What Was Said: Kirby Smart speaks as Clemson opener approaches

ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia head coach Kirby Smart and a pair of players (CJ Allen and Dylan Fairchild) spoke with reporters on Tuesday afternoon as the Bulldogs continue on with their preseason preparation. UGA is 11 days from its opener against Clemson and will begin taking a look at the Tigers later this week. DawgsHQ was on hand and has what Smart had to say as he addressed the media, plus video of the players, for you below…

Kirby Smart Opening Statement…

“We finished up scrimmage two on Saturday and the players had Sunday and Monday off. It’s a big recovery time for us. We kind of finished what we consider to be training camp on Saturday afternoon. We are still working on us and focusing on us and on getting better. We’re going to work on opponents for a couple of days before we dive into Clemson later this week.”

Smart on what he learned about the team during fall camp…

“That we’ve got good mental toughness. We’re in a good spot in terms of physicality. They’ve grinded. We’re not where we need to be by any means, but we have made progress. I mean, the scrimmage 1 to scrimmage two progress was good. I saw things that I needed to see in terms of tackling, playing better without the coaches on the field, all the things you look for in young players to see them grow. You know, there’s a small body of guys that have played a lot of football here that I know can go out there and execute. Then there’s a larger body of new players that have to prove that, and I thought we had more guys execute without the coaches on the field Saturday and push through the heat, which is mentally tough that you have to be able to get through that to grow and get better. I’m pleased with where we are coming out of camp.”

Smart on injury updates…

“Yeah, Roderick’s dealing with a little bit of a turf toe. Don’t know when he’s going to become or be available. But we had a good group of backs really do good things Saturday.

Yeah, Warren’s been working his way back. He’s hitting I think around 75% or 85% on his GPS. He has improved each and every day. He’s been dealing with a little of an Achilles, but that was coming into camp. It was something we were aware of. Actually today he’s supposed to get back and do a lot more work with us.”

Smart on what he’s seen from Colbie Young, London Humphreys, and Michael Jackson…

“Colbie’s been dealing with a hamstring some, so he hasn’t been 100%. London had a big jump from scrimmage 1 to scrimmage 2, and Michael Jackson is a guy that’s been really reliable for us. He’s a hard worker, competitor, continues to improve and get better. I’m pleased with all three of those guys.”

Smart on how many cornerbacks Georgia has that can play winning football and if Ellis Robinson is included…

“Well, we’ve got probably 5-6 guys operating and repping there. You know, we’ve got some guys that work both that go inside and outside. Chris Peal’s a guy that we’ve used at safety and at corner. Daylen plays some STAR and corner. Julio, Daniel, Ellis, Demello all have grown and gotten better. Ondre Evans is continuing to grow and get better. All of those guys, they work really hard and I’m really pleased with the camp that all really six of those guys have had.”

Smart on Tate Ratledge working at center…

“Yeah, Tate’s done great. He’s a really good athlete. You know, he’s a tremendous athlete. He can move and do things. Drew Bobo’s done really good things. Jared’s been back and practiced and scrimmaged Saturday and done some good things. We’ve been controlling his volume, but he’s been out there working and getting some continuity. He has the largest body of work over the last 2-3 years at center of anybody. Drew has continued to impress and done a great job. Tate’s gotten a lot of work there through our OTAs, training camp days, walk throughs. Tate has had a lot of reps, and he’s been right next to the center making all the calls. The mental part of it’s been great, and his snaps have been really good, too. He’s just creating value for himself and then he can play multiple positions now.”

Smart on injury updates for Xzavier McLeod and Smael Mondon…

“Xzavier McLeod has been dealing with a little bit of an injury. He’s been pushing through and working through. We’re trying to get him back. We don’t know when he’ll be back. Smael has practiced every practice this camp. He’s had some days of higher volume, some days of lower volume, but Smael’s been out there doing everything.”

Smart on if Trevor Etienne, Smael Mondon, and Sacovie White are looking at first-game suspensions…

“Yeah, we’ll deal with all of that when it comes time.”

Smart on Smael Mondon leading a relatively young ILB room…

“Well, it was hard for Smael because he wasn’t able to do everything last year. He was dealing with a nagging injury and then he had the same thing in the spring. I feel like he’s been a little more assertive now that he’s back working, operating at every practice getting reps. Even though his reps one day may be 80% and then 40% and then he goes up and down with the volume, he’s been out there. He’s been able to be a leader.

