What Was Said: Kirby Smart holds court for final in-person availability ahead of opener

ATHENS, Ga. — Kirby Smart and Malaki Starks are the last two representatives from Georgia to speak with reporters in-person on Tuesday. Smart will join a teleconference call with all SEC coaches tomorrow morning for 10 minutes, but the bulk of the talking is done for. Now it’s time to see some football.

UGA and Clemson kickoff the first full Saturday of the season with a top-15 matchup in Atlanta. The Bulldogs and Tigers come in at No. 1 and No. 14 respectively in the preseason rankings and each have claimed multiple national championships in the last decade. Needless to say, it should be a fun one.

DawgsHQ was on hand for the interviews post-practice on Tuesday. We’ll have our takeaways for you shortly, and video from both Smart and Starks is available on our YouTube channel. However, if you’re looking for a transcript of what was said, we’ve got you covered too with everything Smart said shared below…

Smart on the value of opening with a matchup like Georgia-Clemson…

“Strength of schedule, you play a quality opponent right from the get-go and when you get into conference play you’re battle tested probably better than a team that doesn’t play that kind of matchup. You find out more about your team. It’s great for the fans. That’s the advantage. It’s great for recruiting and exposure.”

Smart on practice so far this week…

“It’s been good. It’s been spirited. Guys have been good.”

Smart on the Clemson defense, recipe for success against them…

“Don’t get in situations that they’re going to attack you and play man in. The best thing to do is get first downs before third down. They do a tremendous job on third down, a tremendous job of disguising coverages. They’re very multiple in their fronts. They’re aggressive, they talk well. A lot of their defense reminds me of ours. They’re physical, well coached situationally in games and they know what they’re doing. You can’t say, ‘They’re going to do this,’ You can’t predict what they’re going to do a lot of times, and I think good defenses aren’t predictable. 

How do you attack them? You need to be able to run the ball and control the line of scrimmage. A running game is a quarterback’s best friend for sure. You’ve got to keep them off balance and you’ve got to win one on one battles.”

Smart on the advantage of analysts on the field this fall..

“I think you’re able to do a little more in terms of walk-thrus for us. We do multiple walk-thrus, try to coach our younger players at a younger pace if you’ve got someone that can be assigned to them. It probably was a bigger advantage during camp, practice 1-16 or 20, whatever it was, but when you get into game week it’s not as big of an advantage. You’re focused on the guys that will be playing. But we’re trying to bring the bottom half of our roster to the top half of our roster and I think having more analysts helps do that. That’s why the NCAA did it. It gives more guys opportunities to coach.”

Smart on freshman safety KJ Bolden ahead of the opener…

“Well he missed some time, and that probably set him back some. There was about a 4 or 5 day spel there during camp where he didn’t get to practice. He’s been back for 8 or 9 practices now. He’s a sharp, very intelligent, very coachable kid that’s a good athlete. He hasn’t played major College Football though. He’s played major level high school football, that’s why he’s at the highest level, but he’s an intelligent kid and that’s why I think he’ll respond well when his number is called – if it gets called on to be ready to play.”

Smart on how Georgia’s defense will handle helmet communications, its benefits on that side of the ball…

“We’ve got about seven or eight guys that will probably have it available. Can’t but one guy have it on at a time. There will be multiple helmets and different people will have the ability to have it. 

The benefit of having it is just communication up to 15 seconds. It’s probably not as big as people think it is.”

Smart on what he needs to see from his secondary… 

“Tackle well. Do their job. Compete. They’re not going to win every battle. Not the positions you put guys in the secondary in. THey’ve got good wide outs, got a good quarterback. I want to see them be resilient. I want to see response time to positive and negative things that is really quick. 

Smart on what position is easiest to play as a freshman…

“Corner, running back. Those are spots that I think typically guys can get out there. Receiver, we’ve had a lot freshmen receivers play and contribute. We’ve had a few running backs play and contribute. We’ve had a few corners play and contribute. A specialty pass rusher can play and contribute. Some of those positions inside or in the interior line, it’s not that you can’t because of the mental. It’s you can’t because of the physical. They’re just stronger and have been in the weight program longer than you. 

Smart on the reported SEC injury reporting system… 

“My only opinion on what it is is what I’ve been told. Which is the conference games will have it. I’m great with it as long as we’re all doing it. I have no issue with it I don’t think.

I know Ron (Courson) is going to be in charge of it for me. I think they’re going to tie fines to it and things to it. I just want to say if the guy can play or not. And if it’s a game time decision and he goes and works out and can’t, then he can’t. I think everybody is trying to make this big deal about deception or misleading. If I don’t know if the guy can play, then I have to find out before the game. If he can play, then he’s going to go out there and play. But we’ve had countless number of guys that have gone out before the game to work out to find out if they can play or not.

We’ll abide by the rules they give us. It’s the same as the NFL’s. They’ve done it for years. It keeps the pressure off our kids for people reaching out to them trying to get information for betting sites. There is no gain if you have accurate information. If it protects our kids, I’m for it.”

Smart on if Georgia special teams spots are decided…

“Yeah, they’re competing for that day by day, right up until the end. Peyton’s done a great job, Ham kid’s done a great job kicking off and field goals, the transfer we got. Both those guys have done a tremendous job. Peyton (Woodring) will be doing our field goal kicking. Kick off is still probably to be determined. In terms of long snapper, we’ve got three really good long snappers who have all snapped. A couple of them have snapped in games. We’ll see how that plays out, whether it’s different for field goal and punt. We’ve got multiple guys back there (as returners): Malaki (Starks), Anthony (Evans), Sacovie (White), Mike Jackson. Cash (Jones) has been back there on kickoff. Dillon Bell has been back there on kickoff. Etienne does kickoff. We’ve got a lot of guys that do the KOR. We’ll decide closer to the game based on scheme which guys we put back there.”

Smart on Georgia RB Cash Jones and when he knew Jones could contribute…

“I can’t remember it. I don’t know that it was the first year. I do remember Dell coming to me and telling me he had a kid from Texas that wanted to walk on. I had not met him. He came in and what an awesome kid he’s been in our program. The wow moments for me, or the first moments I remember, are the second spring when he was getting a lot of reps in spring practice and made a lot of plays. Got unbelievable toughness. His ability to run between the tackles has been really good. I think he’s hard to see back there. He’s tough. He runs our runs the exact way we want to in terms of who we read on inside, outside zone. He’s done a lot of really good things. I’m excited for the kind of buildup he’s had. He’s waited his turn. He’s helped us this, he’s done a dominant job on special teams. I love seeing him compete on special teams. He’ll continue to do that. But he also gets lots of opportunities at running back as well.”

Smart on what he wants to see out of All-American safety Malaki Starks starting on Saturday…

“Just leadership. Malaki is going to play like he practiced today, I hope, which is toughness, great eyes, really good athlete, playmaker on the ball. He’s a good football player. I don’t want to see anything necessarily out of him. I just want to see him do what he does every day at practice.”

Smart on wide receiver Anthony Evans as a punt returner…

“I think that was a little different circumstance than just a normal punt return (Alabama return). He’s done good things with the ball. He’s been a good decision maker. He’s caught a lot of punts. So has Sacovie, Malaki, Mike Jackson, Dom (Lovett). They’ve all done a really good job back there in terms of getting reps. Anthony is explosive, quick, tough, will stick his nose in there, and does a good job. I’m excited to see him play the wide receiver position.”