WATCH: Kirby Smart on Georgia's G-Day spring scrimmage, ups, downs, and what's next

ATHENS, Ga. — Another Georgia spring scrimmage is in the books with the Red team taking down the black team by a score of 34-17. Gunner Stockton threw for over 300 yards and two touchdowns. Ryan Puglisi tossed two of his own and the Bulldogs put the ball in the air 88 times. Kirby Smart spoke to reporters afterward and below is everything he had to say, plus video.

OPENING STATEMENT

“I’m excited about the spring game. Got an opportunity to play a lot of guys today. Got a lot of snaps in, probably more than we typically do. I liked the pace that it went at. We got done right at two hours and ended up getting about 15 or 20 more snaps than we’ve gotten in the past year. So it was good tempo.

“Some good and bad for both, but that’s the way spring games go. We’ve got to play some loose plays, throw the ball around, got to do some two-minute. Excited about the guys that got to play. We’ve got a lot of work to do in terms of offseason and getting ourselves where we need to be for next year, but a lot of the mid-years got valuable minutes. I can remember when mid-years kind of went with the threes and fours, and now it seems like more of them are going with the twos. That’s just the way of college football right now.”

“So excited about the work we’ve had and looking forward to progress we make into fall camp and into the next season.”

On areas of growth he wants to see over the next several months…

“Mental and physical toughness I think is one of the number one areas that we can get better at, grow, have more guys that can play winning football.”

On Elijah Griffin and Dominick Kelly this spring… 

“Hard to read, honestly. I’d have to watch the tape, but I mean, Dom’s was a busted route. I like to look and judge the play based on did you make a great play or did he make a great play? I don’t think either happened on that. Those are more circumstantial plays. 

“I mean, typically, ones that the media sees, it’s like, well, in the stat line he had an interception, but did he go up and make a great play? I’m not taking anything away from Do, because Dom’s had a really good spring, but that ball was thrown right to him, we had a busted route. 

“And then Elijah made some plays too and then continues to get better.” 

On immediate takeaways from Gunner Stockton and Ryan Puglisi today…

“Both did some good things and both did some poor things, which, when you get in a game environment, they need that. They need a game environment, they need a pocket, they need live, they need to play football. 

“And they continue to get better. They understand they have some weapons on the outside. We have to rely on those guys to be able to make some plays, and I think both of those guys understand the offense. Ryan’s come a long way in what was really his first spring, and he made some nice throws.”

On where he’s seen Gunner improve the most since the start of spring…

“Confidence, understanding the offense, knowing when to take a shot, which he didn’t do a great job today. He had a couple times where he could have thrown the ball or checked it down. He took shots that he probably didn’t have to. But he’s done a really good job with his feet, his legs. He made plays with his legs today, and I thought Ryan did too. They’re both good athletes that can extend plays.”

On the wide receiver group after spring…

“Excited to see some more growth, excited to see some more toughness. Excited to see what they can do in the fall. The biggest thing is keeping them healthy. I don’t know what the number is, but I would bet there’s six or seven of them that are in their first time playing this offense, and that takes a little time. So I thought the six or seven new guys got better as the spring went on, and they got a chance to get 20-something more practices to grow even more. We’re not where we need to be at wide out, but we have a good group to work with.”

On how Zachariah Branch and Noah Thomas has grown since getting to Georgia… 

“They’re learning the offense. I mean, kind of what I mentioned with those six or seven there, they’re in that number of guys that have to continue to grow and understand. Zach missed two or three practices that probably hurt him in terms of getting reps and understanding the offense. You can’t just say, ‘I’m going to learn it and go out there and do it. You have to rep it. You gotta go out there and physically do it, and he missed, I think, two of the last three practices or three of the last four practices and then was able to go today. 

“But Sacovie made some plays today — made some really nice plays. And he catches the ball well, he’s athletic. Dillon went out and played and did some extra things. The group we have — the core group we have — is really tough and physical, and we want to continue to grow everybody to be that way.”

On the future of G-Day…

“I don’t know. I’d say it’s year by year. It probably has more to do with my team, the health of our team, the number of players in college football. I mean, we as coaches don’t control the numbers we have, so if we don’t have enough numbers we won’t be able to have the game. I mean, I think it’s a great tradition, but it’s more about what does our team need than just what Athens needs.”

On Bo Walker and Chauncey Bowens…

“I’m excited for those two. They both got better in the spring, and I thought Dwight had a good spring, Nate had a good spring, and then Cash took less reps than anybody because he’s the guy that’s had the most. But he continues to grow and get better. I’m really excited about all those backs, they had good spring practices.”

