Everything Kirby Smart Said Before the Georgia Bulldogs' Game With Oklahoma
ATHENS - Georgia football coach Kirby Smart talked with reporters Monday about the Bulldogs' next SEC game - against the Oklahoma Sooners.
KIRBY:  Excited to continue SEC play this week at home. I know our crowd will be fired up and ready for a great matchup. A lot of respect for Coach Venables and the job he's done everywhere he's been. I have known him for a long time and have the utmost respect for him as a coach and a man and a person.
And we go way back and he's probably been one of the premier defensive coaches in all of college football for a long time. So they have a really good football team, and it's a great matchup and it seems like the conference is going to be full of them all year in terms of that. So we'll be getting ready to play these guys today.
Q: What are the DNA traits of a Brent Venables-led defense?
KIRBY: Very fundamentally sound, aggressive, attacking. You know, they lead country, or they're tops in the country every year in tackles for loss and sacks and you know, I don't think people give their, their coaches and their kids enough credit for how they play.
I mean, they get off blocks. They strike you. They play with unbelievable pad level and really an intensity that's kind of unmatched in terms of the way they play. You see it on tape and he's always been that way. He did it at Clemson, and he's just a, he's a great defensive coach.
Q: Just want to see if you had a further update on Nate.
KIRBY: Yeah. Nate, I think's going to be fine. It's going to be day-to-day. Uh, expect him to be able to play.
Q: Yeah. What makes Oklahoma wide receiver, Isaiah Sategna, such a difficult cover and how is he... How do you expect your secondary to try and keep a lid on him this week?
KIRBY: He’s really explosive. That usually comes from speed, it comes from confidence. He can accelerate point A to point B really fast.
He's a great returner got great hands and they, you know, they, they find schemes, find ways to get him touches. He has to touch the ball to be explosive, and they've done a good job of that. You look at the history of what he's been able to do in the return game and catching the ball, he is a very good playmaker.
Q: Coach, what are some of the challenges you, you see when you're facing a, a quarterback like John Mateer, who can run the ball, throw the ball, all that, all that stuff?
KIRBY: His athleticism pops out at you. He's hard to tackle. He breaks a lot of tackles and he's tough. You talk about the run game, he runs inside, he runs outside, he runs the pass.
He scrambles to throw. He's made explosives with his legs. I think back to last year - his growth, because we didn't play him, but you saw his highlights and you saw the things he’s done. He's become even more that way this year in terms of understanding our conference, when to run, when not to, and he's done a good job of it.
Q: Yeah, your first time facing Oklahoma since the iconic Rose Bowl. What did winning that game do both for you personally and for this program, winning a game of that magnitude when it was a playoff game?
KIRBY: It got us the national championship
Q: Yeah. Hey, Kirby. Uh, I'm in Ok- I'm from Oklahoma. I'm in town a couple of days to cover the team, cover the game. Just wanted to see what you thought about that game, you, what you remember about that game, and how it's different, how this Oklahoma team obviously looks different this year than what they were in 2017. And then I have a follow-up after that.
KIRBY: Man, that’s a long time ago. I really was not thinking of that game coming in here today because the staffs were almost entirely different. Even ours, for the most part, has changed. I think we got a couple guys left over from that staff. I know they probably don't have any, or if they do, I, I don't know who they were in terms of overlap.
It was an iconic game because of what it meant and what it, like what it led to and where it was played. but some great players in the game because you look back at Baker, and he's a good friend of mine now, and, and then Nick (Chubb) and Sony (Michel) being a part of it, so it was a great game.
Q: And then the follow-up is on Gentry Williams. What kind of fit he's been for you this season so far?
KIRBY: Gentry’s a great kid, man. He quiet. He works hard. He's a good tackler. He competes every day out there for us. I mean, he's made us a better team and hoping that he can continue to work to carve out a role.
Q: You mentioned earlier Oklahoma's defense, they're among the nation's leaders so far in sacks. What stands out to you about how they've created havoc through three games this year?
KIRBY: The way they go about their business. They are violent. They play hard. They play with a purpose. Very intelligent. You know they know what you're doing as well as you know what you're doing.
