Kirby Smart discusses leadership of Nakobe Dean, Will Anderson

As Georgia and Alabama prepare for their second meeting of the season, Kirby Smart and Nick Saban must prepare their teams for the ups and downs, accounting for every possible situation. However, the two defensive-minded coaches rely heavily on their locker room leaders, especially during this time.

Linebackers Nakobe Dean and Will Anderson have served as the on-field and vocal leaders for their respective defenses all season. During the lead-up to the national championship, Smart discussed the leadership traits of each player and the linebacker position as a whole.

“I think that position is a position that ties the front to the back,” said Smart. “And when you’re in the middle kind of it takes extreme toughness to play at that position. And you’ve got to have some coverage skills. You’ve got to understand the defense inside and out.

“You certainly can become a very good leader. If you had a quarterback on defense, I think it would be at the linebacker position because they make so many calls. And Will, certainly, does that. He’s an exceptional rusher, twitchy, plays so hard, high motor, physical toughness. A lot of the same things you can say about Nakobe, although they play different positions.”

While Nakobe Dean lines up in a more central role at middle linebacker, opposed to Will Anderson’s spot on the edge, both show their skills on a regular basis within the run and pass games. Each player is among the leading tacklers for his defense and shows all the traits a coach looks for in the middle of a defense.

Kirby Smart on Nick Saban

Six years into his tenure in Athens and Kirby Smart has not been able to take Nick Saban down. He had four attempts at it — a national championship, two SEC Championships, and a regular-season matchup in Tuscaloosa. Monday will present another opportunity in a national championship.

Smart was asked about his matchups against Alabama where Georgia has had leads in all four. The head coach said it has never been about him vs. Saban. It is about the head coach putting the players in position to win.

“It’s been games of momentum,” Smart said. “They’ve done a good job at momentum in the second half. Each game has been different. And it will never be about he and I. I know he won’t make it that and I won’t make it that, because that’s for you guys to do that.

“It’s about the players. It’s about those guys making plays and putting them in a position to be successful and the guys that, the players that make the meaningful plays, the plays that are conversions – the red areas, the turnovers or not turnovers, the explosive plays that determines the outcomes of games, not he and I.”