CJ Allen’s a natural leader who does a really good. You don’t really see him like a sophomore out there. He plays like he’s a little bit older, and Raylen’s done a good job. The guy that has really stepped up is Terrell Foster, whose probably been here longer than any of them. I don’t know if he’s been here longer than Smael, but it sure seems that way. Terrell’s done a great job for us. He’s a warrior in terms of competitive toughness, special teams and makes plays. That room has no shortage of talent. It may have a shortage of experience, but they rely on each other and there’s several good leaders in there. The freshmen are great leaders. Chris Cole and Justin Williams are going to be tremendous leaders and players in our organization as they get older.”

Smart on what’s stood out about Branson Robinson’s rehab and Trevor Etienne’s leadership…

“Branson is a really hard worker. First of all, he came with some tendinitis, and so it was really hard for him his freshman year to push and get through. There were times at camp that he couldn’t even run. He never complained. He’s just a tough, mentally and physically, kid. He’s got great parents. They’ve pushed him. He’s a great leader, and from the time of the injury he never pouted or cried. He just understood that was part of the game. 

It was a significant injury, so for him to come back and not even get to really go through spring full speed — he did some things in the spring, but he didn’t get to go full speed — it’s been great having him back from a physical toughness standpoint, a reliability standpoint, ball security, third-down pick-ups, special teams. He’s just a really good football player. I love the way he went about doing things.

Etienne, he’s a natural leader. He’s been the way, even at Florida he was that way. He’s a very confident kid. He leads by example, gets up there first, is hard on guys when he needs to be and speaks up in front of the team. He’s a tremendous asset.”

Smart on Georgia’s young defensive tackles…

“They’re working hard. I wouldn’t go as far as saying ‘flashing’ but they’re working hard and getting better. Jordan Thomas, Jamaal Jarrett, Nnamdi (Ogboko), Nas Johnson – the quality of work they’ve gotten has been inordinate based on years past where a guy like that might not have gone against the number one o-line much, he would’ve gone against maybe the number three o-line. Well they’ve been forced to go against twos, threes, ones. They’ve gotten a lot of work. Naz (Stackhouse) has been a staple for us. Christen (Miller) has, Xzavier McLeod has and so has Warren Brinson. Those guys all getting back and getting back healthy, it’s provided us an opportunity to build depth with the younger players.”

Smart on Justin Williams, Joseph Jonah-Ajonye…

“They’re both working, getting through their first camp which is not easy here. I don’t set real high expectations like you guys try to do for these kids. I tell them if they can help and contribute I want them to. I think both those guys will help us and contribute this year. To what extent may be based on injury, how many snaps we have to play, what packaged we play. Justin’s probably going to help on special teams before anything else. Joseph has done a tremendous job. You feel like they’re older because they went through all of spring. Joseph has asserted himself as a physical presence. He’s a good sub rusher. He’s really physical on the edge. He’s gotten matched up a lot of times against our older offensive tackles and he holds his own. We’re looking forward to being able to play those guys.”

Smart on Christen Miller…

“I think he is an every down player in that defensive line room. I think he’s shown that. Last year we had the luxury of some depth so we didn’t have to play him every down. We got to rotate and play him. He’s been much more dependable, reliable, and available might be the best word because he’s been doing a good job of staying healthy and working. He’s had some nagging injuries the last couple of years where he didn’t get all the way through camp. So availability is sometimes the best ability, and he’s been that.”

Smart on Gunner Stockton…

“You know, we have a group of quarterbacks that have done a great job. I think we have depth at the quarterback position that we’re not used to having in terms of having guys that have experience, some guys that are young, some guys that have played like Gunner and Jaden (Rashada), and they’ve done a tremendous job. Gunner’s had two of his better scrimmages and had probably his best scrimmage since being here in the last one. I’m really pleased with where all those guys are.”

Smart on the chemistry, Carson Beck has developed with the new faces on offense… 

“Well I think that’s a work in progress because we don’t have a complete, full deck out there. I would adventure to say everyone in the country is that way. You’ve got maybe one wide out out, maybe a tight end out, maybe a back out and the next thing you know, you don’t have everybody out there. You’re really trying to develop two things. Is chemistry with your No. 1s more important than developing your No. 2s. And at the expense of chemistry, we want to have depth. We’ve done a really good job of pushing the envelope with London (Humphreys), Michael Jackson, Sacovie (White), Nitro (Tuggle), (Jaden) Reddell, Colton Heinrich. Making sure they’re on the same page as Carson. Sometimes when you do that you might lose a little continuity or rhythm because you don’t have your top guys in there. We’ve got to force guys to get ready to play who are going to play throughout the year. And then really try and get that continuity over the next week or so.”

