ATHENS - Kirby Smart had much to say - including a slew of specific injury updates - as the Bulldogs begin football practice.
The Bulldogs opened as the No. 3 team in the nation on Monday, according to the Coaches’ Poll. UGA opens the season with a season-opening fight with Tennessee State on September 5th Between the Hedges.
Kirby Opening Statement:
“Yeah, I think number one, it's awesome to be here. It's great to get started. I'm excited for our guys to be back in a real camp setting. So there are a couple things I want to hit on from athletic department standpoint. The first game of the year will not be Tennessee State in Samford Stadium.
There's going to actually be a soccer match held in Sanford Stadium, which I think most of you know about, but I'm excited. August 20th Between the Hedges at 7:00 PM, our women's soccer program will play James Madison. And I think Keidane’s done an incredible job. I've been on several donor events with Keidane, and he does an incredible job recruiting, but also trying to make Georgia soccer program the best in the country.
It'll be the first Georgia soccer match held in Sanford Stadium. A lot of you remember the Olympic gold medal match. I was actually in school here, was here in Athens and remember that, 1996. Um, so 30th anniversary of that.
So it'll be really cool. The goal is to break the attendance record, which I fully expect Dawg Nation to get that done and turn out more than 22,000 people for a soccer match in Sanford Stadium. So I am excited about that and hope to be in attendance myself, along with a lot of our players.
We're moving on to a different phase. We talk about the phases of our football program. We have an off-season phase. We have a summer phase. We have a mini camp phase, and the mini camp phase was probably more productive this year than it's ever been in terms of onboarding new players trying to get guys understanding how we practice.
We kick off what we call training camp. And what is the purpose of training camp? To subtract some things from your life so that you can add some things. You know, everybody's heard of addition by subtraction. I'm asking each player to have some addition by subtraction. What are you going to do for the next 12 to 14 days that you're technically in camp?
Camp's really longer than that for us. But those are the number of days that you're not in your normal bed. You're locked in, you're focused. Then school starts, we're still in camp mode. We've shown a lot of examples of pro players, what they do for camp pro teams, what they do for camp, our history of camp here, and how you can improve your team and gain depth on your roster, um, is what we wanna do.
We're pretty healthy. We're at a really healthy state. I think I talked to you guys at media days about that. I feel like we've got a lot of guys that can practice. We're fortunate to have really good numbers still. I think we're at 125, 127 guys practicing, which we're very fortunate to have those numbers, and we can get a lot of guys reps that way.
But I'm excited about this team. There’s a lot of growth needed. We have to test toughness, and a word we talk about a lot around here is grit. We’ve got to find out what kind of grit we have during this camp, so when we get in these fourth quarter battles we can win them. With that, I'll open it up.
Q: Kirby, before you get into the team the team stuff, I wanted to ask you about a, a schedule question. I saw where a lot of people always talk about playoffs and winning national championships, and I saw where Indiana's coach was talking about why make it hard on yourself with this non-conference schedule.
I see your schedule. I see Florida State in the future and a home and home with Clemson. What are your thoughts about scheduling as it relates to keeping your team healthier by playing a lighter non-conference schedule?
Kirby:
Yeah. You know, it's kind of to each his own. Everybody has their philosophy with what they go with, and you know, historically I've been a part of some really good SEC championship, national championship. I'm not just talking about Georgia. I'm talking about everywhere I've coached I've been really fortunate to coach at really good programs. The common denominator of those programs is you play really good teams year in and year out, whether it's in conference or out of conference.
Are you trying to appease the fans because you want to have a really exciting schedule? They enjoy the excitement of playing those schedules versus the balance of risk of injury and wear and tear. The line probably lies somewhere in the middle. I do think the consumer matters.
The consumer is the people that are coming to the games. They want to see exciting competitive games, and the sooner we get to a format where either more teams are in the playoff or more teams are rewarded for a challenging schedule, I think that'll take care of itself. I think you'll get people playing more competitive schedules and more competitive environments.
Q: Yeah, Coach, last off season it seemed there was a point of emphasis on being able to run the football and stop the run. What might be the point of emphasis for you guys going into this year?
Kirby: Yeah, you can't get away from that point of emphasis. That's not going to change ever in our program. I would say we were coming off a year that we were subpar at that when we, we really tried to drive that home.
We're not going to ever get away from that. We have to be able to run the football. Show me a good team that wins championships that can't run the football. Just doesn't happen. You look at the national champions the last five, six years, they're effective running the football and they're effective stopping the run.
It's one of the leading statistics over the last 10, 15 years in national championship teams. They've had really good run defenses. So you better be able to run the ball, stop the run. But there's not one particular thing we're harping on. I mean, we’ve got to generate more turnovers. We got to generate more havoc.
