Go for Two Against Alabama? UGA Football's Kirby Smart Isn't Sure
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ATHENS - Kirby Smart and UGA football are getting ready for the Deep South’s Oldest Rivarly and the Auburn Tigers. Here is everything Kirby said about that game, and the Dawgs.
On how practice was Tuesday…
“Good. Thought we were a little slow on Monday, getting back late and getting a start. We did a little less than we normally do on Mondays, but we had a good one today. A really physical Tuesday and got after it and it was probably warmer than I expected. I don't know what the temperature was, but it seemed warmer. We were outside for most of the day and had like one period each inside. But they played physical. They understand. We had a lot of coaches that have played in this game and coached in this game. We got two Auburn alum. We got a bunch of Georgia alum. And the historic nature of this game is very personal. And we had guys talk about that, you know, just explaining what the game means. And I think the players recognized that and they certainly practiced hard.”
On eye discipline against Auburn…
“Well, I mean, to be honest with you, you have to have eye discipline every game. There's no team that doesn't shift motion, move, trade the tight end, move. I mean, it's like football now. Football has become this crazy event of moving people freestyle to try to gain an advantage. I don't know where it evolved to. It just continued to, you know, it used to be everybody standing still and hit each other and now they all move. So, I mean, the eye discipline is extremely important, but it's extremely important every game. I think with Hugh [Freeze], he does a great job of changing things up, you know, giving you different pictures. They did a tremendous job in the game last year. You know, we had a really good defense and last year's game has been very important to us in terms of the way he played us, what he did, things off of it. I mean, it will take great eye discipline to play well against them. Look, people misunderstand. They think that you're just coach speaking when you talk about Auburn. These guys have not really, like, they're not getting stopped. They're turning the ball over. Look at the stats of what they've done offensively, and don't look at the points, the scores. Just look at them go up and down the field. They've stopped themselves a lot of times. So, a lot of respect for the physicality they play with and how they play. They just, you know, sometimes it's hard to control turnovers.”
On the last throw against Alabama, potentially going for two-point conversion…
“Yeah, a very interesting question. I can't really say a lot about the play because I like the play call. I mean, it had worked previously, you know. I mean, he's a guy that, you know, we got, he gets on top of people, you throw it over the top. He gets behind people, you throw it underneath. He makes a big play a lot of times. I mean, great play by their kid. I'll say that. But I have no problem with the play call because, you know, we were getting on top of them prior to that, so. But we had discussed that, I had talked about it actually in length on the headphones at two-minute mark, and we actually talked about it before the game because, you know, the LSU game came down to that with them, and LSU was at home when they decided. We had discussed it previously, and I felt very strongly that if the clock was under 30 seconds that we would probably go for two. But talking to the analytics afterwards, it would have suggested to not do it, you know, to play overtime, to kick it. And there's a lot that goes into that because when you give a team enough time and they know what they need, meaning it's not tied, they have more aggression. They had three timeouts. They would have only needed a field goal. It would have played out, you know, a possibly different way, but we had discussed it and leaning towards going for two if it was under 30 [seconds], which I think happened around 43 [seconds] or something.”
On Mykel Williams’ skillset…
“Well, he has great length, great size, great athleticism. And when you play on tackles, the number one requirement is arm length. You know, most of the tackles in our league have 35, 34 [inches]. They have long arms. And when you play with somebody with short arms, they struggle to create an edge and set an edge. He's able to set edges at a high level for us because he's big enough to play it, but he's also athletic enough to do some of the things outside backers do. He's cutting the cloth of what you want to play with out there on the edges.”
On his assessment of Auburn running back Jarquez Hunter…
“A lot. The dude, I don't know if it's the 27 thing, he reminds me so much of Nick Chubb. I mean, he's got a straight line, and he's so physical. People just bounce off of him. And it goes back to all those squat records. We got one of our coaches coached him. Coach Bobo had him, I think maybe his freshman year. I'm not sure, but he talks about how great a kid he is, how strong he is, and that people literally bounce off of him. Like, he's just super physical, downhill. Like, he makes you not want to tackle him. He embarrassed us two years ago here, and then he had a really good game against us there. So, we think he's one of the best backs in the country, and I don't know the perception out there, but to us it is. He's very, very good.”
On Auburn’s turnovers this season…
“No, I wish. I wish I knew how to, like, sprinkle some dust, get them, and stop them. If I could figure that out, man, I would be able to retire real soon because I could go around and just, like, give it to everybody. But nobody knows. They don't carry the ball poorly. They don't have poor ball security. They've had some unfortunate events and fumbles, and they've had some unfortunate tips. Some of their interceptions are tips and overthrows. How do you control that? Number one, you catch the ball, but it's hard to. It's just hard to control that. I don't know. Every year somebody different wins the turnovers in the country, and you just don't want to be the team turning it over.”
