What Was Said: Kirby Smart breaks down win over Ole Miss

ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia took down Ole Miss on Saturday 52-17 for its tenth win of the season. Brock Bowers made his return and the Bulldog defense stepped up in the second half, allowing just three points to an explosive Rebel offense after the break. Georgia head coach Kirby Smart addressed reporters after the game. Here’s what he had to say…

Kirby Smart Opening Statement…

“I would like to congratulate all the seniors. I think it was 31 guys that walked out there, all guys of different ages with guys that have been here four or five years. There’s a lot of walk-ons that don’t get a lot of credit that got to go out there tonight. A lot of guys that give their bodies and time and effort. I think we have one of the best scout team looks in the country, and of those 31 guys, I bet 16 or 17 practice every day for four or five years knowing they will never play a snap. I don’t think you realize how deep that is to know, ‘I’m never going to step on that field, but I’m going to serve the team and do a great job. This senior class, 47 wins and last year’s was 49. They have an opportunity to do something special. They’ve been special to me. I got a little emotional tonight when I saw some of those guys running onto the field during that time. It’s a really hard night to say bye and then go out and compete and play against a good team. 

Lot of respect for our seniors, lot of respect for our fanbase. To turn out and make a difference in the game. I’m really proud of our effort. Our goal this week was to win the now from Monday to today. It was win the now. We weren’t worried about what happened. The past does not talk to the future. The past doesn’t talk to the present. The present doesn’t talk to the future or past. They don’t talk, they don’t text, they don’t send each other messages. All we wanted to do was win the present, and each play that happened in the game, we wanted to win the next. Thought the guys did a great job of handling that message all week.”

Smart on Georgia’s defensive adjustments to hold Ole Miss without a touchdown in second half…

“No real adjustments. The call we have work, they just have to play them well. Think the two young backers were a little nervous to start the game. They got a third down and long that they converted. First third down of the game. Should have been off the field. CJ (Allen) messed up, Raylen (Wilson) had a little boo boo. Those kids are growing up. Really proud of the way they handled things. When things don’t go well early, sometimes you don’t respond well. Like I said, we’re going to win the now. The next play don’t know he didn’t make the last play. I thought those two guys did a good job handling that in a tough environment. It’s a really tough offense.”

Smart on expectations for Brock Bowers coming into tonight…

“I didn’t have an expectation for Brock. I thought Brock would do what he could. Brock was hellbent to get back out there. I knew, I don’t know when it was so don’t quote me on it, but I was watching film of practice and there was a red blur back behind the play I was watching, about 20 yards behind it. It looked like a guy flying across the field, and I was like, ‘Who is that?’ And I was like, ‘Oh my god, it’s Brock.’ I knew we had a chance then. He’s just different. He took a path that no one takes on that injury and said, ‘This is what I’m doing.'”

Kirby Smart on if he thought it’d be possible Bowers would be back this quickly…

“I knew it was in the realm. Tua (Tagovailoa) did it in 27. It was a belief that he’d have to do something special. The day after it happened, his mother and father called and wanted to be aggressive with it and wanted to treat it. One of the best things for it is to get back on it, move it and not let it stiffen. We had had experience with other guys taking longer, and he took a really aggressive approach to it. He’s different.”

Smart on getting a healthy version of Kendall Milton…

“Kendall ran really hard tonight. I thought that was like the toughest and hardest I’ve seen him run. He ran through tackles, he ran through people’s face. He ran like he was mad. He approached the whole week that way. He’s really stepped up and become a more vocal leader. I think a lot of the credit goes to Kendall and Daijun, but a lot of that credit goes to the offensive line too. We felt like we had the ability to  keep fresh. We had three tackles rolling, we had three guards rolling. To me, that was the special. I’m not taking anything away from Kendall because Kendall was the best Kendall tonight.”

Smart on having the offense healthy for the first time all season…

“It showed up in the first half. If we don’t have a snafu there and get a little aggressive, we probably score four touchdowns or whatever, I don’t know what it was. They’re potent. You’ve got a quarterback and you’ve got pass protectors and you’ve got weapons, first time that I thought Mike and his staff had a, I wouldn’t say a full cupboard. But Brock was close. He may not have been 100 percent. Some of the other guys, Mims is not quite all the way. It’s nice to see those guys out there together.”