We got to be more explosive on offense. I could sit here till we're blue in the face, but it's not one thing that we can say.
Q: You know, we'll get a chance to hear from KJ Bolden today. He's a guy who came into this program with a lot of hype and expectations. How do you feel like he has handled those, and what does he specifically bring to this 2026 team?
Kirby: Who comes into this program that doesn't have hype and expectations? Are you saying he had more than everybody else? I don't necessarily think so. I think that every player that comes to Georgia, thanks to you guys, and you do an incredible job of your job, you hype them up really good.
So they have huge expectations on them, including KJ. And KJ has probably managed those better than many players because he grew up and played in, in competitive environments in youth football, extremely competitive environments in middle school, all the way up to Buford. He's played some of the highest level football he's been around, so it was never too much for him.
How has he handled those expectations? Well, he started and played and was very effective as a freshman, so I think he's handled that well. I think the greater side that he's grown in is the maturity to understand what leadership looks like. He had the blessing of playing with Malaki and Dan Jackson, so he learned what it was to be a good teammate, and he has been an extraordinary teammate since being here.
He helped so many guys in the secondary. I always hear him coaching back behind me, being positive with guys and being a leader, and those are the expectations I have for him, is be the best version of himself, not live up to everybody else's expectations.
Q: Is Dante Dowdle still at the Shepherd Center, and how is his progress as he recovers? How can Dwight Phillips help you guys you know, as he continues to develop?
Kirby: Yeah, Dante's doing better. He is not with us and don't have a timeline for him to be with us.
Don't know when that's going to happen. The most important thing for Dante right now is that he gets healthy himself and that he can do functions and do daily in and out things, not really worried about football right now. It's not a high priority for him or us.
Dwight has worked his tail off. He's one of the most explosive players we have on our offense. If we're going to be more explosive, then we have to get guys that when they touch the ball, big plays happen. The form of touches may change, but he's got to touch the ball because he's been one of our most explosive guys, probably even more so in practice than what you've seen in games.
He's had a great off-season. He works really hard. They really care about each other. The success of each other is more important than the success of one person, and I appreciate the mentality in that room.
Q: Kirby, one injury thing I wanted to ask about is Kyron Jones. Just how is he doing and, and what can he provide this defensive backroom if he's healthy?
Kirby: He's been kind of on a pitch count, and we're starting him in the fall camp in the same mode. He's been ramping up after kind of a resting period. He's not taking 100% of a normal practice day's reps. So we're trying to build him up conditioning wise and see how he feels. It's a very sensitive injury. It's tough to monitor.
It's frustrating for him because maybe when the team does a lot of conditioning, he can't do it, but he is a very conditioned player. He has to do non-impact cardio when they're doing impact cardio, and I think that frustrates him. His role has been he's been a really good special teams player. He started some games last year and we want to give him a chance to compete for those spots at safety, star, money, all the different positions our safeties play. It's lower extremity injury.
Q. To look at the safety room as a whole, what do you want to see from that group over the course of fall camp? Y
The three critical factors. Can they play man-to-man? Can they tackle? Can they play the ball in the deep part of the field? It doesn't change.
Can he play man-to-man? Can't be on the field if you can't. Can he tackle? Can't be on the field if you can't. And does he play the ball well in the deep part of the field, which can be a fatal flaw if you can't because you misjudge it and they score touchdowns. If you can do those three things, we can teach you what to do.
Q: Kirby, How have guys like Bo Walker and Jay Lamar come on this off-season? And also just is there any message to Jalon Walker after the news just broke that he's gonna be out for the season?
Kirby: Yeah, I talked to Jalon yesterday and just heartfelt for him and his family. Such a great leader, great person. I think Jalon, better than anybody in this room understands what football is. He's seen it. He is an ultimate optimist. I'll guarantee you he's got the best attitude and the smile on his face today because he's got a mom and dad that are just tremendous. Jalon Walker's not defined by football.
He's defined by a lot greater things than that, and he'll probably be a great asset for the community while he's out, and he'll come back twice as good as he was, because that's the outlook he has on it.
Q: You mentioned that you've seen KJ sort of coaching some of the other guys up. What's a moment that stands out to you where he maybe helped some of those guys out?
Kirby: Well, we're having, you know, walkthroughs, and you got some young safeties out there with Blake and Todd Robinson and all the young guys out there, even the guys that transfer in. He can help them with the finer points. He's not afraid to to confront and demand excellence from them. He's not afraid to say, "Hey man, jog all the way off the field. Hey, run to the ball." Hold them accountable, because when he's doing it himself, it's a lot easier for him to hold them accountable. But there's not one instance.
He does it every day.
