UGA Football coach Kirby Smart Challenged the No. 1 Dawgs at the Half

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ATHENS - UGA Football rolled past Tennessee Tech on Saturday. Here is what Kirby Smart said about his No. 1-ranked Georgia Bulldogs and the win.

Opening statement…

“Yeah, guys, I was really proud of our guys today. Came out with good energy, good passion to be able to play at home in front of our crowd, which you don’t get many chances. I think we average six home games a year and that was one of them. So, we took advantage of it.

Guys played hard. I thought we had ebbs and flows. They were really good and then some that weren’t. I was really proud of the guys. I challenged them at halftime. You know, we had lost a couple third downs on defense. We had lost two minute, and we had lost some red zone and been stopped. So, I thought that they came out of the half, and the first drive was really important to me. I thought the offensive line handled that. They overpowered a group they should overpower. We were able to play a lot of players today. We subbed out probably earlier than anybody in the country, and I think that helps us down the road. We played a lot of players today, played a lot of players last week. We play a lot of players every year, and I think that helps grow our team and our depth. So, thanks to our crowd for sticking it out, and it was warm like I anticipated, and I think that affected both teams.”

On Colbie Young’s two touchdowns through two games…

“Yeah, he continues to get better. I don’t know that today’s a good judgment of Colbie Young. You know, he had a mesh pattern that they didn’t cover. You know, it wasn’t a wild play.

It was just an arrow on their part and a pretty easy throw. So, the one last week was impressive. He continues to grow and get better and we’re going to need him in our offense. We need him to be able to play even more snaps and be in the best shape of his life to play enough snaps.”

On specifically pursuing his prototype in the portal…

“Yeah, I didn’t really say we were looking for that. We’re just looking for guys that fit our culture. You know, it wasn’t like it was a this is the cookie cutter. We want big, we want good and we want good people for our culture, and he is that. He was very clear in his reasoning for why he wanted to come, and I think he fits what our culture is, and it was more of a fit than it was just looking for a specific type.”

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On the differences between the first half vs. TTU and Clemson

“Yeah, we played a different team. That was the difference. I mean, I would love to sit there and tell you that we just started fast today and everything clicked, but that wasn’t the same opponent, and we were considerably better than that opponent, and we should execute at a high level. The week before, there was a lot of problems out there in terms of their players blocking them. When you can run the ball, you can do pretty much what you want offensively and the success we had running it opened it up for play actions and some shots.”

On Trevor Etienne’s impact on the run game

“I don’t think we know that yet. Hard to tell today. I wouldn’t judge that on today. I think we’ve got a really good stable of backs. I’m fired up about our backs. I’ve said repeatedly to you guys that we’ve got a great group. Good young, good old, good leadership, good depth. I felt really comfortable there all year. I still feel that way, but I can’t put a significance of impact on what he did today. I don’t know the amount of respect that’s in there.”

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On the importance of getting so many players in

“I think the biggest thing is getting game experience, so who you play with doesn’t matter as much as if you play. You probably went against somebody Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday that was probably better than who you went against today. I look a lot more at the practice reps we took last week than those. I want to see you perform when the anxiety hits and when the crowd’s out there. We had guys go out there and got an opportunity to make mistakes and bust. They’ve got to get those things out of the way. They’ve got to get them out of the way, and the sooner we get them out of the way, the sooner they can become good players.

On Branson Robinson scoring

“It’s awesome. It’s great. Branson works really hard. Branson’s a good back. He’s still coming back to his old self. I thought he had a good cut today and made some guys miss. He’s a great back, man. He’s just got to get back to full strength.”

On the lack of execution right before the half

“We just missed some open guys. I mean, whether it was the route was cut short, route was cut off, or Carson didn’t hit them, but we had good calls. They were open. Maybe the receiver pulled up short or maybe we just missed them. But, you know, we didn’t have any timeouts, so it was a bonus to even get the ball back. We went three and out and got the ball back. I wanted to see us execute without timeouts. We did a pretty good job of that and got the one penalty. And once they had the defensive holding, I thought we’d be able to steal some points, but we didn’t.”

On Carson Beck

“Yeah, I mean, I don’t know that I’ve seen him grow in the last two games, you know what I mean? I think, truly and honestly, he’s grown. He’s a good player. He continues to get better. And it’s not that you’re saying he can’t get better. Absolutely he can get better. But today was about a lot of other players, not about Carson.”

On Oscar Delp’s injury

“Yeah, he had a slight ankle sprain, so we’ll see. I thought he could’ve gone but held him at halftime.”

On Warren Brinson update

“Wasn’t able to go today. Hopefully he’ll be back.

On a Nate Frazier

“Yeah, he could have come back. and we ended up holding him out. I’m not even sure it’s a shoulder, but I don’t know what significance. They came over to me and said he’s ready to go back in, but at that point we were moved on.”

