Kirby Smart: "If You Have Good DNA, It Travels With You"
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ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia Bulldog head coach Kirby Smart spoke with the media Tuesday evening after practice and provided the following comments pertaining to the Bulldogs’ upcoming road game against conference opponent Mississippi State.
On practice this week...
"They've been really good. I thought they were very focused yesterday and excited for the opportunity to go play at a really tough place, a really tough environment. I don't think we have anybody on our team that has been there to play a team before, so they were really great yesterday. Good today. Work day. Probably not as much energy and juice as I would like, but they practiced physical, and they practiced hard. We've got a tough defense to prepare for, very unique in some of the things they do - not normal for a lot of the SEC teams. The SEC teams have started to copy what their defense does from watching them. And obviously, the offense is very unique, but our guys have been focused.
On recruiting Javon Bullard...
"His film showed the toughness. He tackled well. You can tell that people who run through tackles don't fear contact. He was a fearless player, and then he did a lot of work out during COVID. He kept working out more and more, which was indicative of 'I want to be there' and 'It's important to me.' His parents have a military background, and he's a tough kid. We thought he was a good fit for our program and good football player, and he has been that."
On Mississippi State's Will Rogers' release...
"I don't know. It probably depends on the rush. He has not held it long a lot of games, but a lot of that is contingent on how many people you rush. We thought we had a good plan for the last time we played him. It was his first start at quarterback, I guess. He held it some that game. He's held it some this year, but I don't know the average. If you rush three or four or five determines how long he holds it."
On Robert Beal, Amarius Mims, AD Mitchell, and Xavier Truss in practice...
"They've all been great. They've all been super. I'm hopeful that all of those guys will help us and be able to play. I think AD is probably the furthest behind those guys. He hasn't taken reps, but he's been out there running, doing exercises. The rest of the guys have been repping."
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On Kenny McIntosh...
"Kenny's been limited some. He's got another deep thigh contusion, really the same one he had twice over. He's had it two games, I forget the two games coming out of. He's been limited. The rest of the guys have been going."
On Justin Robinson for Mississippi State...
"He's played one of their outside receiver spots. He's made some plays for them. They've gone to him quite a bit in terms of screens and vertical passing game and underneath stuff."
On the maturity level of this team...
"I feel like we've had a target on our back all year. I really don't feel like that changes, right? When you won the national championship the year before, there's a target on your back from day one. It doesn't change regardless of your record or the venue that you play in. We talk about toughness and DNA, and DNA travels. If you have good DNA, it travels with you. We don't do all the exercises that you do to build composure to not use it. We anticipate it's an opportunity to flex our composure muscle, our resiliency muscle, our connection muscle, and our toughness muscle. We don't do all that lifting and preparing to not use it. I expect our guys to use it, and when or if we need it, you have got to be prepared for that. It's a really tough place to play, and they've got a really good team."
On opportunities to get to Will Rogers...
"Yeah, I think you always do, but it's not just the passing with them. You have to stop the run, and they're usually right meaning if you do not have enough in the box, they're going to run it. If you have to many in the box, they're throwing. That's a favorable box for them. And the passes aren't like he drops back and holds the ball for a long time. He gets the ball out really quick which makes it tough to get to him."
On MSU's Dillon Johnson and Jo'quavious Marks' threat to the defense...
"What's threatening is the holes they create. They space you out, then gash you with their runs that are downhill, hard-nose, tough, physical runs. They look for a reason to hit. They're not like traditional runs. They're not like the runs you see every day. Usually when they're running them, there is space because they've opened up sets and they've got people out covered. They get some good run boxes."
On Kamari Lassiter...
"He's a tough kid. Really physical, really prideful. A kid from Tuscaloosa. He's from right over there near Starkville, and he's a really hard worker. I've known him since he was a ninth or tenth grader, and he loves football. I think he's improved a lot."
On Austin Blaske...
"Elite toughness. He's a tough kid, and he plays hard. He's one of those guys that Coach Searels gives him something to do, and he does it right. He does everything you ask him to do. He's a core player in our program and embodies the toughness part."
On the growth of the offensive line...
"I think they're playing with more confidence. They're focused. There is a lot of depth there. They've played well, and I think they've played well through the year. I think the best is still ahead of them, and I think we can still get better with our communication and how we go about things. The physicality they play with has been good."
On his defending Lideatrick Griffin on kickoff...
"He's good. He's really good, and they have a good scheme around him. He sticks it up in there, and a lot of your kickoff return success comes from a fearless returning, but they have a frontline and backend group that are really coordinated. They do a good job on their kick return unit. We've worked overtime on that and hopefully we can be successful."
On the success of the program with in-house players...
"I don't know if it has been more enjoyable [success with no players taken in the transfer portal this year], but I have loved the guys that we have taken. I love Tykee, and I loved when Maurice Smith was here, and I don't know who else that we've had come. I've loved that. I think that there is a lot of thought that that is the way to success, and it certainly can help you. But it can hurt you. It's one way or the other. We've certainly tried to get kids out of there. We've tried to get a couple out of there, and we didn't, but it's getting the right ones. It's not how many or any, it's 'Does the guy fit your culture?'. I proud of the kids that stayed here, competed, and wanted to improve and get better because we had quite a few leave, too."
On where the increased confidence from the offensive line is coming from…
“I don't know what the questions are directed at, because I feel like the Oregon game was one of their best games, the last game was one of the best games. They've played really consistent to me. Missouri might be the one outlier, but we had some runs in Missouri that spit out and coughed up the ball and lost a little momentum, but outside of that, I think they played really well, so I think they continue to improve.”
On Coach Jim Donnan bringing a steamroller to practice 25 years ago today…
“Everybody always talks about that. Bubba always brings it up when we have get-togethers, but I swear I don't remember that. Everybody talks about it, so I know that it happened. I'm not refuting that it did happen. I just don't remember it. He was that way. He liked to have the moments. The catchy moments, something to remember the game by, something to motivate you and to change it up. He was an inspiration in terms of doing stuff like that. He said, 'We're going to steamroll them.' Then he came out on the steamroller. I think he came on the practice field with it.”
On if he’s contemplated bringing a contraption like that to practice to motivate the team…
“No. I don’t have any gadgets like that.”
On what the staff has done to help players participate in Election Day…
“Probably not enough of the conversation as I would like for it to be. I know in the past, we've really pushed hard and gotten a lot of free time to go over and vote and do things, but several of our guys reached out to Coach [Bryan] Gantt and asked where they could vote, a lot of them early voted, in regards to that. I think it's really important that they understand the importance of it. Whether it's a presidential election or a state elections, things like that. It's really important to do it and educate them on it, and a lot of our guys have done it.”