Georgia Football Coach Kirby Smart Raves About Star Linebacker
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ATHENS - Kirby Smart spoke with reporters on Wednesday about his Bulldogs and where things stand as the Dawgs continue fall practice.
On Chris Cole...
“His leadership is what we need most. He's one of the few players that I think can sustain right now with the way he practices. He practices with such max effort that he conditions himself through practice to the next day. He can go further and he's like a rubber band that just keeps expanding, He's got more elasticity as he goes and he can stretch himself longer. We're trying to be smart with him, too, because he's played winning football. We want to keep him healthy and fresh while keeping weight on him. He’s one of the hardest working guys on the team.”
On Cortez Smith...
“He's in really tough competition with Malachi (Toliver) for the backup center spot. They both have had goods and bads. They both have to keep improving. Drew (Bobo) wasn't able to make it through the year last year with the tough injury he had and those guys had to step up and play. We need him to be ready to go this year. He's got the flexibility of kicking out and playing some guard and I think that'll make him a better center.”
On his practice structure...
“I don't specifically think that we'll be changing how we practice or the intensity which we practice with. We have changed our format some. We took a different approach this year with three on, one off, three on, one off, three on, scrimmage, one off, three on, three on, one off. Our practices have been just like they have in the past and some of them have been dialed back in terms of trying to load twos and threes with more reps. There's not one camp we've had that's been the same. We don't do the exact same thing every camp. We try to cater it to what we need in terms of the position groups, the depth, the development, the season, the order of the season, the number of SEC games. Who do we play first? So there's a lot of things that change within that I just think you have to change how you do things sometimes for these kids, because they can get bored with monotony.
On the transfer DBs....
“The guys that have come in have done a great job acclimating. I think the players here have done a better job teaching them the standard. I don't think each one of them has played to the toughness level in terms of thudding and striking and doing the things we want to do, but we're trying to integrate them into our culture with that. And they're getting better at it. They've all been through spring. I think every one of them's been here through the spring, and into the fall now. They're getting better to meet that standard, and they're certainly going to provide us much needed depth. A couple of them will have a chance to play in roles that we have in our defense.
On what he wants to see from Ellis Robinson...
“Consistency. I think the number one thing for Ellis is Ellis. And sometimes Ellis is so competitive that he gets down on himself. We've talked a lot about the mental strain, the mental dynamic of giving up a pass play. Whether it's a touchdown or a hitch, they get frustrated and you can't do that in this day and age. People can throw and catch the ball. They're going to hit some back shoulders, they're gonna hit things on you, so it's good for them to experience some failure and have to overcome that because I've never seen a corner that just shut everybody out.”