Kirby Smart on what it says about Bowers to come back instead of getting ready for the NFL Draft…

“Well people called him and told him that. Those people will not be representing him, I can promise you that. All it did was piss him off. He said, ‘I had people calling and telling me I shouldn’t play, Coach.’ He said, ‘That just drives me crazy. It makes me want to play more to prove them wrong.’ He said, ‘Why am I in this game if I’m not going to come back and play?’ He’s not risking millions, guys. He has an opportunity to get more millions. Like, it’s the other way. It’s not the way, because he’s a great player.

The NFL knows people heal. They heal from that injury. They’ve had tons of that same injury in the NFL. All he did was go out and stamp himself as a warrior that said, ‘I’m going to go out here and practice on Tuesday in front of 15 scouts, then I’m going to practice on Wednesday in front of 12 scouts,’ and they’re all going to be over there going like, ‘Oh my God.’ He’s got an opportunity to move up because of who he is.”

Smart on the most impressive part of the offensive outing…

“Team effort. It always comes back to the same thing in our offense. It’s not one guy. It’s not one guy. It’s dudes everywhere, guys blocking. Oscar Delp blocking, Marcus Rosemy blocking people downfield, Arian goes in the game and hits people. The guys that came in late, Andrew Paul and Rod (Roderick Robinson) running hard. The offensive line blocking the perimeter. Carson (Beck) making good checks and good decisions. The offensive staff, these guys work hard, man. They’re at the office until midnight game planning, trying to put things together. Obviously they executed well tonight.”

Smart on Smael Mondon taking on a bigger role without Jamon Dumas-Johnson…

“The hardest part about not having Pop out there was Smael had to make more calls. But I said this during the week, Smael makes calls anyway. It’s not like one guy makes the calls. They both make the calls. The difference was when we were going to have to play, when Smael got tired, with the two freshmen. That was going to be the concern.

But they’re not normal freshmen, guys. Pop and Smael could have played as freshmen. They had Quay (Walker) and Nakobe (Dean). They could have played. When they started the next year against, the first game when everybody thought we were going to have nobody left, I forgot who that was, Oregon. They played pretty good. Well, these kids, they prepare every day and they work really hard. They’re good football players.

Raylen would be way further along. He must have missed five weeks with an injury. They’re both, they’re different man. They take notes in meetings, they listen to Coach Schumann. Coach Schumann works really hard with them. They played really well tonight in an environment against a really hard offense to play against.”

Kirby Smart on what he and Lane Kiffin said postgame…

“Nothing, not a lot to talk about after a game like that. Probably doesn’t feel like they played like their best. Frustrated, on to the next. We’ll talk this week.”

Smart on clinching the SEC East, if it changes anything for staff in preparation…

“No, no. Support staff will be looking at Tennessee and Georgia Tech. We’ve got to break down the games we’ve got. There’s nothing different logistically. Tomorrow morning we’ll wake up and work on Tennessee.”

Smart on playing in three straight SEC title games…

“It’s the expectation, man. It’s what we expect to do.”

Kirby Smart on the defensive bounce back after the early scores…

“We’ve got a lot of practice at it. Y’all give me the stats. We’re going to give one up the first drive. Didn’t shock me at all. I’ve practiced my patience.”

Smart on the defensive stop to start the third quarter…

“Well yeah we had a three-and-out and then they had the fake punt. I think that was the sequence. I was like, here we go. Be ready to go strap it on. And then we went maybe three-and-out again. I don’t know, we stopped them after that. It was good. I want to jump start things in the second half. You want to be a great second half team starting. We didn’t start real well last week on defense against Missouri, we gave up a field goal. We were better this week. We didn’t start real well on offense. We’ve got to get better at that. 

We wanted to dominate the middle eight. And we took the opportunity away with being aggressive. Carson threw a good ball, we just tipped it to him.”

Smart on the Nazir Stackhouse sack and Javon Bullard interception..

