Georgia wrapped up its fourth practice of the spring on Tuesday.
Head coach Kirby Smart has seen some growth and positive things to this point, but the head coach still wants to see his team get better.
Below are Smart’s full remarks following Tuesday’s practice. Georgia will have a total of 15 practices this spring.
Kirby Smart explains why G-Day won’t be televised, calls out young players
On how the first week of practice has been...
“Long way from good. We are a work in progress. We have the least number of players who have gone through three spring practices since I’ve been here. So that should tell you something. I asked the guys to stand up who have practiced at least three spring practices, so this obviously would make their fourth. There’s basically nobody standing. We just don’t, we have a very young, inexperienced group. We really can’t practice to our standard because they’re all tired. So like we go to practice and it’s like great energy, great in shorts. Guys learning what to do and then we start going and it’s like they can’t go. Tired. So we got to do a better job getting them in shape. We’ve got to probably simplify some to get guys just to go play and not be thinking out there. But a lot of young players and I need the older players, I mean old to me is year two, year three, that’s old, to lead year one guys. Because I feel like half the roster is in their first season at Georgia. Not necessarily first season in college, but their first season at Georgia and that’s it’s been tough. So we’ve got a long way to go but I am optimistic. We do have good kids and they do work hard.”
On the freshmen receivers at practice...
“They’ve got to get in shape. They’re constantly tired at practice. They’ve got their hands on their hips, exhausted. I think there’s a little anxiety in that. So it’s not like it’s all, they’re not taking more reps. So like the older players might have 25 reps in a practice. They might have 20, but they can’t sustain their 20 reps throughout practice. They get really tired. So, you know, they’re trying. There’s no lack of effort and they’re talented, but they’ve got a long way to go in terms of learning what to do and that’s our job. Our job is to get them ready to go. They are not where they need to be.”
On if it’s hard to get guys to step up as leaders or if that needs to be coached...
“No we have to coach it. I mean that’s what they get that’s what they pay us to do, coach them. They have to be willing to receive coaching. On the whole, my whole preach after the practice was we’ve got a lot of guys that put their hands up. They’re offended when you coach them. I’m not talking about the freshmen. I’m talking about in general. So we had multiple NFL coaches come through here, go to practice, and you know, they talk about how their players love to be coached. They love to be given a nugget, a technique that might help them play longer or play better. Some of our guys are offended by it. It’s like, you’re coaching me hard? You’re telling me I’ve got to play with effort? Some of them I guess they’ve never been held to that standard, but that standard is not going to change here.”
On who is working at safety opposite KJ Bolden...
“A lot of guys man. It’s just like a lot of guys and there’s nobody really standing out. KJ’s there and he continues to bulk up, get a little bit bigger and be able to take care of himself and tackle like he needs to in terms of size, but he understands the defense and he’s a good athlete. He can he can do things and cover. JaCorey’s working in there. Zion Branch is working in there. We got Maddox working in there. Jaden’s working in there. JaCorey, I think I mentioned him. Todd Robinson. Joenel’s gotten reps at safety as well as star. Jaden’s working at star some. Kyron’s working at star. Kyron’s working at safety. I mean it’s, it’s a lot of people, but there’s no like, you know, the solid foundation that Malaki and Dan provided is not there. So it’s a by committee group. I’m thinking it’s too early to have anybody like out in the lead. They’re all swimming a little bit. They’re trying to survive practice instead of thrive and we want to thrive, not survive.”
On if players being less coachable is a new thing in the NIL era...
“Yeah if it makes it about the NIL era then there’ll be nobody successful. You know, it’s picking the right people to coach. Kids that want to be coached don’t care what they make. I mean the guys in the National Football League make more than these guys and they still want to be coached. So it’s not a relatively new thing. I think it’s more prevalent than it’s been. It’s just not, it’s not new. Guys have always maybe not been used to being coached and being corrected, especially at the volume and level of which we do things, but I think they’ll get there. If they won’t, then somebody else will be in their spot.”
On the status of G-Day...
“I want to have G-Day. But again we went through practice four, so practice one I couldn’t say with certainty we were going to have it. Through practice four, I still feel good about it. We’ve been very fortunate on the injury side of things. We’re very deficient at a couple positions and if we lose one or two or three, it would convert into some kind of controlled practice, some kind of other format. But right now, we haven’t been through scrimmages. We’ll see where we go. In terms of TV, I think it was more about being controlled on what time and in terms of we like to have recruits there. We like to have prospects come in. It’s a big event. We have official visits, so we want to control the timing of it more and we want to be able to play at our pace and not have to worry about the constraints of being inside a window.”
On KJ Bolden taking on more of a leadership role...
“He seems like a vet to me now because there’s just very little veteran experience out there. He learned from two guys that knew how to do it in Malaki and Dan. He doesn’t overstep his bounds. He doesn’t try to force himself on players that are older than him. He pulls for Georgia. He pulls guys in the right direction. He coaches guys. He got a lot of reps last year at this time. He got a lot of reps in the season. He continues to develop his body. He’s got his body in a position where he can play more snaps, play every snap. In terms of leadership he’s doing a nice job.”
