and protecting the ball and making good run reads. And he’s done a lot of those things. And we certainly felt strongly enough about him in the job he’s done in practice to get him some in-game carries.”

On Robinson being compared to other backs…

“No, not really because I don’t think it’s fair. Like, I’ll let you guys do all the comparing. I’m happy with who Branson is. Branson’s his own person. I think you -- everybody tries to give everybody a style of running back. But I don’t know that you got a body of work large enough to know. We probably do because we get to see him each and every day. But I don’t think giving him comparisons is fair to him or the others. And I think he’s going to be a really good football player. He has great burst and acceleration. And he has great toughness.”

On Stetson Bennett’s status…

“Stetson’s been good. He was dinged up after the Missouri game in terms of -- he took some shots in that game. I think he got knocked down a couple times. The shoulder was bothering him. But there hadn’t been a lot of large limitation. He hadn’t missed practice time and things. So he’s been good in regards to that.”

On Bennett’s running ability and effect on offense…

“He brings the ability to make defenses play him honest. You know, you can’t play a guy that can take off running a certain way. And if you do, he’ll expose you. So he gives the ability when people man-match, play split safety converges. He can do things with his feet; third down he becomes a weapon, boot and nakeds, read plays, where you can read and read the backer and read the flow. And, you know, you’re actually defending one extra person. And we know that defensively, from some of the quarterbacks we’ve had to face, the nightmare that can create. So we got to do a good job of utilizing that skill set while also keeping him safe.”

  • “Stetson has been good,” Smart said. “He’s been dinged up after the Missouri game. His shoulder was bothering him but there hasn’t been a lot of limitation there.” -- on Stetson Bennett’s health
  • “He was able to do it because of opportunity. He was given the opportunity to do it and seized it. He created that opportunity by how hard he’s worked since he’s gotten here. You gain confidence with you do in practice.”

The Georgia Bulldogs will return to the field this Saturday to host the Vanderbilt Commodores.

Georgia is coming off a commanding win over Auburn, where the Bulldogs rectified many of their previous issues. The Bulldogs ran for 292 yards on Saturday and scored touchdowns on all five red zone possessions.

The Bulldogs didn’t record a sack on Saturday, but Georgia constantly pressured Auburn quarterback Robbie Ashford. Auburn was held to 258 total yards, with star running back Tank Bigsby finishing with a season-low 19 yards.

“We continue to grow and get better. This team has proven its resilience,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “They’re tough, but we’ve got a lot of things we can clean up. We didn’t play as well as we could have, but I want to say I’m very proud of the way our team went after it and attacked.”

If there was one thing that was less than stellar, it was the passing offense. Georgia didn’t have a touchdown pass for a third-straight game and quarterback Stetson Bennett had just 25 passing yards at halftime.

Georgia does get a chance to tune up against an out-matched Vanderbilt team. The Commodores rank last in the SEC in pass defense and have given up 16 passing touchdowns.

Georgia did regain the No. 1 ranking in the AP Poll this week, passing Alabama. The Crimson Tide dropped to No. 3 in the poll this week.

Georgia football-Vanderbilt Injury report for Week 7

  • Andrew Paul (knee, out)
  • CJ Washington (neck, out)
  • Jalen Carter (knee, doubtful)
  • Smael Mondon (ankle, questionable)
  • Trezmen Marshall (knee, questionable)
  • Chaz Chambliss (hamstring, questionable)
  • Kendall Milton (groin, questionable)
  • Adonai Mitchell (thumb/ankle, questionable)
  • Earnest Greene (undisclosed)

Georgia football-Vanderbilt Game time

The Georgia football-Vanderbilt game is set for a 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff

Georgia football-Vanderbilt TV Channel

The Georgia football-Vanderbilt game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.

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