What Was Said: Best of Georgia players at SEC Media Days

DALLAS — A trio of Georgia players met with hundreds of reporters on Tuesday at the Omni Hotel in Texas talking about a wide variety of topics. Of course the new College Football 25 video game came up a time or two, as did the 2024 football season that’s to come with big expectations for the Bulldogs. The addition of Texas and Oklahoma to the league creates more to talk about too – especially in this part of the country. DawgsHQ was on hand for it all and has a best of from the day. Here’s six quotes we picked from each of the three in attendance.

Carson Beck | QB | No. 15

Q. With the rules now allowing iPads on the sidelines, how do you think that will help you? Is it too much information overload? What kinds of advantages or disadvantages do you see?

CARSON BECK: I actually didn’t know that so that’s my first time hearing that. I’m actually super excited about that. That’s super cool.

I think going back and watching film this past year, I almost wished that we did have iPads on the sideline because there’s so many different situations that happened throughout a game, but when situations repeat, a lot of defensive coordinators end up going back to what worked before and they’ll repeat calls. So being able to see those things and maybe even having like a little — I guess you have one step or it feels like you might have one step on a defensive coordinator. If you see the look before if something doesn’t go right, they might go back to it, which happened a lot in our games this past year. I think that’ll be super cool to add that and be able to see that.

Q. A couple of your top targets from last season are in the NFL now, Brock and Ladd, among others. Who do you anticipate stepping up among the wide receivers and tight ends this season?

CARSON BECK: Yeah, I think there’s so much depth on our offense and there’s so much talent that there’s not one or two names that I could really pronounce right now, which makes me excited as a quarterback. I’m very excited to see who those guys are going to be that step up and make those big time plays and those big time moments. We have a lot of big games coming up this year so who’s going to step up, who’s going to be that guy, who’s going to be the go-to guy, or is there one? Is everybody going to contribute equally, which is kind of what we saw last year. There’s a lot of guys that stepped up in different games and contributed.

Super excited for the depth that we have and all the talent that we have on offense.

Q. You’ve got some ink on your left leg that says sky’s the limit with a shuttle. Why did you go with that and what’s it mean for you?

CARSON BECK: I think it’s self explanatory for me, like sky’s the limit is like there is no — like as far as progressing and getting into where I want to be, there is no limit. So if you shoot for the sky, there is no ceiling.

I feel like that’s kind of how I try to approach my game and myself as a person is that if I say the sky is the limit, it’s kind of self-explanatory. There isn’t a limit. It’s going to be never-ending progression. You’re just constantly trying to chase that.

Q. Now having the experience that you have of being a starter in this league, any advice for other quarterbacks now coming into the SEC for the first time about what it takes to excel as a quarterback in this league?

CARSON BECK: I think the biggest thing is preparing. For me, what gives me confidence is my preparation. So if I prepare the right way on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, then I’m confident going into the game because I don’t have anything to worry about. There’s no flaws, there’s no this. I might need to look for this or look for that, but I think having that preparation aspect is going to give you confidence once you go into the game because it’s going to be difficult. It’s not going to be easy no matter what week it is. You’re playing a talented opponent with a coach that is going to have his players well prepared for you. They know your tendencies, they know the plays you run. You’ve got to be prepared for what they’re about to bring at you. I would say preparation is the biggest thing that gives me confidence.

Q. You’re obviously a confident guy. How have you been able to balance that confidence year two as a starter Heisman Trophy candidate and not gotten overconfident at this point?

CARSON BECK: Yeah, for me I like to put my focus on the team around me and focus on what’s actually important. When you focus on the team and you really put other people before yourself and you are selfless and you focus on your wide receivers, you focus on the O-line, you focus on the tight ends, you focus on the defense, you focus on the team as a whole, it kind of takes all that outside noise and pressure of these individual awards and individual statistics and it puts it on, okay, let’s win this week and let’s win the next week and so on, so forth, and when those things happen and you can focus on the team and everybody on the team is on that same mindset, that’s when those individual kind of awards start to happen.

Like I said, just focusing on the main thing and keeping that the main thing.

Q. Nick Saban was just talking about you on the SEC Network broadcast saying he knows you well from when you were committed there. How close were you to joining Alabama and what’s your relationship like with Coach Saban?

CARSON BECK: Yeah, obviously I was committed there. I want to say it was my sophomore year of high school until just after my junior year going into my senior year is when I decommitted and committed to Georgia. I’d say I have a great relationship with Coach Saban, obviously one of the best if not the best college coaches of all time. His demeanor, the way he approaches the game, his intelligence level towards football, the respect that he demands from his players. I think we had a great relationship.

Obviously I never got to experience him actually being a coach, but from what I’ve heard and what I was able to see in building a relationship with him, he’s an amazing coach and an amazing person, as well.

