PHOTOS: Georgia Football goes between the hedges for first scrimmage
Media members were limited in what we were able to see on Saturday as Georgia Football took the field at Sanford Stadium for its first scrimmage of the fall, but UGA Sports Communications was not. Photographer Tony Walsh was on hand and provides us all with a look into what went down between the hedges. 50 (!!!) photos for you today from yesterday’s scrimmage as the Bulldogs take a day off on Sunday and get back to work tomorrow. Let’s dive in!
And for more scrimmage related content, be sure to check out DawgsHQ’s insider notes that we’ve gathered from those that were able to see some things as well as our Fall Camp Central story that has links to all of the articles from Saturday.
Georgia Quarterbacks
“I would reserve judgement until I really get to watch the tape. I thought statistically, Stetson (Bennett) had a really good day. You don’t know everything when you’re standing behind them, you don’t get to judge what was going on. Watching them, I thought the offensive line did a pretty good job in the pocket. We didn’t get a lot of pressure defensively, which allowed the quarterbacks to have a pretty good day. I’m very pleased with where the quarterbacks are, in terms of Brock (Vandagriff), Carson (Beck) and even Gunner (Stockton). I thought Gunner made some really good plays today. You don’t get to see as much of Gunner, because we do fours in our practice, he gets reps, which is good, but he gets primary reps in the scrimmage, when he gets to go out there with the threes and things. And I thought he did a good job. I have a lot of confidence in all of our quarterbacks. Coach Monken does a great job with those guys. They understand what they need to do and how to get the ball to their weapons.”
Kirby Smart on the quarterbacks
Georgia Running Backs
“He had a great run, but to be honest he’s a great blocker too. Kenny has had a great camp. He’s picked up pressures, played really physical, caught the ball out of the backfield. Everything that he wants to do at the next level in our offense, we have asked him to do, and he’s done a great job at that. Kenny would be the first to tell you he has to work hard and maintain his weight, take really good care of his body. I think Coach Dell McGee has done a great job of taking care of Kenny. He’s done a good job. Daijun (Edwards) has had a really good camp. This guy is playing hard, playing physical. Knows his assignments inside and out. He’s picking up pressures, catching the ball out of the backfield, so to me I’ve been really pleased with what he’s been able to do. Kendall (Milton) has too, but just the last couple of days he’s been dealing with a hamstring.”
Kirby Smart on Kenny McIntosh
Georgia Offensive Line
“Hard one. I can’t measure… I have to watch it. You see so much on the perimeter from where I’m looking. The quarterback decision, the secondary. We had a couple really good runs. We had a couple tackles for loss. When somebody does good, somebody does bad, right? So, I have to watch it and really see because we have probably the most battle on our team at the offensive line. Especially the interior positions. We have musical chairs going and it’s hard for me to say which one was in when good things were happening and which on was in when bad things were happening. That’s what we study the tape for. I don’t have that fresh off in my memory. The battle is there at guard. Those guys are competing for it. I do think we are bigger than we’ve been at guard, which is usually a good indicator that we can be physical. We’ve got (Xavier) Truss and Tate (Ratledge) who wasn’t there today. When you start putting those body types out there, they are just massive.”
Kirby Smart on the performance of the offensive line
Georgia Defensive Line
“We’ll probably use the same amount we always use. You have to use multiple defensive lineman, so we would like to have enough depth to roll six guys for those three interior slots, but that’s going to depend on who does the best job. And we’re a long way from knowing that. The young guys are coming on in flashes and showing some plays, but they don’t have the physical or mental toughness to sustain it, like do it over and over. If I can do it one play, and the next play is off the charts bad, the first play is off the charts good. Tray (Scott) trying to get enough consistency out of that room, that we can play those guys. We’re not where we need to be there, that’s for sure.”
Kirby Smart on the defensive line
Georgia Pass Catchers
“Dilllon (Bell) made some plays today. Jackson (Meeks) made some plays today, if he counts as young. Right now these sophomore aren’t young. These sophomores are old. If you count, 40 to 35 percent of our team are freshmen. I thought Dillon Bell stepped up and made some plays. I thought Oscar (Delp) made some plays at tight end. We have him as a receiving weapon. Those guys continue to do a good job. We just don’t have the depth at receiver. I thought (Marcus) Rosemey-Jacksaint did good job today. Adonai (Mitchell) made a few plays. We are going to have to be really good at the perimeter to be explosive. We have our tight ends, but we have to be good outside to compliment the tight ends. We need to get De’Nylon (Morrissette) back, and we need to get Dillon Bell rolling to get where we need to get at wide out.”
