Kirby Smart "Pleased" with JT Daniels' Work
Get our insider newsletter today
Head Coach Kirby Smart
Opening Statement
"Our kids are excited to get back to Sanford Stadium and get a home game at night, and we're looking forward to that. I know our guys have been on the road for a while and been off for a while because of the postponement of last week's game. We are in a good spot. We have some guys dinged up and still not back. Ron [Courson] and his staff have done a great job helping us out with COVID [-19] precautions, and we have avoided a lot of those issues. I know that the guys are excited to get back on the field and play."
On the time it takes to develop an offense, what he wants to accomplish in the games ahead on the offensive-side of the ball and JT Daniels' progress...
"In terms of becoming explosive, I don't think I have ever said that it doesn't happen overnight. It happens by execution, right? It happens by picking up blitzes and hitting open receivers. It happens by blocking downfield and making explosive runs. We finally had an explosive run where we got on the perimeter and made some things happen. Explosive plays happen—well you can say they happen by lack of execution by the other team or by proper execution of your team. We've been really close on some explosives that we have missed or dropped. Those are things you have to hit and have to be accurate to do that. In terms of JT [Daniels], he's done some nice things. He's a guy that has worked really hard—just as Stetson [Bennett], Carson [Beck], and D'Wan [Mathis] have done. I am pleased with the way he has worked. I am pleased with the way he has rehabbed his knee and improved his knee, and the learning of our offense. The leadership he has shown since he arrived has been very good. When you are in a room with guys without a lot of experience—he's a guy that has some experience."
On practice structure during the last couple of off-weeks...
"We practiced Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I don't know what you define as a full week, but for us that is more than we get in a game-week because our Wednesday and Thursday last week were structured differently. They were not geared towards Missouri at the point we found out there wasn't a game. They were geared towards competition and getting better and working against more of our defense instead of a look-squad. That is kind of the way we did some of the practices."
On the progression of the offense throughout the past two weeks at practice...
"Every week that you run a concept or a play, you get better at it. The first week we ran them, that was the first time. There was no spring game to get it wrong. There was no build up through summer—there was none of that. Every game we've run a concept, we have tried to get better at it. Now, the combination of what we are doing being repeated and also who we are going against, in terms of the level of competition, it has an effect on that. You tend to have more success when you have better players on the other team, and then when it's more even, you tend to struggle more. We are trying to execute at a high level regardless of who we play against, and we execute at a high level, we feel comfortable. Do I think we have improved in terms of execution? Yeah, I get to see it every day. We have less mistakes and less busts. That has not equated to success the entire time because sometimes we missed the opportunities we have been given."
On the defensive scheme against the air raid offense versus a spread offense...
"It's different. You have to pick and choose what you want to do. Everybody defends the air raid differently. You have to decide what it is you want to present to them. How many problems do you want to create? How schematically do you want to change in terms of how you play those guys?"