UGA Football Coach Kirby Smart Gives Injury Update, Talks Texas And Arch Manning
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ATHENS - Georgia Bulldog coach Kirby Smart spoke with the media this week about the Texas Longhorns, Arch Manning, the latest injury update, Gunner Stockton, and much more
Opening Statement
"We’ve got a big matchup, a lot of respect for 'Sark' (Steve Sarkisian). He's become a good friend of mine. He does a tremendous job. He's at one of the premier programs in the country. He's been successful everywhere he's been. He's done a great job and I enjoy his friendship and look forward to another great matchup on Saturday night."
On the recruiting competition with Texas…
"I don't know how the games tie. The recruiting they (Texas) do, they recruit nationally. A lot of coaches have gone to Texas and just recruited the state of Texas. I think 'Sark' and his staff have reached out both West Coast to California all the way down to Florida. They've gotten some guys and they've gotten some guys from Georgia. We've gotten some guys from Texas that we think are good players. It's all in the eye of the beholder in terms of who you go after and who you win and certainly recruiting wins tie into the future of your program and the success of your program."
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On QB Arch Manning's development…
"He's playing with more confidence. I think number one, he's getting better protection. He's seeing things well. He's making good decisions. He's getting the ball out of his hand quickly. He's maturing. He's had an opportunity to play and grow and you don't really get that until you get out there and play. He played a good bit last year, but the kind of games he's had to play in this year, just a different stature in terms of the SEC gauntlet. And you watch game by game. I watched yesterday, each game throughout the year, and watched him just grow and play and play better. He's extending plays. He's doing really well with scrambles. Keeps his eyes downfield. He doesn't look at the rush. He's made some really impressive wow throws, and they're playing better offensively."
On QB Arch Manning's recruitment…
"It really wasn't about the celebrity nature. The last name is about the tape. I have a good relationship with their family. I've known his dad for a while, his uncle for a long time, and his grandfather. They've got a wonderful family, but it has nothing to do with his recruitment. His recruitment was based on he's athletic, he's fast, he's tall, he's intelligent, he's got composure, he's got an arm. He can do it all. He can run the ball, he can throw the ball. In this day and age, you got to have a quarterback that can do both and he can. I think he's got great composure. He's not really affected by many things. Even the way he's managed the hype and expectations of what he was supposed to be this year. He didn't call any of that to come to him. It's just what the outside sources did, and it doesn't seem to have affected him. He knows he's got to grow and get better, and I think 'Sark's' done a great job kind of bringing him up and allowing him to develop and get better."
On the recruiting pitch to Manning…
"I don't really know about a pitch. It was relationships. I got to know him, our staff got to know him. He came over here a lot. He was very honest and had his thoughts about both programs. He liked both programs. He had to pick one. There was no sales pitch in terms of that."
On the Texas rush defense…
"They were really effective in that area last year. They're built on the line of scrimmage. They're built to be physical. They fit things really well. Pete [Kwiatkowski] does a great job as a defensive coordinator. They're very disruptive. They create turnovers. They are aggressive, they've got good players. At the end of the day, they have big, physical, good players on the line of scrimmage, which allows you to stop the run."
On the Texas pass rush…
"They're tremendous. They have great effort. They rush really hard. They're leaders. They've got stars all over their defense. They're very talented. When you watch that defense play, they play hard. They get after the quarterback. They disguise things well, they are very disruptive. There's a lot of challenges when it comes to dropping back, throwing the ball, and trying to run the ball. When you want to be balanced, they're really good at making you not be balanced."
On the secondary's performance since the second bye…
"We play good in spurts, and we play poorly. It's kind of like everything. There's things that I would like to see done better, and there's things that we have improved on. It just kind of depends on what quarter, and what play you're talking about.
On the best quarterback traits…
"I think the best player available every cycle does have core qualities or core characteristics. If you're going to be a quarterback, you've got to be a leader. It's 80, 90% between the years, and I think people get enamored with physical traits. How big is he? How tall is he? What does he run? How far does he throw the ball? How fast does he run? A lot of those things, they matter, but they don't matter as much as what does he do when there's a guy free running at him? What does he do when the shot clock's got three seconds left and he has to make a decision on which way to slide the protection? There is so much that goes into playing that position that is not talked about. A lot of them aren't really qualities we can measure without having them in our program. We don't have a cookie cutter, like this is what we're going after. We want to go after people that can lead our team. If they have a skill set that's unique and that we think can make us better, then we want to grow them within our program. They're going to be the face of your organization, so you want to go after the right kind of person. They're probably the sole person that makes the most decisions outside of the offense coordinator and defense coordinator during a game. You want to get the right guy from mental makeup."
On QB Gunner Stockton's impact at starter…
"He has brought toughness, he has brought wisdom, he has brought consistency. He's made good decisions with the ball in terms of keeping us out of bad situations. He has avoided quite a bit of sacks. He has avoided catastrophic things like turnovers and he's made plays with his legs, and he has made plays with his arm. I think he has improved throughout the season. If he continues to do that, then it's going to make it very hard to defend when he plays well."
On DB KJ Bolden's growth…
"Leadership. This year, I would say his growth has been in leadership. I'd say his freshman year it was probably adding some bulk and some size and he's done a really good job of that in the offseason. He's fighting to maintain that throughout the season, because we like for him to play in that 195 range. He works really hard at that. His biggest growth this year is in being in a room where he has to step to the forefront and be a leader and communicate more. Where he relied on other guys to communicate in the past, he is the lead communicator on the back end now. And he's done a nice job of that."
