ATHENS — Kirby Smart wondered early in the week how the Georgia fan base would respond to the weather.
Yet despite a record temperature at kickoff, 101 degrees per Georgia, Smart was proud of how the fan base showed out.
“It was great,” Smart said. “I thought to come out in 120 degree feels like, whatever heat index. You can’t ask everybody to do that. Look at some of the other programs around the country. How many do they have in that heat? We don’t have that problem here.
“Our fans love it. Our fans love coming to see each other. And they’ll be here next week too.”
The temperature didn’t prove to be an issue for Smart’s team, as the Bulldogs rolled to a 63-3 win over Tennessee State.
As for how the Bulldogs played, Smart covered a number of topics in his postgame interview.
Below is a full transcript of his remarks. Georgia takes on Western Kentucky next week at home. The game is set for a 12:45 p.m. ET start.
Kirby Smart praises Georgia fan base amid record heat
Opening statement:
“Yeah, I thought our guys, the message was, you know, first impression. And first impression of this team would be judged by how they handled the opponent and how well they played to our standard or not. And I thought, you know, for three quarters there — first, third, and fourth — we did that. Second, we had some sloppiness, didn’t do some things well.
“But I thought the guys played really hard. I thought they beat the heat. I didn’t feel like the heat impacted us. And, you know, a lot of credit and respect to Tennessee State. He’s trying to turn his program around, and that’s tough to do. A really tough battle last week, and then came in today and they fought. So respect to Coach and his staff and program.”
On Nate Frazier’s performance...
“Excited for Nate. He’s worked really hard. Really, it just hit right where the looks they gave us the times he was in, and some big holes opened up. And he did a nice job being explosive through them. He worked really hard this offseason to earn that. But those runs sometimes fall on Dwight and Chauncey. They all had some good runs. And I thought that by committee that group worked really hard to have a good outing today.”
On Talyn Taylor and Elyiss Williams...
“Both have been great. You know, Elyiss has been a weapon two ways with the blocking and the play-action pass. Really, he’s had an outstanding camp. He and Jaden Reddell both have had great camps and been explosive in practices.
“And Talyn’s a wonderful talent. We’ve known that. We didn’t get a chance to grow that with the injury he had last year. It was very unfortunate. We thought he was gonna be explosive, and he’s had really good practices. He works really hard. He believes in practicing hard. I love that about him. It allows you to play at game speed in games when you practice that way. And he loves the game. He enjoys the game. I thought he did some really good things.”
On Jaden Reddell waiting his turn...
“Yeah, Jaden Reddell is an interesting story because he was highly recruited, highly thought of. He came in with a lot of expectations coming to Georgia as one of the top three or four tight ends in the country.
“And it didn’t happen right away. I’ll be honest with you: He wasn’t what he needed [to be]. He wasn’t ready to block. He would tell you he wasn’t physically ready. He wasn’t mentally ready. He had so many things. It was a shock to go play the speed. But he never pouted, he never whined. He had opportunities to leave and go places. Everybody does. He didn’t choose to. His mom stood firm. Mom said, ‘You’re gonna stay there, you’re gonna outwork average, you’re gonna compete. And man, has he flourished, flourished. When it comes to development, this guy is the embodiment of development. And he’s still getting better. So a lot of credit goes to Coach Hartley. A lot of credit goes to his mother, and most credit goes to him because he works his tail off every day. I still think his best is ahead.”
On how beneficial it was to get four QBs...
“It’s great for them. It’s really not so much about the development because they get those same reps every day in practice. Like, what’s the difference in when we go out there and do eight third downs against our defense or we do eight third downs out there? I think they get better work in practice, honestly.
“But I’m glad for them and their families and the work they do. And all the work they put in that they got to play and see a little bit of a reward for what they do.”
On the talent from central Georgia...
“Yeah, that’s a tough community. It’s one of the best football areas in the state. When you look across the Warner Robins, the Macon area, the Peach County — all the kids in that Central Georgia area, they’re tough. They like contact. When you think about Dink out there, Canion, all the guys we have — Ike. And they go out there and compete and play each day. They’re fun to coach cuz they love football and they’ve got great football programs in that area and support locally and kids grow up wanting to play football in that area.”
On Chase Linton’s injury...
“You know, a lower leg injury that we’re hoping to get him back from.”
On Valdin Sone...
“Hard worker, tremendous athlete. Still learning to play the strength, the play strength at our level in terms of holding up against blocks and run game. He’s twitchy, he’s quick, he’s hard to block, he’s got a good motor. Loves football, he listens, he works hard. So if you’re an athlete and you got size, there’s a bright future for you in this game. And he’s athlete with size that I think Tray’s gonna enjoy working with.”
On what he takes from this...
“I don’t know what you take from this. I mean, we played in heat, we got our first game jitters out of the way. And we go back to work.”
On conversations about pulling starters...
“I can’t predict that, I mean, I can’t predict how the game is going to go. I would be remiss to sit here and tell you that we want to get a X number of plays. How do we know how it’s gonna go up in these games when they’ve been tight before? So just adjust on the fly.”
On Khamari Brooks and PJ Dean...
“They can grow up, they got to grow up, all right? They just played Tennessee State, they didn’t play an SEC opponent. They got to grow up and they got to get better. We need them better yesterday.”
On Drew Bobo with a club...
“Just prevents holding. We’ve been thinking about doing it with all of them.”
On PJ Dean getting used to life at Georgia...