And they, they do a great job of formation and things and understanding what your tendencies are, and they play really hard. And when you get good, talented players playing with fundamentals - they don't get blocked. They might get blocked. They don't stay blocked. They get off blocks, and they're hard to block Kirby, can you give us some updates on the health of
Q: Tariq Green, Chase Linton, and Isiah Canion?
KIRBY: Yep. They'll all be back soon
Q: What’s the message to your team when you go into this type of matchup?
KIRBY: It’s not a different matchup than we have every week. I mean, every week in the SEC is intense, tough, physical line of scrimmage. That's not any disregard to Oklahoma. They got a tremendous team. But we got eight of those in a row. So I'm worried about us, and I'm worried about how we prepare, and I'm worried about you know, what we can do to make our team better.
Like, what allows you to have consistency in performance that maybe is unmatched? You know, what can we do better than the opponent and get our players in a better position to be successful? Whether it's what we show 'em, whether it's what we teach 'em, whether it's how we do things, you know, you're constantly looking for a better way.
And, and when you look across college football, it's going to be one of those kind of years because there's a lot of parity out there.
Q: Coach, how valuable have these first three games been for Ekene Ogboko?
KIBRY: Only as valuable as he learns from them. I would argue that the practices he's had 36 times are more valuable than those games, but I know that's not what the book says.
But I can promise you he's working just as hard or harder in practice to to grow and advance as he is in those games. But I mean, I get it. There's a certain level of anxiety that goes with playing in a game, and he's gone in and played in them
Q: Kirby, what do you respect and see on tape from the big fella in the middle for their defensive line, David Stone, No. 0?
KIRBY: I got much respect for him and all of them. I'll be honest with you, there's not a guy on their defense that comes in, and they rotate guys, that doesn't play with great pad level and great effort. I mean, when you turn on the tape, they run to the ball like they're in elite shape. They don't get tired.
They strike, they knock back, they get off blocks, and he's, he's a leader of that. But I mean, they, they all do.
Q: Justin Williams had his first career sack on Saturday. What, what have you seen in his growth as he's going through his third year?
KIRBY: Well, he's been able to maintain and keep his weight is one thing.
That's helped him. He stayed healthy, which has helped him. He's always been really smart uh, intelligent, plays, you know, plays hard like a leader. Very positive, upbeat attitude, loves practice every day. So I was happy to see him have success, but it doesn't shock me because of the way he works.
Q: Wanted to follow up on Oklahoma. When you watch their offense on film, you see turnovers from the quarterback in the pass game, you see maybe not an inability, but a difficulty in running the football. I wonder, do you see the ability and say, "Guys, we gotta watch out for this, this, and this," or do you see the weaknesses and the struggles and say, “We... Guys, we need to attack this, this, and this?"
KIRBY: Yeah, you know, it's not my job to evaluate and criticize and, and talk about... I have to get our guys ready to play. And I think that's a, you know, a hard job each week in our conference because so many kids and teams live through perception and what's said, right?
And, and we as coaches are going off what's on tape, and there's a lot of times those two don't, don't match. And I know the players. We recruited almost every one of them. I know the quarterback. I know his tremendous athleticism. I know backs. I know receivers. I know the coaches. They, they got a, they, they got a good team, and we have to prepare to play for those, play against those guys
Q: You know, as someone who is a great defensive coach, what makes Brent Venables such a consistently excellent defensive coach?
KIRBY: Technique and fundamentals. I mean, they don’t - they have great scheme. They have awesome scheme. They've got an answer for everything you do, but that ain't what does it for them. They, they strike people. They get off blocks. They attack the ball. They play downhill. They don't play passive. they have, they have technique and fundamentals.
I mean, you can see it when people go to block 'em. They strike 'em and get off the block. That's what football is. Football is, I mean, defensive football is like, are you hard to block? When you turn on the tape, they got a bunch of hard to block guys. And when you're hard to block, you're good.
Then you put some size and talent with it, and then you get what you've got in Oklahoma, which is a - you ask anybody in our conference, they are year in, year out one of the best defenses.
