Kirby Smart discusses pass rush vs. ‘statues,’ mobile quarterbacks

With a mobile and massively talented quarterback in Spencer Rattler up next on the schedule for the Georgia defense, Kirby Smart knows his group needs to be able to defend him as both a pocket passer and and off-script playmaker.

In today’s age of college football, most quarterbacks are capable with their legs. Some more than others, but largely, power five teams have guys under center who can chuck the ball 50 yards downfield and do just enough with their feet to evade tacklers and pick up yards on the ground when they need to.

Spencer Rattler certainly falls into the category of guys who can hurt a defense in both aspects. Ahead of Georgia’s game against his South Carolina Gamecocks, Smart plans to have his guys ready to defend both styles of dropback.

“You’ll carry a game plan to do both pretty much against every quarterback,” the Bulldog coach explained when asked about Rattler’s dual-threat abilities.

“Maybe traditional pocket guy that nobody moves, which doesn’t exist anymore really,” he added. “We call them statues. Teams just don’t play with those guys anymore. But you wouldn’t have a lot of alternative rushes for them.”

Those “statues” are rare now and Rattler is certainly not one, forcing Smart to deploy some exotic pass rushes.

“But the guys who play nowadays, you have to have a rush plan to do multiple things. And you base that on situation, score, down, distance, coverage, a lot of things go into how you rush the quarterback.”

As part of his press conference, Kirby Smart emphasized Rattler’s ability to make tacklers miss. He may not have the speed or athleticism of some of the most dynamic QBs, but he can be tough to take down.

“So he’s very elusive, hard to finish on. There’s a lot of people that miss tackles on him when they have an opportunity to try to get him down.”

If Georgia can’t get him down, Rattler’s liable to make some huge plays outside of the pocket.

“So, a tremendous player, sees the whole field, and some of his best plays come off schedule. I mean, you know, somebody misses somebody or he scrambles and he hits you on the shot. He’s very dangerous.”

The Georgia defense will have its hands full trying to contain Spencer Rattler and his playmaking ability, because he can stand in the pocket and pick a defense apart, or scramble and make some magic happen if need be.