ATHENS — Georgia has found playing time for more than a few key freshmen this season.
Craig Dandridge and Zykie Helton have been instant contributors for Georgia this season. Khamari Brooks really impressed in Georgia’s win over Florida.
But Georgia coach Kirby Smart isn’t just focused on those freshmen who are already contributing. The Georgia coach had an interesting note about all of Georgia’s 2026 newcomers.
“We meet with the freshmen periodically to make sure we check in with them to make sure they’re doing OK and explain to them everybody’s in a different spot right now,” Smart said. “Zykie Helton’s different than some kid that’s not playing, and we try to make sure we get good retention out of those guys.”
Smart didn’t just touch on roster management on Monday, as he spent plenty of time going over Georgia’s upcoming game against Ole Miss.
Below are Smart’s full remarks following Monday’s news conference. GEorgia takes on Ole Miss on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
Kirby Smart is spending a little more time focusing on Georgia’s freshmen
Opening statement...
“We’ve got Bulldog Nation, I want to remind everyone that Georgia basketball tips off tonight. They’ve got a double header over at Stegeman, so the Lady Bulldogs will play over at West Georgia at 5 p.m., and then the men are playing NC Central at 7:30. It’s a great opportunity to go out and see the Dawgs play and watch both those programs as they get started in their seasons. I know I’m excited to watch both of them this season. For us, it’s on to Ole Miss. Really good football team. Pete has done a tremendous job since taking over. Obviously we know the two games with them last year were two really hard-fought battles, hard games, a lot of ebb and flow in both games. They’ve done a tremendous job this year. They’ve got probably the best quarterback in the country who plays at a high level. He is extremely hard to defend, and a great player. A lot of respect for their staff. I know a lot of those guys, and the way their team competes and plays. They’re playing really well right now. At home, they’ve been exceptionally well. Our guys will be excited for the challenge. Another opportunity, another week in the SEC, as it always it is. It’ll be a great atmosphere.”
On getting more sacks this season...
“Well, we’ve got inside linebackers that are good blitzers. That’s helped with that. Chris Cole accounts for some of that. He does a little bit of everything, edge and inside. Scheme-wise, Schumann does a good job of mixing it up. It’s a collective effort. You don’t get a sack because of you. You get a sack because of the pocket push on one side or the other or scramble or flush, just different ways to create pressure and confusion for quarterbacks. We’ve been better at that this year, and that’s helped us in terms of affecting the quarterback.”
On program’s biggest challenge at this stage...
“Staying healthy. There’s lots of challenges. The challenge is going on the road to play in a atmosphere that’s extremely hard to play in. But that’s this week, which is my single focus. If you talk about our greatest challenge the rest of the season, it’s can we do it better than whoever does it? They do it. That’s an objective for us every day to go out and do it better than other teams. I do think our teams have gotten better throughout the year, historically. That’s the goal again. Do we get a cumulative effect of what we’ve been doing, or do you hit a peak and start going down? I don’t know. I certainly hope that we’re on the ascent.”
On Trinidad Chambliss’ danger outside the pocket...
“Yeah, how long you got? We could talk for an hour about it. It’s not even that. I watched every game, wow plays. But it’s not the wow plays. The wow plays are what you guys love and what America loves, and he had some wow plays against us last year. Really in both games, but especially the second. But it’s the down-in, down-out decision-making that he’s really elite at, the accuracy that he’s elite at. The release, the decision. He’s just pinpoint. He has an anticipation of windows that’s probably unmatched. I don’t know if that’s God-given, or the fact that he played a lot of football before he got to Ole Miss. He has played a lot of football and experience helps. You throw all that in, and you’ve got a tremendous athlete. He goes forwards, backwards as fast as he goes sideways. He’s just a great athlete that is a great quarterback.”
On concern around player motivation and dialing back practice...
“First thing about that question, the more I think about it, the more it came out, my initial thought when that question came up from Chris Low was, we have less people than we’ve ever had. We have less people to practice with, and that was a major concern of the coaches from the get-go. The settlement decided, or the people who were involved in the settlement decided the number was 105. We’re not at 105 right now. I don’t want to be complaining. We have more than that because we have these designated student-athletes. But we will eventually all have 105. I think the amount of volume of work you do gets poured on less people, and it can cause injuries to go up. My wish would be, if a kid’s at your school, and he’s going to your school and wants to play football, why should he not be able to? Why should he not be afforded the opportunity? Hence the word walk-on. Everybody’s talking about 105 scholarship players is plenty. That’s great, but it’s not what we’re used to having, and we’re playing more games, longer season. I think you should have the opportunity to have kids there at your university to help you. The other part of your question, obviously you worry about the motivation. Is it different now? I don’t want to come across one that’s whining. I think it’s awesome that the players are getting paid. I wish they got paid when I played because maybe then I wouldn’t have to get a $5,000 job in the summer trying to work. But that is none of my concern. It is more long-term effect or earning power. What is the value of a dollar? Do I actually know how hard it is to go out in the real world and say, hey, you’ve gotta go work for $60,000, $70,000. That outlook can get tough on guys when they get through playing. But the earning power they have while they’re here, more power to them. I think the intrinsic motivation to still be a good player even though you’re making money is just that. It boils down to the individual player. That still is an art of recruiting of decision-making. Are you recruiting the right kind of kids that will not be affected by that? We used to deal with that all the time when I was at Alabama. Every NFL scout would come in and say will him being a first round pick or second round pick going to change him? That’s your job to decide that, not mine. Well now it’s our job to decide it as coaches because you’ve gotta get the right kind of people in your program that are motivated to win for the team, the culture of the program, the brand, more than just themselves.”