On if the House settlement could curb some player movement…

“I don’t know that the House settlement is going to have any effect on the flow of players because that’s not really what the House settlement is meant to do. It could increase it if more teams have money. I think it’s hard to say what’s going on in our league, how that will impact things in the future. I can’t foresee that. I think it’s been spiraling and it’s continuing to spiral. So, I don’t know what reigns it in. I don’t know that there’s anything anybody can do to reign it in. It is what it is. You have to manage your culture as good as you can. You have to manage the players you take as good as you can. And you’ve got to move on and play with the players that are there. I really don’t concern myself much with it. I just focus on the guys that are here and the guys that we can get to be here, and not worry about the ones that don’t want to be here.”

On dealing more with agents and if that is an issue…

“There’s definitely more agents involved in the process this year than previous years, and it will continue to grow in terms of representation. But the agents are just doing a job, just like I’m doing a job, just like the parents do a job. Their job is to protect their client, try to get the best deal or the best situation for their client they can. And I understand that. That is a business side of it. I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I think it’s only bad when we don’t have a system that has comps. You don’t have a system that there’s, okay, this is what the comp is for kids. Sometimes their comp and what our comp is are completely different. And obviously both sides are trying to side things their way, and that makes it really challenging. You don’t have that challenge in the NFL because it’s public knowledge and you know what you’re working off of. Nobody really knows in college football what teams are working off of.” 

On Justin Williams and Chris Cole…

“Yeah, I’m excited about Justin and Chris. I’ll tell you that there’s not two players on our team that play with more fire, passion, and energy, and we talk about it all the time. Fire, passion, show me your fire, passion, and energy. They were having fun on the field. They enjoy each other. They compete. They love the game of football. So if there’s anybody out there that’s played high school football who has fire, passion, and energy and just loves the game, we’ve got a spot for you. Just come to Georgia. We’ll find a way to get you there. Fire, passion, and energy pays off. It’s not the ratings or the stars or all those things. It really isn’t. It’s just the kids that want to play the game the most right now and those are the ones that play the best, and those two guys personify that.”

On where his team is on the lines of scrimmage…

“Yeah, we’ve got great size up there. I think when you look across the teams we play, the upper echelon, best teams in our conference, they win with the line of scrimmage. We’re probably not as good on the line of scrimmage as we have been in the last three to four years. We’ve got time to get there, and we’ve got to get there.  It’s just hard because you’ve got less defensive linemen and offensive linemen than we’ve ever had before, and we seem younger. We’ve had a void that we knew was coming with Dylan, Jared, Tate, Truss that’s been there. It’s been coming for a while, so we’ve tried to make up for it and put the right kind of kids in those shoes, but they’re not where those kids were yet. Then the defensive line, Warren, Nas, Mykel, Ty, there’s a lot of guys leaving out of that room. So there’s a lot of big bodies for us that had to be replaced, and we are not where we need to be on the line of scrimmage. But I’m very pleased with the kids we have. I’m just not pleased with where we are. We have to get better.” 

On if being a younger team makes the players hungrier to uphold the standard…

“Yeah, fire, passion, and energy. That’s what we’re looking for out of those kids. A lot of times the guy that plays hard is better than the guy that just has the most talent, and we’re trying to get more of it.” 

On Colbie Young…

“Yeah, he gives you problems outside. You’re going out there and there’s not a lot of defense you can have for a guy that gets the ball at the highest point and goes up. It forces DBs to have a really good ball skill set. They’ve got to have great balls, the hands to go up and attack the ball and play the ball high in the air. The ball-playing skills of the DBs sometimes are not that of a receiver. And Colbie has made a lot of plays this spring on those 50-50 type balls.”

On Daniel Harris…

“I think he’s competing harder. I think it matters to him more. He sees two really good players at the corner position with him, in Demello and Ellis, and he’s competed really hard. He’s had some plays where he’s given up balls, and he’s had some plays where he’s made them. Demelo had a really good spring. He lost a couple of battles today, and then in the end, Ellis had a couple where he had 50-50 balls. All three of those corners have gotten better. I think Donte’s done a great job with them, having a lot of confidence in those guys. The wideouts made some plays today.” 

On the freshmen receivers…

“Yeah, way, way, way, way, way further ahead. I mean, they’ve come a long way. They were thrown into the fire. They’ve been demanded to get the call, line up. I mean, they’re ahead of where our typical freshmen are because they’ve gone with the twos. They’ve got a ways to go still. They had a little anxiety today. They had a couple plays I thought they should have made. But they’re a good group, and Tyler’s been hurt. We haven’t been able to see him much. But that young group has made some plays for us.”

