What Was Said: Kirby Smart talks NFL bound Bulldogs at Georgia Pro Day

ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia held Pro Day on Wednesday, and it presented head coach Kirby Smart with an opportunity to talk about his outgoing Bulldogs. In total, 13 UGA players – plus two from other schools – were in attendance with 12 participating in some sort of workout. Brock Bowers and Amarius Mims did not do on-field drills as a result of hamstring injuries, but Mims did participate in the bench press.

There are big shoes to fill for those that are left behind in Athens – as demonstrated by the quality that took the field and put their skills on display for the NFL Wednesday. Here’s what Kirby Smart had to say at Pro Day, plus links to player interviews that DawgsHQ captured.

Kirby Smart on double-digit guys working out for NFL teams…

“They’ve been part of a really good run. I think most of them have been part of the last 46 of 48 games, they’ve come out on top. There’s a reason why we’ve won those games. You have good football players, and it equates to that. All those guys played a role in those games. They’re tremendous young men, tremendous people. They’ve worked really long, a lot of them 22, 23 years towards this day and this goal. This is a small step in that direction. Most of these guys performed at the Combine, so I feel like today’s a little anticlimactic in terms of they’ve already worked out, already done their thing. Very few of them are being seen for the first time. They represent our program the right way. Hope to have a great draft class, and these guys are part of it.”

Smart on what NFL teams ask when they’re assessing the players…

“The same general ones we get year-to-year. You know, what’s their care factor for football? How important is football to them? Will financial opportunities change them? Are they dependable? Are they good people? I think more and more the NFL is turning to guys who care about football, putting team over self. We try to promote those same things here.”

Smart on how special this group of DBs is…

“Well, it’ll depend on the situation they get put in. I think they’re all very versatile. They can all play safety. They can all play Star. They can all probably play corner, at least a couple of those guys have done that in their careers. It’s a great group, but I feel like we’ve said that every year. We’re going to have another great group next year of defensive backs that have an opportunity. We’ve gotta keep replacing them. That’s the hard thing. It makes it a lot tougher when there’s two third-year juniors coming out. It’s much tougher to replace.”

Kirby Smart on feedback from NFL about how Georgia prepares guys for next level…

“They’re very appreciative for the way we push our players, the way we practice. They really like the transparency when they come to workouts. Not a lot of fluff here. They come in and get their work done. They probably come more than anywhere in the country, but we have more guys working out than anyone in the country. We’re very efficient and organized. I think as a business, which they are, they appreciate that.”

Smart on Ladd McConkey‘s Draft stock rising…

“Just starting from the time we offered him to now, he’s ascended and aspired to be great. No one works harder than Ladd McConkey. Nobody on our team would say there’s a better teammate than Ladd McConkey. I don’t know that he’s ever said a negative word about anybody. He’s just such a good kid, such a hard person to find. He’s a great football player on top of that.”

Smart on what makes McConkey different…

“In and out of breaks. His ability to separate is probably one of his key things. In the NFL, there’s less touching. You’re able to run routes. That’s going to be advantageous for Ladd. He can come in and out of breaks. I think when they watch him on third down, he’s pretty elite on third down at getting open. That keeps the chains moving.”

Kirby Smart on what Amarius Mims brings with only eight career starts…

“Yeah, I think the eight career starts is a mistake. What does that matter if you’ve blocked Travon Walker, Nolan Smith, Robert Beal your whole career? What does eight starts matter? Would you rather have someone who started 27 games and played against nobody, or somebody who played against first-round draft picks every day in practice? I know which one I’m picking. He started last year for me. The year before last he started almost every game in terms of he was in the second or third series. I think when you look over the history, there have been some really successful linemen that have been three-and-out that didn’t start in that window. He’s uber talented. He works really hard. He’s really intelligent. He’s going to play a long time in the NFL.”

Smart on what he saw in McConkey back in high school…

“A chip on his shoulder. A young man that wanted to prove everybody wrong. We bet on him to be a good player, and he did. He was very productive. We’re fortunate to have kids like that in our state that get overlooked and work really hard. Luckily we have enough staff people here that we were able to find him.”

Smart on what Kamari Lassiter meant to the defense…

“He’s going to be a tremendous player, no matter where they play him. He can play the nickel slot. He can play safety. He can play corner. He’s a ball hawk. He’s super competitive. Some people have a knack for finishing and getting the ball out. That’s one thing he’s got a really good knack for finishing on the ball and getting the ball out. Corners are hard to find. It’s a throw-first league, so you’ve gotta find guys that can cover man-to-man. He has the ability to do that.”

