UGA Football coach Kirby Smart: Motivation "Is Not an Issue" vs. Alabama Crimson Tide
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ATHENS - UGA Football coach Kirby Smart gaves a full update on the Georgia Bulldogs as the Dawgs get set to travel to Alabama to take on the Crimson Tide.
Opening Statement…
“I was talking to Josh Brooks today and I wanted to acknowledge the University of Georgia again was recognized for U.S. News and World Report's top public institutions in the country and the 2025 rankings came out and once again for the ninth straight year UGA was in the top 20 - actually moved up two spots to 18. That's unbelievable to me that we're blessed to be part of a university that is one of the top public institutions in the country and consistently been in the top 20. We sell that in recruiting hard. It certainly is a great academic institution, and we're blessed to be a part of it. A lot of credit goes to our administration, President Morehead, our faculty, our students. It's a really cool honor, so I want to recognize them and us for that.”
On practice this week…
“It's good. You don't ever have to worry about them all this week. You got to be careful not to leave it all on the practice field. That's probably the biggest thing is holding guys back and making sure that they don't overdo it. Spirited, get after practice. Like I said, when you get in these SEC rivalry games, it's not a motivation issue.”
On if weather will have an effect on game preparation…
“As I understand it, and we've been following it and watching it with the SEC office and our in-house people in Delta, it looks like it's trending more and more eastward which may affect us, but less and less affect towards the game. My biggest concern is the travel and our travel arrangements. Being able to get there in a convenient way is my concern right now.”
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On preparing for Jalen Milroe…
“If you could simulate this guy, then he would be in transfer portal somewhere because he would be playing.He would be on a team somewhere playing because there is no simulation. I think that's the problem. He can go as fast backwards as he can go forward. I've seen him get out of jams straight ahead, backwards - elite quickness. When you see him in person on the field, he's very thick and very hard to tackle but yet has a bazooka for an arm. There is no simulation. You show pictures and you work really hard on tackling. We've done that for two weeks because when you're tackling him, it's like tackling a back. He's just harder to get on the ground and very elusive. There's no simulation. There's only pictures and the best job you can.”
On his assessment of Jared Wilson…
“He's done a great job. He's very intelligent. He understands. He did a great job last year. He studied under Sed Van Pran (Granger). He picks things up. Carson does a lot of our communication as well as Jared. They share in it. Carson has the ability to override but Jared and he are on the same page. He's done a really good job.”
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On his assessment of Carson Beck…
“I think he's done a better job this year with his legs. He's decided to run on multiple occasions when he's needed to. I'm sure he would say he'd like to have some throws back. With three games in last year, he felt the same way. There are some throws he'd like to have back. I've seen a lot of Carson to know that he's in a good head space. He's a really good quarterback. He's got a lot of confidence in him.”
On Georgia’s offensive weapons…
“I wouldn't say there's the star power. Brock Bowers is not playing. That's pretty obvious. A second-round pick and a first round pick are no longer in those roles. I don't know that we have the depth because everybody we have now, we had last year. They played a different role last year. All the guys now, their roles have been elevated. We've got a lot of guys that can play moving parts. We had some additions, Colbie (Young) and London (Humphreys) and some young guys come along. It's a different group. You're a different team every year. We lost something when we lost Darnell (Washington). We lost something when we lost Jordan (Davis) and Devonte (Wyatt). You replace that and you try to make up for it in every area you can. You've got the players you've got and the ones we've got I'm very pleased with. I'm happy with the guys we've got. We've got to do a good job executing with the ones we have.”
On limiting explosive plays…
“It's extremely challenging against Alabama because every play is a ticking time bomb. They've got explosive playmakers in backs, receivers and then a quarterback that can extend a play from what against one team might be a four second play is now an eight second play. When plays go from four to eight seconds; one of the most explosive plays in all of pro football the last couple of years has been scrambles. There's going to be scrambles. We can't say we didn't prepare for the scramble. There's not a real preparation you can do for that. It's going to happen. It's inevitable. It's how you manage it, how well and disciplined we play down the field with our eyes. There's a lot of things that go into that. They are an explosive team. We have limited explosives but when those two usually meet head-to-head it can go both ways.”
On Kalen DeBoer…
“I didn't really know who he was until probably when Lanning went to Oregon, and I followed Dan (Lanning) a lot. They had the big rivalry with them, not really last year but the year before. I started following Dan their season. I think that was maybe the year that we had played Dan, and they went on to play Washington I think once that year and then twice the following year. That's when it started popping up on my radar because Washington historically was known for great defense way back when and he changed that. Not that they weren't good on defense they were good on defense, but he made them good on offense. His record speaks for itself. Everywhere he's been he's been successful. He's very confident in what he does and his organizational methods. I think it takes that in the situation he's in. In the situation he's in you've got to be pretty confident in your own skin to go in there and do things your way, especially with the record they've had. It seems like he's done that without any issue or problem. I think the smartest thing he's done is he hasn't changed everything. Offensively they have some similarities because they have the same quarterback, and we'll probably see a lot more wrinkles that they haven't shown but for the most part they've kept some of the staples that they had last year because it probably makes the quarterback comfortable.
On his assessment of the tight end room…
“We've got good depth in that position. Oscar [Delp] has been a little in and out, beat up but he's practicing now and back. Lawson [Luckie] obviously went through the injuries last year. Ben [Yurosek] has come and given us a really thick, big body type that can make some plays and the two young guys are getting better. Those guys have filled in nicely. We haven't asked them to do a lot but they're going to have to continue to play and get better to get us where we want to go offensively.”
On the benefit of having Dan Jackson and Malaki Starks against Alabama…
“It helps with Jalen Milroe, he has played against them too. We've got some guys in the secondary that haven’t played against him. It takes great discipline against this guy, but it also takes discipline rush. It takes a defined plan. It takes 11 people, we call it rushing coverage, working together. You have to team up against this guy. It's not going to be one guy that stops him. It has to be an 11-person plan that tries to control him.”
On if he has reached out to Dan Lanning before this game…
“Yeah. We do that with everybody that plays against him. We do it with Dan too. He didn't have the most success either. He's had some tough games and some tough decisions against him and has a lot of respect for him just like we do. We did a lot of that in the offseason. You talk to people about your future opponents and share ideas and own like opponents.”
On when he begins to prepare for his pregame speech to the team…
“Yeah. Not once you write much down. Just kind of think of things during the week. Things that we did well. Things that you can be really positive about and reassure them that they've checked that box. That list grows the closer we get to the game. My thoughts grow a little more the night before. It's not like a set time where I sit down and do anything.”
On Warren Brinson, Jordan Hall and Mykel Williams…
“Yeah. Warren [Brinson] has continued to practice taking his rep load. Mykel [Williams] has been overdue a little bit. I still don't know the timeline on Mykel. He's looked good running and taking some reps. Some light reps. Some rush reps. Some stuff he did today. It was his first day really getting out there and doing some things. I haven't talked to Ron [Courson], so I don't know. I want to watch the tape and be able to see that. Jordan [Hall] is still pushing through. Is that it? I feel good about Warren. Mykel's going to be close. Jordan is still trying to get into practice.”
On getting the most out of Jalon Walker…
“We have different roles for Jalon. He's very bright. He has the ability to play stack backer. He can play outside backer. He can cover people. He's a good athlete. How do you get the most out of him? You play him. You have different roles for him. We've got different packages for him.”