WATCH: Kirby Smart shares latest on freshman development before Georgia-Florida

ATHENS, Ga. — It’s Tuesday, which means a second chance to hear from Kirby Smart before Georgia takes on its next opponent. The only difference between tonight and yesterday? He’s seen the Bulldogs practice.

Smart was joined by a pair of players as well: Malaki Starks and Lawson Luckie. To check out what players had to say, be sure to head on over to the DawgsHQ YouTube channel. As for Smart, you can find a full transcript AND video below…

Kirby Smart on practice so far this week…

“It was good. Monday I thought was good. We were fresher, coming off the three-day break, so I thought Monday was good. We did more than we do on a typical Monday but didn’t try to overdo it. And then coming back, and then we had our normal in-season Tuesday today and the guys seemed good.”

Smart on Florida QB DJ Lagway… 

“Well, a lot stands out. He’s got great size, he’s got great arm strength, he’s got really good pocket mobility, he’s got a great offense around him. They do a good job. They run the ball and they set up shots off of their run, and when you’re stubborn about running it then you open yourself up to a lot of play-action shots. And he throws a great deep ball. He has been very consistent with that, and he seems to mature beyond his years ’cause it’d be different if this was his first game, but he’s played quite a bit this year, you know? He’s played really well.”

Smart on the difference in kicking off at 3:30 versus 7:30 in terms of the program but also recruiting…

“Yeah, I don’t see a big difference in 3:30 and 7:30 in terms of recruiting. I mean, they can come to the game either way. You can make the case the atmosphere is better at night. I get what he’s saying there, but my concern is with Florida.”

Smart on quarterbacks having an innate ability to step up in the pocket amid pressure or if that can be coached…

“Yeah, both. I mean, I don’t know that anybody’s born with it. Well-coached guys are good at it because they’ve been coached to do it at a young age. Some guys have never been coached to do it, and they have to learn. So I think it’s a trait that you can have and it’s a trait that you can experience, and once you have success doing it it tends to be successful, especially when you have the ability to tuck it up and run. There’s always more air vertical in the pocket than there is escaping around it, unless you’re just a super-freak athlete and you can outrun everybody going around it.”

Kirby Smart on Tate Ratledge and Jordan Hall updates…

“Both have ramped up in terms of reps. Tate took quite a bit yesterday, took quite a bit — I don’t know how many he took today, but I know it’s more than yesterday ’cause we had more available. But we’re trying to be smart in terms of his volume. And Jordan’s done more. He still has moments where it bothers him, but I thought yesterday was Jordan’s best day yet. And I think that three-day off really helped him. I’ll have to watch today and see how he was. I don’t really remember.” 

Smart on Trevor Etienne as a pass catcher…

“Yeah, he’s a really good receiver. He catches the ball well out of the backfield, as most of our backs do. Nate does, Cash does. He’s really good. I mean, if you play man-to-man, he’s one-on-one with the backer. If you play zone, then he can catch the ball underneath and turn it into a big gain. So all those backs that can catch the ball out of the backfield are just that much more dangerous, because it’s hard to get through the defensive lines in the SEC. It’s much easier when you catch the ball past them. You get to exploit that and have some explosives, and he’s a good pass catcher.”

Smart on team impact of having guys banged up like Tate Ratledge and Mykel Williams…

“Yeah, I think our players respect injuries. Almost every guy on our team has missed some practice at some point in time over the course of their career, so they appreciate those guys giving effort to come back. I think it gives more depth and confidence to everybody when the guys are back. But I just respect both of them, because they’ve tried to play hurt. This day and age, not everybody’s willing to play hurt. And Mykel particularly, he’s got a lot at stake, and he knows that he’s not 100%, but he’s been out there competing for his team and showing his toughness, and he’s played pretty well.”

Kirby Smart on timelines for Smael Mondon and Branson Robinson…

“I mean, I don’t know a timeline on either one of those guys. So when you say closer, I mean, they’re closer, because they’re closer than they were yesterday. But I don’t know how close they are. I don’t know what it looks like for them in terms of when they’re able to come back.”

