Georgia defense readying itself for Kentucky physicality in practice
ATHENS, Ga. — Deciding on one word to describe Mark Stoops and Kentucky‘s approach to football would be easy: physical. Georgia head coach Kirby Smart is one to use it pretty frequently too, but this week it seems like he’s said the eight-letter adjective more than ever before. That’s because preparation to play the Wildcats has been about as hard hitting as any week this season.
“I think there’s a major league respect for Kentucky in our program because the the kids that have played against Kentucky, it’s been a bloodbath, man,” Smart said on Tuesday. “Like, the game last year was so physical, so tough, rugged, and they run a lot of physical runs, we like to run a lot of physical runs, and you end up just clanging against each other. When you come out of the game, you’re really sore. It was that way that 14-3 or whatever game it was up there in 2020. Man, we had guys dropping like flies, it was just really physical.”
Kentucky running back Chris Rodriguez is a big part of that that physical approach. While he doesn’t quite qualify statistically for “per game” stats having missed the first four of the season, Rodriguez is averaging 122.17 yards per game which would lead the SEC if eligible. Smart said that it seems Rodriguez actually seeks out contact and wants to hit opponents. That’s a physicality his team has to match.
“It’s that time of year where you watch defenses across the country and people turn down contact. They turn down hits,” Smart said. “We make a point to try to show it to our guys that as the year goes, tackling gets worse and worse and worse. Are we going to be bit by that contagious bug of lack of a willingness to thud and tackle people, especially a guy that loves it … Great challenge. Great challenge to be physical with this guy and match his love for contact.”
In recent weeks, Smart has spoken about the lack of overlap between the offenses that Georgia has gone up against. Florida, Tennessee and Mississippi State all do things a little bit differently on offense meaning that his defense has had to adapt. Lucky for them, this week is back to the basics of more stereotypical sets and stuff that they see on a daily basis going up against Georgia’s physical attack as well.
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“You have to adapt on defense. You adapt or you die. So, you have no choice but to adapt – it’s what you have to do. It’s been good. They enjoy it more when we get to show clips of the 49ers and NFL teams. That intrigues the players a lot more, playing against an NFL style offense,” Smart said. “It motivates them a little more because they know that a lot of teams look at those tapes. With their coordinator coming from the NFL, it’s more the kind of style of what they’ll play against at the next level. So, that part excites them.”
“One of the things we have to do to get ready for a team like this is to have physical practices,” Georgia linebacker Smael Mondon added. “We like when a team is just trying to run downhill at us because we’ll be able to play physical with them.”
Georgia and Kentucky kickoff from Kroger Field in Lexington at 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS. It’s the final road game of the season for the Bulldogs before they return home to take on in-state rival Georgia Tech for the regular season finale. Then, after Saturday’s win in Starkville clinched the SEC East, Georgia will play for the SEC Championship against LSU on Saturday, December 3rd at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