Q: Yeah, Kirby, we'll get to talk to Lawson here in a little bit who, who's, you know, one of those guys in that deep tight end room. Just what can that group provide to this offense with the versatility and the talent there, and, and how excited are you to, to see what that group can do in the offense this year?
Kirby: It's awesome. They've got a tremendously talented room, but if you chart explosive plays, those aren't always the tight end room. I love our tight ends. We got great tight ends, but they're not guys that all hit 22 and 23 miles an hour. They're guys that they can do all kinds of grunt work.
They can catch balls in the flats. They can block people. They can play on special teams. They can be explosive if we can run the ball, and explosive passes for tight ends usually come off of play actions. Play actions only work if you have the ability to run the ball. So our ability to run the ball allows us to utilize what may be one of our stronger rooms.
But at the end of the day, there has to be buy-in from those rooms, and there has to be a culture and belief that I'm 230 pounds, my advantage is I can bully people on the perimeter. And if they use that wisely, it makes our skill players, receivers and running backs even better. But it is a talented room, and it's an extremely competitive room.
Q: You had a lot of really good things to say about Jaden Reddell after the G Day game. How's the summer gone for him, and has he been able to kind of keep that momentum that he built this spring going through the summer?
Kirby: I talked about him after spring because I thought he had an incredible spring, and he's had a great workout.
We had strength coaches get up yesterday in front of the team. They've spent more time with our team than anyone on our staff has over the last, let's call it four months. They spent more time with our team than anyone. And he was one of four players singled out by them for work ethic, intensity, PFE, buying in.
He's not a man of a lot of words, and that's not what PFE is. People think passion, fire, energy is words. It's really holding yourself accountable to work at the standard or above the standard of what the team is, and they acknowledged him as one of the guys who's, who's done that.
Q: There's always an old cliché of players make their biggest jump from year one to year two. Is that still true with players who are coming in now from high school? And is there a position where that maybe typically shows up more?
Kirby: No, I think it's more of an opportunity based, you know, because Jaden Reddell was not year one to year two.
He made a tremendous jump two to three. But a lot of that's opportunity, confidence size, speed, lifting, two years in a weight program. You know, a kid that comes from Buford might not take him two years, or a kid that comes from one of these elite programs that has food and nutrition and weights, and they're like a college program.
You don't look at guys like that need that long, whereas other guys do. And to each their own. So I can't define for you year one to year two is the greatest jump, year two to year three. The opportunity is the greatest jump.
Q: In Tampa, you talked about kind of each coach having to decide what they wanna major in in their own program. When you look at this team, your staff retention, kind of what are some areas this summer that you were able to dive into that, that maybe are unique for this season?
Kirby: I'm not following the question there. You gotta help me out. So are we talking about what our focus is? Like with the pos- position coaches or like-
Q: You talked about majoring-
Kirby: When I say major, that, that, that's like 20%. And you're not, you're not, you know, you, you can't put 70% in this and 30% in this and think you're gonna be effective in all five of those buckets. So it's definitely a balancing act of what you put your time and energy into. I think you can base that on the strength of your staff.
So if you have a really strong defense or a really strong defense coordinator and a staff that's been there, you might spend more time with your offense. For us, we've had staff retention across the board, including special teams. So it allows a person like me to be a little more over the top and say, "Okay, where do I get the best bang for my buck?
Is that investment in relationships? Is that motivation? Is that... What are the areas you can do that in?" And I'm evolving every year in that. It's not like I can say, "Well, this summer, this is what we focused on." I mean, we focused on developing players here, and that doesn't change. It doesn't. We, we teach football here at a high level, and we want our football players to have incredible football intelligence, and that's not ability.
That's in between your ears, and that's what we major in.
Q: One, just clarifying off of Dash's question, are you guys at the 105 limit? And then we had a chance to hear from Chris Cole today. What do you wanna see from him during this fall camp?
Kirby: Yeah, we're always at or around the 105 limit. That technically could be changing all the time. It's not like a defined target in time that we're at this or this. We're always open to bringing on a new player if we have room, and if we don't have room, then, then we can't do that, and we're stuck at it.
In terms of Chris Cole, I'm excited about what Chris Cole can do. Look, Chris Cole, there's not a higher character player on our team than Chris Cole. This guy is the hardest worker. He hits the highest speeds. He plays with the most energy and enthusiasm. There's not a day that we don't show a clip in the team meeting of a guy that's chasing down a ball and running down a ball.
He never saves up. He's the consummate, "I'm gonna lay it all on the line the first 10 plays, and if I have to get an IV, I do it." He doesn't save up anything. So he embodies what we want in terms of effort, toughness, comes from a great family, and just, I, I think he's had one of the best off-seasons, so I'm excited to see him go out and compete and play for our team.