Kirby Smart on Brock Bowers…

“Watch the tape. The tape speaks for itself. Nobody really asks about Brock because everybody’s seen him. They’ve been to our practices. They know what he can do. I don’t think there’s a lot of questions about Brock Bowers’ toughness or ability.”

Smart on Zion Logue…

“Toughness, culture builder, extreme effort. He’s probably on every one of our tapes we show the first day of practice of, we call it getting out of a stack. He covers down at a high level. He plays on field goal PAT, he played on punt protection. He can do a lot of things for a team.”

Smart on William Mote…

“Did you ever call his name for a bad snap? That’s his job. He did it. He did exactly what he was supposed to do. The only time you know who the snapper is or the holder is is when they mess up. He’s a tremendous athlete. I think he benched 225 17 times today. He’s a lot stronger than our other players. He did a great job.”

Kirby Smart on when he knew Carson Beck wouldn’t throw today and what he thought of Gunner Stockton…

“I didn’t pay attention to who was throwing. I didn’t even know if it was Gunner or Carson to be honest with you. We’ve had GAs throw before. I’m glad that our receivers had somebody who can really throw. When you don’t have a quarterback coming out, sometimes that makes it tough. Happy for those guys to get an opportunity.”

Smart on the rise and development of Tykee Smith…

“I’m happy for Tykee. He’s worked really hard. He had a significant injury. When you have a significant injury, sometimes it takes two years to come back from that. He’s a guy that, first year back, he wasn’t as ready to play as he was this year. He had an outstanding year this year, he expected to. He ran well. He’s a fierce competitor.”

Smart on Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint and how his physicality will translate to the NFL…

“Marcus Rosemy is one of the toughest kids I’ve been around. Played through injury, had a horrific injury as a freshman, bounced back from that. Total culture, team player, believes in the team first. Never complained once about not getting the ball. Dominant on special teams. I think that stuck out to a lot of these coaches here.”

Kirby Smart on Bowers and his recovery from surgery…

“Brock Bowers? Yeah, I think this is more about a soft tissue injury, not the surgery. He’s over and done with the surgery, he’s fine. This is about his hamstring he’s tweaked. I’m excited to see him work out when he does.”

Smart on what Bowers and Mims want to show in April private workouts…

“I think they want to be healthy. The number one thing is being 100 percent when you work out. If they were 100 percent, they would probably do it today. This is not an extension of the season. This is throughout their training.”

Smart on what this day is like for Smart personally…

“It’s the next step. I concern myself mostly with our team today. We’ve got film study, we’ve got walkthroughs. I’m a lot more worried about that than I am Pro Day. That’s beyond my control.”

Kirby Smart on Tramel Walthour…

“He’s a torch bearer. He carries the torch, he carries the water, he’s a lunch pail guy. He worked every day of his career. I can’t thank him enough for how hard he worked. He earned this opportunity by what he did. Today’s a special day for him. He gets to go out and showcase what he learned while he was here.”

Smart on how he felt about the first day of spring practice…

“We’ve got a long way to go. We’ll get to work on that day. It’s just step by step, day by day. Don’t put one foot too far ahead of the other.”

Smart on if he takes it for granted about having multiple first-round picks every year…

“I don’t know that that’s going to always be the case. I think with the portal, you can bring in a first rounder. Some of those years you might not have them, but you can bring them in. That’s not going to go forever. It’s been a good run. We’ll continue to recruit well and develop well. Some year you may have three or four seconds and not a first. We’ve had some firsts and not second and thirds. It’s just about getting good players and getting them to buy in for each other. I don’t get caught up in what round they’re in. I want them to go as high as they possibly can.”

Kirby Smart on if the NFL Draft success makes it easier to preach positional versatility to players…

“I’ve never had anybody say that. That would be foolish to say I just want to be one thing when I could be multiple things. We sell that because it’s the right thing to do for our team, not because it’s the right thing to do for the NFL.”

Smart on how draft success carries over to recruiting…

“It’s a great sell for the kids that’ll listen. There’s a lot of them that want to ask about NIL. They don’t want to ask about what your NFL players have done. I think it’s much more important how you develop players than how much NIL you make.”

Player Interviews

RB Kendall Milton
WR Ladd McConkey
WR Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint
TE Brock Bowers

OL Amarius Mims
OL Sedrick Van Pran
DL Zion Logue
DB Javon Bullard