Kirby Smart Previews UGA-Georgia Tech and Comments on SEC Championship Game

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ATHENS - UGA Football has a Friday night clash in Athens against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

Georgia is on a schedule that is a day ahead with the shorter turnaround, so Monday’s practice will look a lot more like a Tuesday practice, which is where Georgia ramps up the pace. 

Kirby Smart spoke with the media on Monday to discuss the Georgia Tech matchup, the SEC Championship game and much more. Here is everything he had to say: 

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Opening Statement…

“We're on a tight schedule trying to turn this thing around quickly. With today really being like a Tuesday for players and for our staff that speeds things up. I want to encourage fans to support the season of giving collection drive that the athletic association is doing. It supports families in need in our Athens community. They're collecting items through December 10th. They want warm clothing items, hygiene kit materials, non-perishable food, all the stuff that can be dropped off at the main third floor entrance of this building, the Butts-Mehre building. Additionally, items will be collected at upcoming men's and women's basketball games, and at the end of the women's volleyball match. I know Leland [Barrow] will send out a lot more details on that in the future, but that's a big deal for the athletic association, and we want to push that out to folks. We are on the Georgia Tech. We got started on them yesterday, which was like a Monday, which was very unique for us because it was not Monday. It was like a Monday in terms of practice for us and moving things up. Of all the years we've been here, I think this is the first time we've had kind of a different schedule, timeline schedule for it like this. So, our guys are excited. This is a huge matchup. This is an inner-state rivalry game that's been part of history for a long, long time. And it is a physical game. It was a very physical game last year. It'll be a physical game this year. I'm excited to be at home on a Friday night and looking forward to our crowd impacting this game. We need them to impact this game because we do have it at home.”

On playing in the SEC Championship Game…

“My thoughts are on Georgia Tech. I mean, it's a great honor to be able to play in the SEC Championship game. It is probably one of the greatest events in all sports because the games that you play in are great matchups. But at this point in time, we don't even know who that is, nor do I care. My concern 100-percent is with Georgia Tech because of what that game means to so many in this state, so many on our team, and what it means to this season and these seniors playing at home. So that's the focus.”

On handling recovery on a short week…

“It's a tough balance. There's not a perfect remedy. We spend a lot of off-season time talking to programs that have Friday games after Saturday games. So, you can imagine the teams around the country that play their game on Friday of this week, and we've talked to a lot of those guys about best way to manage it. But at this time of the year, you're trying to dial back on contact anyway, because it's the end of the year. Now, you add that to the schedule we've played, the injuries we have, and the turnaround, and it's like a mountain of stuff there to kind of unpack. We're trying to be smart, but we're also trying to be physical. And Georgia Tech's going be physical, so are we. So, it's going to be one of those really tough physical games that I think to play tough and physical, you have to practice tough and physical.”

On Georgia Tech QB Aaron Philo…

“Great poise, confidence. He broke the Georgia High School passing record, most ever passing yards. That's a lot of really good quarterbacks who he surpassed to get that record. So, he's got confidence. He's thrown the ball a lot. It's not like it's foreign to him. They've got some really good weapons. Their backs catch the ball well out of the backfield. They've got speed on the perimeter. They do a really good job in the run game, so they keep you honest. But he's played really well, played with confidence, and to watch him play the game like he did Thursday night, he was at his best when his best was needed.”

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On playing on a Friday night…

“I don't remember when I found out. I don't keep up with time like that. I don't know. It was sometime last year when it was up for debate. Maybe after the season or maybe even before the season last year, it was brought to our attention that it was a possibility and would both teams be interested. The thought was, number one, you could get more exposure for both programs in terms of that game time, that slot being available. That also checking with Georgia high schools, it was going to be a good slot to not conflict with high school playoffs. So, where you say it does, something happened this year with the hurricane, where it pushed everything back, and it made a bigger conflict. Otherwise, this would have been really no issue, and that was checked on first. So, I think due to whether that affected us, I think both teams agreed to doing it, and that's kind of how it came about.”

On Brent Key’s program building at Georgia Tech…

“What has stood out is he's doing it the good old-fashioned way. Hard work, recruiting, they're in those same recruiting battles we are. They're going after the best players in the state just like we are, and they're doing a better job on that front in terms of being able to recruit them, but they're still really physical. He coached with Nick [Saban]. He coached with George O'Leary, who's one of the best there is at managing a program and being physical, so he knows what he's doing. He's got a great staff. I mean, he's hired a really good staff, and they've got good football players.”

On if the players understand the rivalry…

“Yeah, I mean, I think you do that every week. You know, every time you have a rivalry game, you explain the rivalry and what it means. It's just more significant when it's inside your state. You know, like we have a lot of rivals at Georgia because of the geographic nature of our state. We touch all these other states that are all SEC states, so you end up playing a lot of SEC opponents that are contiguous with us. So when you go to Georgia Tech, they're in our state, and they've got a tremendous program, and more and more of our kids have been recruited by them, and they know. I mean, they get a sense of the importance of the game from the older players on the team who've played in it and the coaches who have.”

On the defense playing for rotating quarterbacks…

“Well, regardless of the quarterback, the importance is to strike, play physical, understand what you're getting yourself into in terms of what kind of game this is going to be. So, before you even know who the quarterback is, you've got to know what kind of game it's going to be. And it's going to be physical. It's going to be tough. And to play good football, you've got to swarm. Like good defensive football, you've got to swarm and tackle well. So, it's all about us and not just about the quarterback. But that will be a key ingredient. They know that too. So, I mean, [Aaron] Philo can run. He ran the other night, and they ran design runs with him. He can do those things. And Haynes King is a really good player. They got after us last year. So, we know what they're capable of. And Buster [Faulkner] was here. So, both staffs know a lot about each other.”