On the Nico Iameleava situation on Tennessee… 

“Don’t know that I know that. I don’t know enough about that situation to fairly comment on it. I mean, I basically know what you guys know. And then you don’t know what’s real, what’s being reported, what’s being leaked, what are the reasons for all of it? Again, I’m worried about my house, and I try to control what goes on in my house. I can’t worry about everybody else’s house. So the climate is different. But again, I’m focused on the kids we got who wanna be here.”

On how Ryan Puglisi has done this spring…

“Ryan’s done a good job. Ryan continues to get better since it’s his first spring. I mean, he ain’t got a chance to compete and do much. He has growth. He’s still probably a little bit behind Gunner in terms of the knowledge of the offense, but he’s catching up in regards to that, right? He’s getting experience, knowing when to pull it down and run it, when to throw it away, just game management decisions. He’s not gonna do anything but get better. And they’re both great kids who have a great relationship with each other. And we’re very lucky to have two guys that care so much about Georgia. And they’re not worried about the perception or whatever you’re gonna write coming out of the scrimmage of your view of them. They don’t care. They care about the team, and that’s what I care about.” 

On the transfer portal opening on Wednesday and how SEC transfer restrictions help… 

“Well, it doesn’t, I mean, they can go anywhere, right? You just can’t go to the SEC, but I don’t, I mean, there’s nobody that loves that rule more than the teams outside the SEC. I mean, they love that rule. But that’s, again, if kids wanna be here, we’re gonna have them here. I hope I get to keep my entire roster and go play the whole year with my entire roster. If we don’t, then we’ll get somebody that wants to. I mean, there’s tons of kids that wanna be at the University of Georgia, and I’m worried about the ones that wanna be here, not the ones that don’t.” 

Where the roster is with fire, passion and energy…

“Yeah, I don’t know what I’m comparing it against. I don’t think, I look at it and I can say, okay, there’s 11 positions starting out there on defense. How many have a burning fire within them? I don’t know, five, six, seven? I mean, it’s not what I want it to be. And then offense, okay? I’m looking, and we talked about it the other day, I’m looking for a bonfire. I’m looking for not a bunch of little campfires. I’m looking for a bonfire. I’m looking to see an inferno of burning. I have to be dominant and the best teams have offenses and defenses that have passion and energy. I can’t sit here and tell you that I’m happy with where ours is, but I’m also not disappointed. I just wanna get more guys jumping in there.”

On London Humphreys… 

“Yeah, he’s way beyond. When he came, he wanted to be developed, he wanted to learn this offense. He understands that he can play multiple positions. He’s probably the only guy he and Dillon Bell that can play all three. Coach Coley did a great job of teaching those guys all three positions. And that’s a little bit of a product today of playing the multiple positions. Becaue he can go out there, somebody goes down and jump out there and play. And London’s very smart. He doesn’t have a lot of anxiety. He’s very mature, and he’s good for those kids in that room. Because he works really hard.” 

On Cole Speer and other injuries… 

“Not sure if it’s high ankle or lower leg. I’m not sure, they said they’re gonna do x-rays. He’s got an ankle, Q’s got an ankle, and Noah Thomas has an AC sprain.  But I don’t know that any of them were significant.” 

On if there is one thing House can fix about the sport… 

“No, I don’t think it’s like that, though. I think y’all are, the House settlement is what it is. It’s not like she’s gonna go in there and say, well, I’m gonna change this. I’m gonna do this, and everything’s gonna be fixed. It’s not like that. I mean, it’s already set. It’s set to what it is. Now, could she make some changes? Possibly, but I’m not educated enough to comment on that, okay? That’s not gonna fix everything. Everybody thinks, well, that’s just gonna fix. It’s gonna set parameters.

“And if, if the Clearinghouse/Deloitte has teeth and can police deals and make deals, legitimate deals, fair market value deals, then we possibly have a chance. But there’s people out there that question whether that can even happen. Look, we live in a litigated society. So everything somebody moves, somebody else has litigation to go against it. And it’s unfortunate because it’s not the college football that we all grew up watching and saw, but it’s still a really good product.”

On the second-half performance… 

“I don’t know. I have to reserve it and see, we threw the ball all over the place. So it’s a throw-happy league. We don’t carry many pressures. We don’t carry a lot of alternative things to protect them. We say in this game, we’re gonna find out if we can throw a catch and if we can make plays down the field. We made a couple down the field. We had a couple nice picks. But then we also had some balls that threw and caught So I don’t know if you’ve played out there before, but when you go out there, there’s a big guy, six foot four, that knows where the ball is, and you don’t. Sometimes it’s hard to make that play. I’ve been there.”