“Well, I think PJ acclimated. I don’t know that his brother helped him acclimate. They didn’t share any time together. I’m sure he gave him advice. They play two different positions. They’re very different young men. They have a wonderful mom who has done an incredible job raising all of her kids. They’re both very respectful, but they’re different. Jared’s a little more mild-mannered in an offensive mindset. PJ’s a little more of a fireplug in a defensive mindset. But they’re both great kids and great individuals. I’m glad we were able to get him. He’s been a big plus for us.”
On the crowd...
“It was great. I thought to come out in 120 degree feels like, whatever heat index. You can’t ask everybody to do that. Look at some of the other programs around the country. How many do they have in that heat. We don’t have that problem here. Our fans love it. Our fans love coming to see each other. And they’ll be here next week too.”
On if he saw a selfless team...
“Yeah, I think mudita is our word that we use, that you celebrate the joy that others have. And you show joy in the success of others. I saw that all over the field today. We had so many players get to play and make plays. The guys on the sideline were cheering. I mean, a story like Jeremy Bell, he just lost his brother in the last week, had to go home, bury his brother and take care of his family. He’s been dealing with extreme emotions, extreme emotions at that point. I didn’t even want him to practice, but yet he wanted to practice. And to go out and do what Jeremy Bell did, he’s been developing for a couple of years now, and he’s starting to come into his own.”
On the tight ends...
“I don’t know, I don’t know how many catches they had. What they did. I mean I thought we could have got Lawson more involved. I mean, he’s had a good camp. But I mean, some of that tight end room is just, they have to learn to share. And they have so much respect for each other. They’re such good weapons that it can’t be about individuals in that room. It has to be about the production of a unit, and a unit can grow that.”
On Jordan Hall...
“Jordan has been practicing really good. He’s more of a vet now. His rep load has been a little lower in practices. I think his conditioning is better. He plays really hard. He runs to the ball. He sets the tone for running to the ball. And that’s what makes you a good defense. It’s not talent, it’s effort. We have a saying, effort counts twice. If you have talent, that’s great, but effort counts twice. And he’s a high effort player. If he holds the standard that other people run to the ball like that, we’ll be pretty good.”
On what he made of the QB performances...
“I have to watch the tape. I couldn’t sit here and tell you. I mean, I could go through and tell you something each one did right, and I could tell you something each one did wrong. They could probably do the same. But we’ll watch the tape, we’ll grow those guys, they’ll continue to work. The hardest job we have is promising those families and kids that we’re not going to sit your kid on the shelf and not let him grow. Ryan Montgomery took reps with the scout team last week. So did Buddha, so did Bryson. So like, Colter Ginn, we get guys reps and don’t let them sit there and not do anything. I think it helps keep them engaged. It keeps morale up, and that’s important.”
On Craig Dandridge...
“Yeah, he missed a window of camp, probably four or five days that really stunted his growth. But his growth was on a high trajectory, and continues to be. He’s smart, he can play multiple positions. He has a little bit of something that we don’t have in that room with his acceleration and his ability to get open quickly. He’s very intelligent, and he’s very conscientious, and he’s tough. I mean, he’s what you want in a wideout. So he’s been a pleasant surprise that has to continue to get better as the competition goes up.”
On how Nate earned his success...
“Well, I mean, all the backs earned it, he just received it. He was blessed to do it. I know you guys want to give him all the credit in the world, but some of those runs were, you need to give credit to the O-line. You need to give credit to Gunner, who saw pressure and checked, these things that you don’t know about that they do. That’s not to take anything away from Nate, he did a tremendous job. But I honestly believe that any one of our backs could’ve done that.”
On the field goal at the end of the first half...
“It looked like we dropped it. I’ve got to see a replay, looked like we dropped it. I didn’t think it was a bad snap, I thought we just dropped it. But I’ll watch it and see.”
On the penalty on the field goal try before that...
“Two of the same numbers out there. Got two guys, we had a guy go down, got to put a sub in, and we put a sub in, can’t put a sub in with the same number as the snapper. So it’s common sense.”
On talking to Sacovie after a punt…
“Good, mostly. I mean, there was one mistake by Sacovie. He takes a lot of pride in his performance and his job of securing the ball. There’s punts all over the country, people don’t catch, they drop, they do all those things. He works really hard at it. I ride him hard. I think that’s one of the least coached positions. You can’t let a ball roll 20 yards, because that’s two first downs that we’ve got to recover from.”
On Isiah Canion...
“Great toughness, great leadership, works hard, very quiet. He helps that room because of his experience and his physicality.”
On keeping his team levelheaded after finding success...
“Practice, we don’t have a problem with that at practice.”
On Jae Lamar and him finding the end zone after a fumbling problem...
“I don’t think he has a fumbling problem, personally…. If you want to ask me, coach, does he have a fumbling problem? No, he doesn’t have a fumbling problem… He didn’t figure it out to get the end zone. It was really good. Graham Houston had a huge block. Give Graham Houston the credit, because I like to look at a play and say, who did the hard job? Who did the job that was hard? Eyiss Williams on one of Talon’s plays, he did the hard job. Graham Houston did the hard job on Jays. So, y’all give Jay all the credit, but it’s a credit to the offensive line and Jay as well for doing what he did.”
On what his message to Georgia fans would be….
“Excitement, have a little PFE, love the game like our players do, and show passion, energy, and make it hard to play at home. I think that’s the key, is being one Dawgnation and pulling in the right and same direction as a group.”
On Jontae Gilbert...
“Yeah, he had a, I don’t know exactly what the bone is, but he had a finger, one of his metacarpals there, that he’s gotten injured. So he just had surgery on it, should be back playing next week.”