On the Georgia Tech defense…

“Yeah, they're really good. They're talented. They've upgraded in terms of through the portal and the way they play. The defensive staff is doing a tremendous job. They play really hard, play physical. Pressure, they do a great job with their disguise packages. They've got a really good defense. They're playing well.”

On Christen Miller’s status…

“Yes, he's banged up. Didn't do much yesterday. Don't know what he'll be able to do today. Still trying to kind of assess because we didn't – like on Monday, I didn't get to see much yesterday, and we weren't in pads. So, we'll find out more as the week goes.”

On Dillon Bell and Anthony Evans III’s statuses…

“Yeah, they both – did some stuff yesterday. They went out and worked out. I think both of them are going to be, you know, good to go and be able to help us. But we'll see because I'll know a lot more after today's practice.”

On the Georgia Tech rivalry...

“Yeah, I don't think you get real emotional about things like that. I think you're a lot better. You know, coach, when you stay composed and you coach your players and you teach your players what it's going to take to win the game, which it will be an emotional game, but I don't get emotional about it. It's interstate rivalry. It's a chance at a state championship. It's a lot of pride. It's a lot of history in the game. But the game's played between the lines, between the players.”

On the Georgia Tech rivalry…

"I don't think you get really emotional about things like that. I think you're a lot better coach when you stay composed, and you coach your players, and you teach your players what it's going to take to win the game. It will be an emotional game, but I don't get emotional about it. It's an interstate rivalry. It's a chance at a state championship. It's a lot of pride. It's a lot of history in the game. But the game's played between the lines, between the players."

On the development of Ryan Puglisi and Jaden Rashada…

"They're both really good quarterbacks who have gotten better in our system. As you know, Ryan was here in the spring but missed considerable time in the spring with injury. And then Rashad didn't get afforded the opportunity in spring, so he's been having to pick it up quickly from being here summer and fall camp and picking all those things up. But they're both doing a great job."

On the logistics of preparing for the SEC Championship…

"Not one thing different because we would've been playing this game still not knowing. The difference is we know, but we don't know who it is. I mean, there's things that could have happened this coming weekend that would have determined whether we played or not. So, we would have had to prepare the same way, which is no preparation. The preparation is Georgia Tech. There's nothing we can really do, and we don't really worry about it. We worry about one game at a time. I mean we know when we played Alabama that we had Auburn the next week, right? We don't do anything for Auburn. We're worried about the game we have."

On Jalon Walker…

"He's an unbelievable kid, Christian, believes in his thoughts and processes, and he was raised in a wonderful family where he has a lot of confidence in himself to stand up, talk to the team, command leadership, demand respect, do things the hard way, and set a standard the right way. I mean he is a great young man. I would be hard measured to say what his greatest attribute is because his could be character. His could be the ability to run, the ability to strike people and be violent and hit and flip a switch on the field. But he's elite at all those things. This kid is a very, very special person on and off the field first, but he's also very talented. So, I'm very honored and happy for him. He deserves that."

On Buster Faulkner’s impact on Georgia…

"Buster was incredible in terms of insight, ideas, work habits, recruiting. He recruited really hard while he was here. He was very loyal. He didn't try to overstep his boundaries, which when you're in that role, sometimes as an analyst, which he was here, you have to be careful because you're trying to assert yourself and prove that you're a good coach, but you don't want to overstep the other coaches. And his rules while he was here was to coach the coaches and help us, and he did a tremendous job at that. He made me a better coach, and he's also a great father and husband as well."

On Andrew Thacker…

“He does a great job. He's got a lot of energy and enthusiasm. Defensively, he's been great for our defense in terms of energy, excitement, players really like him. He does a great job of knowing his role, of defining his role and being very helpful, and he's been a big asset for us.”

On Josh Crawford’s impact…

“I don't know many people that have had to go out and play with three true freshmen in a critical, pivotal game, which really happened against Tennessee. And those kids didn't flinch. He didn't flinch. You prepare year-round to have them ready for a moment like that. He's done that. He's very intelligent and does a good job demanding excellence from those kids, and that's a big part. And he was a really good high school coach in the state as well, which I think is big.”

On the running back room’s recovery…

“We'll know more today. You know, Branson and Rod both have looked good in the last week in terms of picking up their pace, running, cutting. We're going to progress them today. They're going to do more today than they have. They ran, I guess you all saw them Saturday run. They did more yesterday. We're day by day with those guys. But there's a possibility. So we're excited about them getting back to work.”

On the defensive backs avoiding big plays…

“Yeah, reps. I mean, reps and reps. You know, the Tennessee week, we probably had a broken record for volume of plays down the field. You know, playing the ball, what we call in and out of phase. And, you know, there's a lot of those that are one-on-one and they're not a fluke.

You get beat. But when you have two guys there, that's when it's – it just looks that much worse. It's like, you know, playing the ball. That's been a huge emphasis for us this year is playing the ball in the air and being able to – you know, you get beat sometimes and you got to have confidence when you're back to the ball. But then there's times where you're back's not to the ball and you got to locate it and find it. Or you're a safety breaking over the top and you got to make a hit or a tackle.  And you got to target the right area and you got to aim for the right spots and you got to tackle people so that what happened the other day doesn't happen.”

On the road record for SEC ranked teams…

“I don't know what to attribute it to. First question I would ask is, what was the record last year on the road for ranked teams? Because I don't think it's changed. It's hard. It's hard to play on the road in the SEC. Now maybe more of them are happening at night because of the television contract. I don't know that. I don't really know that. I don't know those stats. It's not any harder this year than it was last year. It's just hard. And so maybe it's showing up more.”