Georgia's Kirby Smart Comments On His "Beat Up" UGA Football Team
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ATHENS - “We're just beat up right now."
That’s what Georgia Bulldog coach Kirby Smart said after Georgia’s tight 13-12 victory over the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday night.
And he’s right. Defensively, the Dawgs were without star defensive lineman Mykel Williams, veteran Warren Brinson, and promising interior defensive tackle Jordan Hall. They also have several other defenders dealing with minor injuries.
Offensively, experienced veteran guard Tate Ratledge appears to be out for an extended period of time. At running back, Roderick Robinson remains out, while Trevor Etienne and freshman Nate Frazier are neither 100%.
Injuries happen in football. That’s part of the game. Thankfully, Georgia has quality depth, and a deep defensive line helped lead the Bulldog defense to another strong performance.
“Christen Miller, Nazir Stackhouse, I mean, they manned up and played a lot of snaps”, Smart said on Saturday night. “We knew going into the game if we couldn't get three and outs and they were going to sustain drives, it was going to be a tough game. We were going to have to score on offense because we didn't have the players to play a 70-80 snap game defensively, and it kind of turned out that way. We're just beat up right now."
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Third-year defender Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins flashed several times against the Cats, making three tackles, two TFLs, and one sack. Smart went on to say Ingram-Dawkins played more snaps in Lexington than he’s ever played before.
But once Mykel Williams is back, Smart won’t be forced to play Joseph Jonah-Ajonye, a promising freshman who simply isn’t ready to make an impact on the road in the SEC. His time will come, but it’s not right now. Kirby yanked him after two plays to start the second half after getting bulldozed backward on two consecutive running plays.
Georgia’s fairly healthy at linebacker and in the secondary, so once they get a little healthier in the trenches, they’ll continue to play at an elite level.
Offensively, there aren’t many excuses. The offensive line has one starter down, and they’re banged up at running back, but injuries aren’t the reason they only put up 13 points on Saturday.
That group has to play better. Plain and simple. They need better tackle play from Xavier Truss and Earnest Greene Jr. Monroe Freeling came in and played both in the second half. Freeling played left tackle in the second half and during Georgia’s lone touchdown drive. With Ratledge out, look for Stacy Searels and the staff to mix and match guys in hopes of securing a consistent top five on the line.
With Georgia having a BYE week before heading to Tuscaloosa, you’d think this is the time to rest and get healthy. Well, not according to Kirby.
“I don't know that we can rest and recover. I mean, that's what people think bye weeks mean. We've got to find a way to improve and get better. You know, we were really beat up coming into this game, specifically at one position, and it was a really tough week for us. I've got a lot of respect for the guys that stepped up and played."
The Dawgs are beat up right now, but they’ve got two weeks to get as healthy as possible to take on the Tide. They’ll need as many healthy defensive linemen and running backs as possible ready to go.
Two weeks to heal. Two weeks to prepare. Two weeks to bounce back. If Georgia can get the job done against Alabama, this team could be in for a truly special season. They still probably are, but we’ll know for sure soon enough.
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