Smart on if he is “playing hurt”… 

“I’ve just got a cough, I can’t figure it out. I haven’t been able to beat it since Texas. I mean, ever since we got back, I’ve been, I feel fine. I mean, I’ve just got a little throat deal. I’ve been coughing bad, haven’t been able to get rid of it. But I don’t feel bad, I just can’t get over this cough.”

Smart on if it’s harder to get to know the families of transfers like Trevor Etienne…

“Yeah, I would definitely say it’s harder to do than a high school recruit. We don’t always, I mean, we meet the family when they come on visits and talk to them. I’ve gotten to meet his mom and communicate with her. She’s a great lady, he’s a great kid. But it’s so different when they’re older. A lot of them are making the decision for different reasons. Like it’s a move that, and I’m not saying his specifically, but several of the people we’ve taken, it’s a one year deal, it’s a two year deal. It’s looking for a change, it’s whatever. But he’s been great, he’s been awesome. But I have not, I didn’t get to go recruit him, sit in his house, have the sophomore, junior, senior year relationship and all those kind of things. But you also get more valid information about people, usually because you call the place that he’s leaving. And to be honest with you, most coaches will shoot you straight. They’ll tell you, just like the people call us about kids and ask, we’re going to tell them the truth. What was their class attendance? What was their practice habits? What kind of kid are they?”

Smart on KJ Bolden over the last couple of weeks and how big the bye week was for him… 

“Yeah, KJ’s been great. He’s been really confident in his checks. He’s extremely smart for a guy his age. He had no real issues picking up our defense. And that comes from his high school background and really from his just instinctiveness and intelligence. He’s a very bright kid, he communicates really well. He’s got a lot of confidence in the defense. He’s got confidence in his ball skills. So it’s been about physicality with him and maintaining his weight. We’ve really tried hard to keep his weight up. This is a long grind that he’s not used to. But I’m pleased with what KJ’s done at this point. All our freshmen, they used last week to get more reps and gain more ground.”

Kirby Smart on the second bye week and the impact for freshmen…

“Yeah, I don’t think, I don’t look at last week as it was a freshman deal. It was a total team, like we worked our entire team and that’s more than freshmen, we work everybody. Now some of our older players took less live reps, but they did a lot more drill work, drill-specific things. But last week was a total team improvement goal. But the two by weeks, I feel like this year, we’ve had more injuries than we’ve ever had.

I mean, we’re dealing with it right now more than we’ve ever had. I don’t know if that’s a fact. I just feel like with the two starters on the o line, we’ve missed on the line, how beat up we’re on the o line, the D line, how it was the start of the year. It’s really been a, I mean, we just had more lost time starters.

The two by weeks has helped a little bit with that. Because the schedule’s been just tough, just brutal and it’s not getting any easier. So you need to have less depth, more injuries. The two by weeks actually has to help, so.”

Smart on Joseph Jonah-Ajonye…

“Yeah, Joseph had to deal with a surgery that’s gonna put him out for the rest of the year. He’s gonna be out the rest of the year, and he did one of the lower extremity injury that he’s not gonna be with us, but he’s already had the surgery. He had it before we went to, I guess he had the surgery after Bbut he didn’t get to go to Texas because of the injury.” 

Smart on the run game…

“Well, it depends on who I’m playing. So I’ll tell you about the first quarter and how I feel about the run game. Because it’s, I mean, everybody wants to, it’s like the pass game. It’s relative to who you’re going against, and it’s relative to how they’re playing you. And not everybody’s played us the same, and not everybody has the same X’s and O’s up there.

We don’t really change our run game, game to game, right? We have different window dresses, nobody does. You can’t put new runs in, so you don’t invent runs. You take the runs you’ve worked on all year round, and you say, okay, how do these work against these fronts? And in some cases, they’ve worked really well. We’ve had a different lineup at two positions, and really kind of a merry-go-round of guys playing up there. So there hasn’t been great continuity. I don’t think that’s really affected us.

I think it’s been Trevor getting used to being in there, getting Nate warm. Had Branson, lost Branson, had Jared, lost Jared, had Tate, lost Tate. And it’s just, it’s been a bunch of different people.

But I’m very confident in our run game, and our ability to run the ball, because people have to honor our ability to throw the ball. And that’s one of the things we do well, so they complement each other.”