On the younger defensive linemen getting run...

“Yeah, got to keep getting better. We’ve got to grow those guys. They work really hard during the week. It’s critical to our success that we grow that room and develop that room. We are not where we need to be, and we’ve got to develop that room because of the guys we’ve got out in that room.”

On Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins

“Yeah, depth, twitch. We’ve got a really good situation there with him, Gabe Harris, Joseph Jonah-Ajonye. They’ve had to step up in the forefront with Mykel down. Ty’s been a good player since he’s been here. He’s just battled some injuries, and he’s healthy right now and playing well.

On Gunner Stockton

“Yeah, I thought Gunner played with more confidence. If you remember, Gunner had to play a lot of games last year in mop-up duty where it was just clock management, run the ball, get out of the game. This today he got to play a little more like he did against Florida State.

Thought he did some good things, made some good decisions. Continued to improve that. Played well with the guys around him. He made them look good. He makes good decisions. He’s getting wiser, and we need him to.”

On only giving up FGs in back-to-back games

“Yeah, hard to measure our success today again with the defense, and that’s not a disrespect. It’s just the truth. Those guys were going to struggle up front. They don’t have big guys. Their starting quarterback’s out, you know? Realistically, it’s hard. I mean, last week was a great performance for our defense. Today was what we should do.

Kirby on TTU’s game-endeing FG

“No, I think that’s a great learning lesson. It’s more frustrating when you give up two third downs and they have an eight- or nine-minute possession. That’s frustrating.”

On Arian Smith

“Getting opportunities. He had a great week of practice, and I told him it may result in that or it may not. It doesn’t matter. We’re not outcome-oriented. We’re process-oriented. And he had four really good practices. And I was like, well, you know, sometimes that equates to a great game. Sometimes it doesn’t. And it didn’t equate to, like, some record-breaking game. But he played well in practice, and he worked hard, and he continues to improve.

On Lawson Luckie

“He works his butt off, really good route runner. Tough, physical guy. He missed a block out on the perimeter today that I know he’s upset about. But he made some plays with his route running. And I’m really proud of Lawson and how he works every day, how he leads.”

On Ben Yurosek

“He’s a tough, physical leader. I think he understands that his growth is week to week, getting to play on this team, getting to be a part of something big. I mean, everybody wants stats. Everybody wants to put up Brock Bowers type of numbers. But he’s going to get his opportunities.There’s going to be games where he has opportunities to make plays, and I really believe he’s going to make them. He’s a tough, physical guy.”

On Arian Smith

Arian’s great. Aaron works really hard. I think I’ve told you guys,  He’s probably the one player that I’ve seen in my nine years take the biggest transformation from coming from a small school. He didn’t grow up going to Lakeland. He went to a small school down in Polk County. He just got better and better and better and better. He’s been through significant injuries, three, four surgeries, and he’s just so mature now. He knows how to work. He’s much more patient when things don’t go well. Just his maturation process has been great for our program.”

On early thoughts on playing Kentucky

“I mean, I don’t think we’ve been up there that it wasn’t just a battle. I can’t think of a time I’ve ever been to that stadium and played in a game that was like, well, that was easy. It’s never easy up there. Never. It’s never easy on the road in the SEC at all, and I don’t know if people truly appreciate and respect a win on the road at Kentucky, how hard it is. They’re well-coached. They’re really physical. They do a great job. I mean, they have a really good football team, so we will have our work cut out for us, not to mention eight straight SEC games, I think it is.”

What play stood out

“I don’t know that one stood out like that. I thought Mike did a great job with a couple of key play calls where he hit shots. You know, I can’t think of one particular. There were some really good crack blocks where the runs got sprung out and guys made good cuts. You know, it was probably, today, Carson’s legs. You know, he chose to make some plays with his legs, and that makes a difference. It makes it really hard to defend in games.”

On Jahzare Jackson

“Well, he got a holding today, so that’s not progress. But he’s getting better, he’s humongous. He’s a developmental player that we’re trying to develop. I think we’re trying to speed up the process maybe faster than is possible. But he’s been a sponge in terms of trying to learn what to do. You can imagine, not playing football since eighth grade and then going out there and trying to play in the SEC. And that’s, you know, just a lot of football he needs to play and a lot of practice reps he needs. And as long as he’s willing to do that, he’ll have a chance to be successful.”

On Mykel Williams

“Yeah, I mean, he’s hurt. He’s got an ankle. So, I mean, like he couldn’t go today. I don’t know what he’ll be able to do. I’m sure we’ll find out on Wednesday. I mean, I’m hopeful to get him back, but we’re just got him in the game ready, got him getting rehab, got him working, getting treatment all day Friday, all day Saturday, all day tomorrow.”