Kirby Smart: Georgia defense still 'hasn't played its best'

ATHENS, Ga. — According to Georgia head coach Kirby Smart, the Bulldogs’ defense still has its best football ahead of them. He said so in assessing how the group – one that last eight players to the NFL Draft this past spring including five first rounders – has played through seven games. That’s certainly a good thing for a unit that’s statistically among the best in the country.

Ranked No. 2 in the nation for scoring defense (9.1 points allowed per game) and No. 4 for total defense (247.0 yards allowed per game) while coming in at No. 4 for both rushing defense and passing defense, the fact that this team can still get better in the eyes of their defensive minded head coach should certainly be celebrated among Georgia fans.

“I don’t know they have to prove anything. It’s not about proving it, it’s about being at your best when your best is needed,” Smart said. “I think we’ve played really good complementary defense, meaning complement the offense. When we’ve had turnovers in the red area, I feel like they’ve gone out put out some fires. They’ve gone out and created some turnovers at opportunistic times. We have not played our best. We got a lot of players individually that might be playing their best, but we have not played our collective best as a defense.”

“As a coach, that’s what you are trying to achieve,” Smart continued. “We lost a lot of good players, and unfortunately, we’ve had some good players out this year, when you count Smael [Mondon] in that and you count some of the linebackers and Jalen [Carter], it’s been tough. But, I’m not one to sit up here make excuses. We get paid to coach the players that are out there. And the guys that are out there have done a tremendous job of giving us great effort day in and day out, and they’re buying into the standard of the University of Georgia defense, which is half the battle is your buy-in.”

Smart’s injury update on Tuesday indicated that Georgia is likely to be without Jalen Carter for at least another week but should expect to get Smael Mondon back for Florida. The team’s third-leading tackler started the first five games at inside linebacker beside Jamon Dumas-Johnson. He has since missed the last two due to a hamstring injury.

“It’ll make our depth come back. He’ll make the same kind of impact that he was making the whole year when he’s been in,” Dumas-Johnson said on getting Mondon back. “Me and Smael have chemistry together, so that chemistry comes back. We’ve just got more depth in the linebacker room with him coming back.”

Another reason for Georgia fans to be excited about the potential of the defense getting better is the uptick in the level of competition. Georgia will need its defense to be at its best facing off against talented quarterbacks like Florida’s Anthony Richardson, Tennessee’s Hendon Hooker, Mississippi State’s Will Rogers and Kentucky’s Will Levis. Focused specifically on this week, Smart has spoken several times on the challenges that Richardson presents for a defense.

“He’s grown a lot and he’s gotten considerably better to me during this season. Like, from the start of the season, game one, you watch every game in sequence and you say, man, this guy is growing and getting better,” Smart said. “And they don’t just limit things for him. Like, they put a lot of shift motion, they put a lot of things on top of him to handle and he manages those well.”

“The toughest thing dealing with Anthony Richardson is how you affect him, because you got to be careful,” Smart continued. “Some of the runs he’s had have been better than backs have across the country. And he’s had 60 and 70-yard runs. And he can take off at any point in time and you don’t know who’s going to have him or who can get him down. He’s got elite arm talent in terms of strength. They clean things up for him on a lot of reads. And he does a really nice job. So I give them a lot of credit — Billy a lot of credit for the development, what he’s done from the start of the season to now in being successful both with his legs and his arm.”

Kickoff time for Saturday’s game versus Florida is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS. Kirby Smart has a 4-2 record against the Gators during his time as a head coach in Athens with the wins being largely decisive.