On Dwight Phillips hobbled...
“He’s fine. Dwight’s fine. I think he was more tired than hurt.”
On road night game and home night game imbalance...
“There’s nothing I can do about it. It’s not a decision I get to make. A lot of things I would want fixed or correct in our league before that. That’s not of a priority. We play on the road at night because we’ve been a highly-ranked team all those years. You say, OK, why haven’t you played at home at night? We haven’t had as many premier matchups. We never play Florida at home. That’s one of our premier matchups that lands on 3:30 all the time. We haven’t had the home opportunities since Notre Dame, Alabama last year, where we’ve had some matchups and opportunities for those. The discrepancy is what it is. I don’t speculate on it. I don’t get into the conspiracy theories everybody else does. I worry about playing the games.”
On Eli Drinkwitz comments about tampering season and reality of that...
“I think in years’ past, we dealt a little more with it than we did this year. This year, there’s not as much room to wiggle things. They’re more stretched than they’ve ever been, so there’s less room. We’ll deal with it when it’s time. I do think the off week is a good time to do, when you say roster management, future projections, and what does it look like? That’s a staff thing, not a go to the kids. We meet with the freshmen periodically to make sure we check in with them to make sure they’re doing OK and explain to them everybody’s in a different spot right now. Zykie Helton’s different than some kid that’s not playing, and we try to make sure we get good retention out of those guys. But no, I’m not meeting with players or going over things in the future because I owe this team everything I’ve got. They owe each other everything they’ve got. Now does that not mean that a kid’s being tampered with or a kid’s not thinking about it? Absolutely. These parents and kids, they think about the next move before they get this move. That’s always in their mind. That creates doubt sometimes. Our job is to be where your feet are, keep getting better, and there’s a season for that.”
On Trinidad Chambliss pre-snap reads...
“I don’t know if I can answer that, Zach. Pre-snap is post-snap. You have to process what’s going on in terms of looks both ways. I can’t get inside his head and say what he’s doing pre-snap, post-snap. He’s elite at both in my opinion. He surveys the field. He knows what he’s going to do. He’s been in this offense long enough that he knows what he’s basing his decisions on. After the play is snapped, he goes through his progressions and does a great job. He knows how to navigate a pocket. I think it’s his pocket presence people don’t give him enough credit for. This guy’s not just a take off and run guy. He steps up in the pocket. He goes through the pocket. He’s made some of his best wow plays working through the pocket.”
On Chris Cole’s game going to next level...
“His intelligence, first. This guy’s really intelligent. He is very purpose driven. He’s not a silly kid. He loves football. He’s very smart. He’s uber-talented because he’s been blessed with length and height and speed, so he’s got all these attributes, but he’s smart. He understands football. He’s well-coached. He listens. He’s different than some of these linebackers we’ve had. He’s different than Jalon. He’s different than Roquan. He’s different than Quay. He’s different thank Nakobe. He’s different than Smael. He’s different than all those guys, but he’s very good, very good different.”
On Ole Miss being No. 1 in red zone in SEC...
“You gotta play well in the red zone. A lot of that has to do with the quarterback extending plays and running the game. The quarterback run game in the red area really shows up. It shows up with every team. He’s a tremendous decision-maker in terms of what he wants to do with the ball. There’s 2-3 plays in the red area this year that you would say he’s never even supposed to pull that ball, and he does it and makes good plays. And you’re not doing that against the sisters of the poor. He’s doing that against SEC teams. That makes him hard to defend in the red area. They’ve got really good skill players. He’s got really good touch and accuracy to make throws, so all those things combine to be a really good red-zone player. It’s hard to say what do you do in the red zone? You’ve gotta play well. You’ve gotta play disciplined football. You’ve gotta make it hard to run it in on. That’s what most people who are good in the red zone can do.”
On key to defending a guy that can do everything and make him uncomfortable...
“You gotta be successful at a lot of things. You’ve gotta be able to pitch and catch. Not just do one thing. There’s nothing we’re going to do that he hasn’t seen. We’re not tricking the guy. I think that’s what people get infatuated with. How can I trick them? You can’t do that. You’ve gotta go play good, sound football. You’ve gotta tackle the man that catches it. No yards of catch. You’ve gotta create some turnovers. You’ve gotta bat some balls. You’ve gotta make plays and get off the field when you’ve got a chance on third down. There’s not a perfect remedy. If there was, somebody would’ve done it.”
On Ellis Robinson’s health update...
“He looks good. Hopefully he’ll be good to go. We’ll find out more today.”