On Auburn’s running back room and RPOs…
“The fact that they've got those kind of dangerous backs as part of it. It makes you stop the run, right? If you could sit back and play less people in the box and cover all the RPOs, you play a lower-level team, a team you pay. You come in here, and they run RPOs. You're like, oh, okay, I can put one less in the box, and I can cover these guys and dare you to run it. Well, you can't do that with them. You've got to fill the box up. You've got to go stop the run, and that's why he does what he does. It puts you in conflict. It's a guaranteed one-on-one matchup that you better have people that can cover people, because if you don't, then they'll expose you.”
On what Lawson Luckie brings to the offense…
“Versatility, athleticism. He's really a tough guy. He's physical, tough, not afraid to get after it, but he's also a good pass receiver. You say, what has he brought? He's brought the versatility to run or pass, and he's getting better. I mean, he's still young in my eyes. Most times, your second year in college is like you're just starting to come out of your shell, and he missed a lot of time last year with the injury. If you think back, I think it was this game that he was just coming back in with the tight rope, so he's really a year removed from that. The sky's the limit. Lawson (Luckie) can be really good. He keeps getting better. I like his confidence, and I like his leadership and his mindset. He's got a toughness mindset.”
On Ben Yurosek, adjustments he has made since coming to Georgia…
“No, I really don't know that, because I never asked him that. That'd be a good question if you asked him that. I don't know the comparison. I know the speed of the game is really fast here. I can't say that that's the biggest difference. He would have to answer that.”
On other coaches speaking to the team before rivalry games…
“No, it's us. It's us. T-Rob (Travaris Robinson) and Stacey (Searels) played there, and a lot of us played in it, between Jonas (Jennings), myself, Jarvis (Jones), (Mike)Bobo, all the guys that played in the game. That's all I'm referencing. I just think it's important that you know that history.”
On Ellis Robinson IV’s development…
“Ellis is getting better. He works his tail off. We've tried to find roles for him on special teams. He's continuing to grow. He practices with the twos all practices and goes one-on-one reps and gets better. He's a good tackler. He's physical at the line of scrimmage. Does a good job with his hands, good job with ball location, like getting balls down, but he's continuing to challenge those other guys. We've had those guys this week all getting lots of reps and competing.”
On Daniel Harris’ impact this season…
“He had opportunities. He does a good job at the line of scrimmage. He had a really good play on fourth and one where he came and closed and helped set an edge on the stop we had on them on fourth and one. Daniel continues to grow and mature. He's 193 pounds now, and that's a big corner, and he doesn't even look 193. He could be 200 pounds easily because he's so long, but his practice habits have improved the most. I've challenged him to say, you know, if you could practice every day, and I tell them all the time, what would Kamari [Lassiter] do? What would Kamari do? They probably get sick of hearing it - comparison is the thief of joy. But Kamari is such a great practice player and walk-through player that we have clips of him doing things in practice and walk-through that we want them to emulate. He, Julio [Humphrey], and Daylen [Everette], and all those guys, they got to practice very intentional and stay focused. It helps them play better.”
On what he wants to see defensively against Auburn…
“Stops. That's what it looks like. They're hard stop guys. Everybody's going to say I'm crazy, but they're physical. They got good scheme, good plays, experienced quarterback, talented wideouts, great backs. The tight ends, they got have played forever. Those guys have been there playing football forever, so it's not like the moment's too big for them. Experience is value in our league, and they got tremendous experience. What looks good is punts. That's what looks good.”
On if the players are aware of the magnitude of historic rivalries…
“We still had them. We had history lessons. We had coaches that told us the history of every game. We had them. I knew them because I grew up in a football family and loved football. All I did was watch football, but that's not what these kids do today. I don't think these kids know as much. They don't watch football, a lot of them. They don't even; they play it, but they don't watch it. I don't know. You ask them, ‘Who's your favorite NFL team?’ I don't know. They got more, more things to do. They got more attention options. They're going to be on their phone, looking at social media and doing whatever. They're not going to watch. It's just not what they do anymore, so I think it's important to make sure they understand.”
On what Cash Jones has done to continue earning snaps…
“What hasn't he done? He does everything he's asked. He competes. He practices at a high level. He earns what he gets, and matter of fact, he's probably earned more than he's gotten. It was his kind of game. He's really good at pass pro. He's really physical at pass pro. He's really good at route running. He understands leverages. He's been in our system a long time. He plays great on special teams. He's earned everything he's gotten.”
On Dillon Bell’s development at wide receiver…
“I think he's gotten a lot better as a wideout. I think [James] Coley and Mike [Bobo] have done a good job taking what B-Mac [Bryan McLendon] did and transitioning that into more. He's just great young man. He's from a great high school over in Houston. He's got a great mom. Brother plays I think at Notre Dame. He's just a great kid, and he works so hard. He's developed. He was a high school running back and could probably play running back. He did for us, but he's developed. He got better and better at route running, and his hard work has really paid off for him. Just proud of what he's done and the opportunities he's gotten he's taken advantage of. We got to try to find more opportunities for a guy like him.”
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