On having a quarterback with running ability…
"Defenses are hard to run on without the extra element. They've taken more chances. Offenses can become more predictable when they're not using their quarterback's legs, but I don't know that there's a team we've played this year that hasn't used their quarterback's legs like everybody does. You say, well, that quarterback can't run. They still use them. They still get him out of the pocket and use him to run the ball, so that advent has come about because rushing the ball matters. I don't think that advent has come along because defenses have evolved to the point they stop people from doing it, we just have to be able to get some situational runs, red area, third down, or goal line. You need creative ways to run the ball to stay ahead."
On TE Lawson Luckie and OL Drew Bobo's status…
"Drew [Bobo] had a pretty bad laceration on his finger. He's patched up and ready to go for practice today. Lawson [Luckie] is doing well, and I think he's going to make a good quick turn, but we'll see."
On the defensive line without DL Jordan Hall…
"They did a good job. I think they played kind of inspired about him not being there and wanting to play well, because he wasn't there. It's tough on Jordan [Hall], and he's a leader in that room. The guys missed him, and we had to increase the snaps of some other guys."
On the importance of playing Texas twice last season…
"This team didn't beat Texas, and Texas hasn't played this team of ours. These are two completely different teams, in my opinion. I think it has zero effect on it."
On defending QB Arch Manning in the running game…
"It's a challenge every play. There's six gaps, sometimes seven gaps up there you have to fill, and you can't fill them all. You have to rush intelligently and violently, and those two don't always mix. It's hard to do that and contain the quarterback. We've had some opportunities to get sacks that we've capitalized on. We had a couple chances on normal down stuff the last week with Mississippi State's style of play, but it'll be key this week for sure because Arch [Manning] is really good. They're really good at protection. They know what they're doing. They've got different protections, and it's a challenge every week for our defense to try to affect the quarterback."
On the team's improvement in the past few weeks…
"I don't know if I can specify one area. I've been really proud of the consistency in practice. I don't know that that's an improvement, I think that is a staple of this team. They have committed to practicing the right way and improving in a time when some teams are going the other way."
On the freshmen earning snaps…
"I think some of it's opportunity. Injuries in some of those cases have brought that about. Confidence, cumulative reps, we're big on here. Meaning the cumulative reps that each one of those guys have taken has grown. I mentioned WR CJ Wiley in that with WR Landon [Roldan] and TE Elyiss [Williams], ILB Zayden [Walker], and there's other guys. Some people's progression is just different than others, but as they grow and get better and they get put in these tough situations in practice, they grow confidence. Honestly, we can't make it through the year without a number of guys and those guys are more ready to play now than they were earlier in the year."
On the team's blocking…
"We got a hat on a hat, but we try to do that every game. I don't know if this game was more outstanding in terms of blocking. There were more explosive plays, so it probably brought to light a lot of those, but some of that comes around missed tackles. We might be blocking the same guys in the same game, but one guy makes a tackle, it's not an explosive. One guy breaks a tackle, it is an explosive. I'm definitely pleased with the effort they played with."
On OLB Quintavius Johnson this season…
"Much better leader. He was forced into a role last year that he didn't play a lot, but he played. With the guys we've had leave at that position or go to the NFL, he's grown up a lot and he grew up quickly. I'm really proud of the way he owns his responsibility to the team and his leadership."
On the team's Texas players…
"Each one's different. WR Dillon [Bell's] been here a long time. We know what he's brought, he's brought an ability to play multiple positions, toughness, special teams. We're still cracking the surface of DL [Joseph Jonah-Ajonye and ILB Justin Williams], but they're tremendous leaders. Dillon's a captain this week. He's a joy to be around. They all work really hard. They all come from great programs. I think Texas high school programs are similar to Georgia, and they have great support structures, community involvement. High school football still matters in that state, and I think that made those guys better football players."
On TE Oscar Delp's development and Elyiss Williams…
"I think both those guys are playing well. I think [Tight Ends Coach Todd Hartley and Quality Control Coordinator John Lilly] and those guys have done a great job with the development of Elyiss [Williams], but also with Oscar [Delp]. He was not a completed player last year, and he came back with a purpose of getting better. I think he just loves Georgia and loves the team, and he's so fired up every game to do whatever role you ask him to do. He's just as excited about his downfield block for a touchdown as he is his catch for a touchdown. The guy's never complained one time since being here about touches in the ball and making that a priority. He does whatever the team asks him to do. He's very selfless, all those guys in that room are. I think he should take some ownership in Elyiss' [Williams] growth, because he and Lawson [Luckie] both show him how to work, how to do things, what the standard is at Georgia and they compete with each other to make each other better."
On the offensive line…
"We've gotten more continuity, but that's by way of getting guys back from injuries. I don't think we've played our best game yet. [I] still think we've got a level of conditioning we can improve on in terms of playing hard and running down the field and covering down. I'd like to see more guys in that front group do that. Some of them do, and some of them can improve on it. I like the depth piece we have and if we stay healthy, we've got the ability to play up to seven or eight guys. It's just, you don't control the health part of it."
On common traits in a Steve Sarkisian offense…
"Explosive, attacking, window dressing. They've got a lot of shifts motions. They employ tempo, and they'll go fast on you. They do a really good job of mixing things up and creating a lot to work defensively."