“Yeah huge momentum plays. I even forgot those happened. I didn’t realize Naz got one. Great play by Bull. He worked all week on that. He had a correction from the week before where he busted against Missouri. It really ticked us off he didn’t do his job. He did his job on that play and he got rewarded for it.”

Kirby Smart on the senior class not losing a home game…

“Incredible University. I think President Morehead just told me we were one of the only SEC schools to have a Rhodes Scholar this year. We’re winning in Academics, we’re winning in football, we’re winning in soccer. We’re winning in a lot of sports. Josh Brooks and his staff do an incredible job. I’m fortunate to be a part of an unbelievable organization, in a great state where football is important. High school state playoffs are going on right now and there are tons of good players all over our state. People care about football in this state. 

These seniors, they’ve done it the hard way. They’ve done it the hard way, they’ve earned it. I’ve got a lot of respect. You don’t realize what they sacrifice with the way we practice.”

Smart on the win streak and being in same conversation as Bear Bryant and Nick Saban…

“Rare air. Those guys are guys I grew up watching as a little kid, growing up in Alabama with my dad as a high school coach. A lot of the credit goes to people who have come to this university and played, the players who made those sacrifices, the players who helped win those games. I went in the locker room today, and I was looking at Nolan Smith, Jordan Davis, Mecole (Hardman), Malik Herring, Brian Herrien. It’s all these guys that made sacrifices to do this and make it special. I’ve had incredible coaching staffs. Great coaches make head coaches look smart.”

Smart on the presence of former Georgia players at a game like this…

“Oh yeah, no doubt, the presence makes more confidence. I’m looking over there at guys at guys, and they’re looking over at those guys, and I’m tearing up with them coming off the field. And Jordan’s like, I’m crying too coach, they’re my babies. Those are my babies. He helped raise a lot of those guys. It’s emotional. So many sacrifices are made to make this program what it is and our fans have been really good to us and helped us at home.”

Kirby Smart on Warren Brinson and Julian Humphrey injuries…

“I think Warren had a calf strain. He’s been battling with that. We felt like he’ll be OK, fine. I didn’t notice it being really bad, but he did not go back in. Julian, I’m not sure what he’s dealing with, whether it was a stinger or what, but he was not able to return, so we’re hoping to get him back, but we don’t know right now.”

Smart on Peyton Woodring…

“That’s what he’s supposed to do. Let’s say what it is. He’s supposed to make his extra points, all right? He’s supposed to make his field goals within a certain distance. To do that as a freshman, I think is special. He works at his craft. We’ve talked about it before. He pitched. I think people that go on the mound to pitch, they’re used to pressure.”

Smart on Stetson Bennett and Mark Richt in attendance…

“I didn’t get to see Stetson. I looked on the video board and saw him. I saw Coach Richt. What a great honor. I thought, ‘Golly man, we can’t mess this game up with all these dudes here.’ It’s a tight ball game, and I’m looking up going through our whole past, working for Coach Richt, honoring Coach Richt, College Football Hall of Fame, his wife, what they’ve meant for this community, what they’ve meant to me. He gave me a job when I didn’t have one. It’s just incredible people, just unbelievable people. To see Stetson, you know, I’ve seen Stetson around a couple times, but I haven’t really got to spend time with him. It’s just so consumed.”

Kirby Smart on the Bowers ‘red blur’ and when it was…

“You know what? I’d like to say, I cannot remember. I literally cannot remember. I think it might’ve been last week because he was flying, but he didn’t have breaks. He ran up on the wall by Stegeman on that side, and I was like, he couldn’t stop. But he was flying. I had to stop and go, who’s that? I literally thought he should be playing. But when I saw him struggle to stop, I knew. But every Sunday, he goes out, and I look outside my office window, and he’s out there running and flying around. The week we were at Florida, he was back walking and running faster than anybody we’ve had. But his protocol was more matched up with other people that have done it. He matched that. He beat the markers on all the kids we’ve had with the same injury because he was too stubborn to not do it. He did a great job.”

Smart on the importance of final drive for Brock Vandagriff and Georgia backups…

“Awesome. Any confidence those guys get is huge for him.”