Conditioning of freshmen receivers and Bo Walker’s showing thus far...
“I want to be clear. I’m not calling out the freshmen receivers for not being in shape. I’m calling out all the freshmen. We’re not in shape. There’s not a guy out there, a freshman, that is sustaining his reps and just flourishing.They’re not used to the tempo of practice, nor should they be. There’s not a high school program in the country that can practice like we do. So the number of reps and the tempo of the reps... they might take the same numbers in practice but they took it (in high school) over three hours. They’re taking them in an hour and 40 minutes, that same repetition.”“Bo’s doing a nice job. Bo’s very bright. He’s had some really good runs. He’s had some mistakes. And what I like about Bo is he’s very teachable. He’s very coachable. And he’s got natural rush instincts.”
You’re ready to talk to some of your players today. I want to ask you about three of them. Your two tight ends, Oscar Delph and Lawson Luckie. Can you give me your thoughts on them? And Jordan Hall, is he completely back? Can you tell me about Jordan Hall? Because we haven’t seen him in quite some time.
“Yeah, Lawson and Oscar are two of our leaders on our program. They lead in toughness, they lead in carrying the torch for young tight ends in the room, who we expect to be good. They’re both physical competitors. Lucky to have two guys that have played as much as those two guys. So I’m glad you guys get to see them, as well as those other guys that are gonna be here.“Jordan is, I don’t know if I’d say completely back. I feel like he’s completely back. He might not feel like that. He would say he’s still banged up and bruised up, and getting used to the gauntlet of practice. The good thing about spring, he gets a day off in between to recover. But he’s looked much better and much more healthy. He had his pins taken out, screws taken out, so he’s practiced much better so far this spring than he did at the finish of last year, and we need him to be an integral part of leadership on this team.”
Coach, how do you go about getting the special teams guys to just buy into and commit to their role within the team, even if it’s not exactly where they want to be at the moment?
“Yeah, you sell a team. I mean, special teams give you a chance at an NFL career. Special teams help you win and special teams are about believing in something other than yourself. Because 99 percent of what you do on special teams is for others. and we sell that really hard here. If you don’t buy into that, you probably won’t play a position.”
Kirby, probably got more turnover on the O-line than you had in several years. How have Bo Hughley and Jah Jackson and Juan Gaston... How are those guys performing and kind of adjusting to having a bigger role this year?
“Yeah, it’s brand new and there’s a lot of snaps that have left the building in terms of that. It’s funny because I look at it as four starters left, four guys will be drafted, so your whole line’s turned over. But then you look and say, Micahl Morris started several games and played a lot. Drew Bobo started several games and played a lot. Earnest Greene started several games, Monroe Freeling started. So we’re very fortunate that we had to play a lot of guys due to injury. So it’s like you got some guys that started and played.”“Then behind that, it’s a new cast of characters and they’ve gotta grow up and play. So Bo, Jah Jackson, Nyier (Daniels), fighting Malachi (Tolliver), the guard guys, I guess, (Michael) Unni, (Marques) Easley. Then Juan, being one of the new freshmen who’s continued his journey to lose weight. He’s really fighting that. He’s had an impressive two weeks at going down on his weight.I’ve been proud of him for that, but he still has a ways to go. And then Mason Short, Cortez Smith. I mean, all those guys are really competing in there. So, I mean, we’re fortunate that we have probably three deep on the offensive line in spring practice. I think most of my peers don’t have three deep, but it’s not the quality depth that we’ve had in the past.”
What’s it like not to have Ron Courson in the same role you’ve been accustomed to all the time you’ve been here?
“It’s funny because I still talk to Ron all the time. He’s still, every morning, he comes in, works out, he’s around. I talk to him at baseball games, so I don’t feel like Ron’s gone. But Ron did a great job last year of having Ryan Madaleno and Connor (Norman) do things so that we’d be prepared for this transition. So it’s not like cold turkey, I mean, they were in the staff meetings. They ran things, they had practices that they were the head guy.It was more of a, I don’t know what the right word is, but it was over a course of time, slow deal that we prepared for so that we wouldn’t have a huge transition. Ron will always be part of this program. I mean, Ron’s done probably as much or more than anybody that’s ever been part of this program because the number of years and head coaches he worked for over so many staffs. I mean, I would think he and (Bryant) Gantt’s service to this community and university are unmatched.”
Yeah, with the Daylen (Everette) limited, what have you seen from the corner so far with so many reps up for grabs with Daniel Harris) and Ellis (Robinson), DeMello (Jones), all those guys kind of battling for playing time there?
“Yeah, it’s good and bad, right? It’s flashes, i just wanna see fire and compete out of everybody. So it’s like I can’t label that position as the one, but there’s days that you have flashes. Competitive toughness is so hard to find nowadays, because kids like to take the easy way out, and it’s not easy here. So between Daniel, DeMello, Ondre (Evans), Dom (Kelly, Jontae (Gilbert), Ellis, they all are out there competing, I’m proud of them all. And Daylen’s doing a nice job teaching those guys and setting an example. He’s doing more than you probably realize. He goes to [individual drills] and does work and moves around and continues to improve his own skillset.”