Smart on Sacovie White, Nitro Tuggle and Cole Speer… 

“I can tell you guys all three of those guys are hard workers. Very intelligent. Extremely athletic. Cole has been a dominant special teams player and he’s going to take on more of a role this year at receiver on top of being a special teams player. He’s a core product of our system. He came in, probably under-recruited, not highly-touted. He’s gotten better every year. He’s really tough, really physical, really fast. He can dominate on all four phases of special teams but he’s also created a role for himself at wide out. 

Sacovie and Nitro are still learning. They need to play football. They need to go out there without coaches and execute. They’re talented football players but I don’t know if they’re 100 percent reliable right now. We have to get more reliability out of them.” 

Smart on Joenel Aguero… 

“His ability to process information faster. I mean everything was really fast on Joenel last year in terms of get the call, get lined up, execute. Get the call, get lined up, execute. That was tough, man. It was like he was going from a system where he never had so many words, he didn’t have to learn things, he had rules he had to get. He took a lot of lumps last year. He learned a lot from Tykee. He got frustrated at times. But it has paid off this year in terms of he understands the defense. We’re still challenging him to communicate a little better, meaning verbalize things to people in front and behind of you. But he does a really good job with see ball, hit ball. Cover people, strike people. He’s a good football player.”

Smart on Dylan Fairchild’s best attribute… 

“Toughness, character, what he stands for as a man. I have a lot of respect for Dylan and the way he’s gone about the approach. He got up in front of the team and told his story. He talked about the years he spent on scout team and how much it mean to him to earn what he’s gotten here and how hard he’s had to work for it. Lot of respect for him. His greatest attribute is probably his toughness or his power.”

Smart on scouting future opponents… 

“We’re just looking at future opponents and things we don’t see from ourselves. So if we don’t play a certain coverage, certain front. We’re going to look at it and work on it and try to expose our team to it. You have to be careful to not getting programmed in to playing us. We don’t play us this year. Same thing on offense. There are teams that don’t do things we do offensively. We just try and explore and that’s probably 10, 15 percent of practice. It’s not the majority. It’s a small piece and we continue working on fundamentals.”

Smart on Peyton Woodring…

“He’s been great. It’s relieving that we don’t have that stress of trying to figure out who that is this year, feel great about that. We do have good competition going on for kickoff battles. Peyton’s consistent, he’s been good all camp.”

Smart on Anthony Evans and other potential return candidates…

“Anthony’s done a good job. He’s very consistent back there. He’s done it in a game. Sacovie continues to grow and get better. Sacovie has a lot of potential. Other return candidates would be Michael Jackson has done it, Malaki (Starks) has done it all through high school. He’s done it since he’s been here. Etienne does it, return kickoffs, Dillon Bell, Cole Speer, Cash. We’ve got a lot of guys, Nate Frazier, we’ve got a lot of guys back there that catch kicks and punts.”

Smart on the Georgia/Clemson rivalry on and off the field…

“We don’t see them on the road recruiting as much as it seems like we used to. I don’t know if it’s died down some. There’s a lot of overlap. They recruit our state hard and we recruit their state hard. A lot of respect for their players, their teams, their coaches, for what Dabo’s built there. I had a good relationship with Brent when he was there, he’s in our league now. They’ve been one of the premier teams in college football in terms of the last 10 years, you could say. It’s probably longer than that. They’ve done a tremendous job. We do see them on the road some recruiting. I think the matchup is more about our fans. Just getting that caliber of a matchup to start the season is important. We’ve got issues on our hands today we’re trying to deal with over the game.”

Smart on Justyn Rhett, Chris Peal, and Kyron Jones…

“Growth. Rhett has gotten better with each and every practice and continues to improve. He’s gotten better this camp from spring. Peal has been dealing with a shoulder surgery that he missed some time at the end of spring. So he was not cleared for the start of camp. He’s just now getting cleared, as in today, he’s been practicing, he just hasn’t been completely cleared to do full contact. He’ll get to do some of that. Then Kyron has had a good camp. He’s really fast, he’s really physical. He was a running back in high school that had really never played DB. We told him, it’s going to take a while. It’s not overnight you just snap your fingers. He’s starting to show up more on special teams as a really competitive and dominant player. He’s still working at DB to grow and get better. It’s not something that you just click your heels together and get it right.”