Dawgs in Dallas 🐶@GeorgiaFootball x #SECMD24 pic.twitter.com/Nzn0C2u3tv

— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) July 16, 2024

Malaki Starks | DB | No. 24

Q. What’s it like working with Coach on the daily basis? What do you see that the public might not see?

MALAKI STARKS: He’s intense. He’s very intense, but he means well. He’s very competitive. He’s just a guy who wants to go out there and win and wants to bring the best out of you. That’s one reason why I chose to come to Georgia, just to be around a guy like that.

Q. You’ve had such a high standard the past few years, how the Georgia Bulldogs have played. How do you get out of complacency and improve, especially as a defense?

MALAKI STARKS: I think just realizing complacency gets you passed up. If you’re flat lining people who are consistently growing are going to passed you at some point, and the goal is not to get passed, just keep growing. I feel like especially on defense there’s nothing you can’t get better at, nothing you can’t keep growing in, so that’s the goal is just to keep growing day by day.

Q. Talk about the defensive identity; what are you most looking forward to this season and what can we expect out of the defense?

MALAKI STARKS: Just that competitiveness, just to go out there and be hungry, be who we are, be the standard of what Georgia was built on. I think that’s the biggest thing. Another reason why I came to Georgia is to play defense. Georgia has always been that school, when you look at defense that’s who you want to be, and we just want to go out there and be what we can be.

Q. Could you talk about the offense? Obviously with some quality pieces leaving, people have different expectations. What are the expectations for your team and what are you seeing in them early on?

MALAKI STARKS: Right. I think offense is doing great. They really are. The guys that came in like Trevor, Colbie, the transfers that we got, they’ve stepped up and they’ve taken a bigger part in the offense.

I like to say that we don’t rebuild, we reload, and those guys are doing a great job of stepping up and learning, so I’m excited to see what they can do.

Q. What do you notice from Carson Beck? Have you seen a step up in level of play from him?

MALAKI STARKS: I have, and I think that last year was really big for him. I think the thing for Carson is just to step up and be Carson. Just be himself. And I think he’s starting to realize that. He’s starting to get a lot more comfortable with his role of just being that guy, being that voice on the offense and on the whole team. Just him being himself is the biggest thing for him right now, and I think he’s doing that very well.

Q. Who are some guys on the team that aren’t be talked about that maybe should be and that could surprise some people this year?

MALAKI STARKS: I say his name every now and then, but I think Dillon Bell. I think Dillon Bell is that guy people need to watch out for. The way he works, the way he goes about his business. It’s just incredible. Just to be able to compete with a guy like that is huge, so I’m excited to see what he does this season.

On set 🎬#GoDawgs x #SECMD24 pic.twitter.com/CpQhDRGTNf

— Georgia Football (@GeorgiaFootball) July 16, 2024

Mykel Williams | DL | No. 13

Q. I’d love to hear about who else on the defensive line has been impressing you this off-season. Anybody you think could have a breakthrough among your teammates?

MYKEL WILLIAMS: We’ve got a variety of guys this year, especially with our young guys. We’ve got a lot of young guys that I feel like really the whole class we brung in, I feel like they can step up and play because they got here early and they learned a lot. They’ll be able to help us.

I feel like the main guys this year will be what it’s been, like Christen Miller, Warren Brinson, Naz Stackhouse, Jordan Hall. All those guys that’s been here, I feel like they’re going to step up and make it happen this year.

Q. Do you remember your “welcome to Georgia Kirby Smart” moment where you’re like, this is not Columbus anymore?

MYKEL WILLIAMS: Oh, yeah. Broderick Jones. I rarely get pancaked, man, but Broderick Jones pancaked me and I was livid by it. I was highly upset.

Q. The standard is awful high at your school. Is that a challenge? Is that something you guys enjoy?

MYKEL WILLIAMS: Yeah, we really appreciate having that standard here. It gives us something to grasp, something to aspire to, and the standard helps us play to our full potential and be who we’re going to be.

Q. What have you done to become a better player, and what do you want put on display to the folks who haven’t seen you yet?

MYKEL WILLIAMS: I’ve been working constantly this offseason and proving my pass rush ability and my run stopping ability and also my flexibility period in having that ability to bend around corners and edges. I hope that goes on display this year.

Q. You were a very highly touted coming out of high school. You had options. What was it about Georgia that made them the right choice?

MYKEL WILLIAMS: The atmosphere I got when I went to a game that really changed my thinking process about how I thought about Georgia and how I felt about Georgia. Then actually letting them recruit me and seeing what they were about and how the culture was here and how connected everybody was and how everybody was team oriented and wanted to win. Everybody wanted the same goals. It really got me here.

Q. When you first arrived at Georgia, what was the complicated level of the defense? Is it something that takes you a while to learn? When did you feel you learned it, after that first year, year and a half?

MYKEL WILLIAMS: After my first spring year. It took me just spring. We’ve got a lot of defensive calls. We’ve got a huge defense, crazy package. But the way they break it down and install it to you and put everything in families, it makes it so simple and quick to learn. You really want to learn it, it’s simple to learn.

For more video and coverage of the day, be sure to check out the DawgsHQ YouTube channel!