Kirby Smart on the wide receivers
Georgia Linebackers
“I thought Trezmen (Marshall) made a couple of good plays, he’s got to continue to stay healthy. He’s fighting a soft tissue calf strain, he’s in and out. He made a couple of good plays today. Pop (Jamon Dumas-Johnson) has probably been the most consistent guy in that group. We’re looking for some mental and physical toughness out of that group. There’s some talented young players. (Xavian) Sorey flashes, but he’s got to do it more consistently. He knows that, he has some ability to make some really big flash plays, but he’s got to do it more consistently within the defense. Smael (Mondon) has got to play better, too. That’s a group, that group has got to step up and play better, and the defensive line has got to help them play better by keeping the blockers off of them.”
Kirby Smart on the inside linebackers
Georgia Defensive Backs
“Both of those kids are smart, savvy, tough, and physical. I love the way they tackle and play. I thought Nyland had some good physical tackles for him. Kamari is one of the best tacklers on the team, so it’s a lot more about covering at that position than tackling. Kamari did some nice things, gave up some plays. He had a really good day, the other day, where he made some plays on fade ball on A.D. (Mitchell). Kamari is fighting his tail off for that spot and helping us in some special teams spots. I’m very pleased with the growth of those guys. We won’t get through the year with just those three (Green, Lassiter and Ringo) though. We are going to have to have four and five corners to survive the season.”
Kirby Smart on the cornerback position battle
Georgia Specialists
“Everybody is up for grabs, just like I say every year for punt and kickoff return. Kenny (McIntosh) and Kearis (Jackson) mainly on kickoff. Ladd (McCokey), Kearis, Dominick (Blaylock) and (Mekhi) Mews on punt return. Those four are all back there competing for it. We will put the one back there who can give us the best chance to win. That might be return for a touchdown, that might be catch every fair catch. It is whatever it takes to win. The punting job is still up for grabs. (Brett) Thorson is doing a good job. Noah (Jones) is doing a good job. They are both punting the ball. They are not Jake Camarda… We are not trying to make them something they are not, but we have to be better at coverage around them and get great hang time. We have to go down the ball that we punt inside the 10-yard line to flip the field on people. As far as young freshmen helping on special teams, it’s kind of the same thing. The first place that you contribute on the team is usually there. Malaki (Starks) is doing a really good job on some units and Darris Smith shown up. There’s a 200m-400m guy that can run. We are going to look at all of those freshmen before the year is over because they are going to have to help us on special teams. The hardest part is when you get an offensive player that has never played any special teams position. Maybe he’s talented like a (Oscar) Delp or Branson (Robinson)… They’ve never played special teams. In high school, a lot of coaches don’t put those kids on special teams and we need their help because they are 220-240 pound bodies that can run.”
Kirby Smart on special teams
Georgia Coaches
“Practice nine in the books. I didn’t think it was the best of our nine practices. It was our first scrimmage, our first chance to tackle live, so you always have to be careful how you assess your team when you tackle live for the first time. In my experiences as a coach, it’s not pretty. Today was not pretty from a tackling standpoint. Offense was ahead of the defense, which is probably to be expected. I’m a little disappointed in the energy, enthusiasm and leadership from the defense. There wasn’t a lot of support there. When things go bad, there wasn’t a guy to pick them up and grab the bull by the horns, we didn’t have the right direction. But I felt the kids played hard, especially early in the scrimmage, we had guys really play hard, physical, came out with the right mindset. Like I said, practice nine in a row, with one day off between the nine. So, they have gotten after it. They’ll get a day off tomorrow and get back to work Monday. We have a long way to go to get where we need to go, and that has nothing to do with Oregon, that has nothing to do with anybody we play, that has to do with the Georgia Bulldogs. We have to look ourselves in the eyes, as coaches, and figure out what guys we have to do the best and get them to go execute that at the best. We have good football players on this team, we didn’t necessarily play with the right energy and enthusiasm across the board as a whole today. There was some good individual performances, but all in all, I think we have to have a better scrimmage next Saturday.”
Kirby Smart’s overall assessment of the scrimmage