Q: Coach, we saw Ja'Marley Riddle come in, and he had a few stops right away. How, how has he progressed and, and then I guess just overall your thoughts on how the entire secondary's played through the first three games?
KIRBY: Getting better. He's getting better. We're getting better. work in progress with e-e-each of those guys. A lot of things we can do better and clean up on technique and fundamental-wise, and we need to. But I'm proud of where Ja'Marley Riddle is. I'm proud of his work ethic, and he's coming off a significant injury that most people don't, you know, people don't associate him with injury because he wasn't here when it happened.
But his last game there, you see he had a really tough injury, and he's bouncing back from that.
Q: Wanted to follow up on interceptions. I know you, you had quite a few. It doesn't seem like we see safeties roaming as much as it... And, and I don't know if this is perception or reality, but that you don't see guys that, that seem free to just roam.
Is, how much of that is a byproduct of maybe the RPO game or assignment football where we're not really seeing those interception numbers like it seems like we used to?
KIRBY: Yeah safeties could never roam. I mean, they have a job. Their job is either the middle of the field or half of the field or a quarter of the field or but they never could roam and just do what they wanted.
I think people think that's a perception. They can't do what they want. They got a job to do. but certainly the, the evolution of football has become more spread, and with more spread, you know, tighter coverage. Tighter coverage results in less interceptions, believe it or not, because there's less zone, and zone leads to more interceptions than man does.
But teams force you nowadays with running quarterbacks, RPOs, run game, variations of things, pressure, trying to get negatives to play more man, and it probably results in less interceptions.
Q: Kirby, you and Brent both took similar paths, long time as defensive coordinators and then get your first head coaching job at power programs.
How much crossover or similarity do you see with how he's built his program compared to yours?
KIRBY: I don't know that because I don't know his program. I'm not a, you know, I'm not going to sit here and profess that, that we're like them or they're like us. I don't know that. I know he's a defensive-minded guy. I know he's built on physical toughness and the way you play the game.
It's important, but I don't really know how he runs his program and would be remiss to kinda comment on that
Q: Through the first three games, what have you seen from Drew Bobo? We see him out there, you know, clubbed up and basically playing one-handed. What have you seen on tape, and what else would you like to see going forward?
KIRBY: Effort and toughness is what Drew embodies. I mean, he's a captain. So when you say what, what have I seen from him?
Effort and toughness. He plays with elite effort. You won't find a play that he doesn't cover down. He's by the pile, he's knocking people off the pile. I don't know what it is, but he has elite stamina to run and play and just keep playing, because he can play every snap and not get tired. and then his toughness, you know, he's playing with a, an injury that's been significant and I know he's excited he'll be out of the club this week, so he's clear to get out of that.
And so I'm just proud of what he's done, what he's meant to our program. People don't realize how many years he spent down there on the scout team taking reps and, and just going against older D linemen and improving. And he's improved himself to be the player he is, but he's even better as a person in character in terms of carrying the mantra of our team, which is effort and toughness.
Q: Yu guys added a lot to your safety room in the off-season, but one of the guys who was, was here last year is Rasean Dinkins. he's playing a lot for you guys. What, what have you seen that has allowed him to kind of see his role grow and being able to make that transition from star to, to either of the safety spots?
KIRBY: Yeah, he's a physical tackler. He had a really good hit on kickoff last week. I mean, he's a knock-back tackler. He's a thumper. He's got really good ball skills. He plays the ball well in any part of the field. He can play multiple positions. he's hard to block, and we talked about it earlier, if you're hard to block, you can be a good defensive player.
So very pleased with his growth, and he's continuing to improve and he's a good football player.
Q: What do you want to see from Talyn Taylor in the next steps in his development for you guys? Talon's worked great.
KIRBY: The next step is to continue doing what he's doing. You know, he didn't get many opportunities Saturday, not by his choice.
There was a (pass interference) that he's probably going to catch a touchdown on. He ran a couple great routes on, on plays that protection broke down, but he's done a great job. I think he's improved on his physicality and blocking and that's always a big asset for him. But he runs good routes and I think he's gotta continue to get better and improve, but it’s on little things that he continues to grow and get more confidence in.
So I'm very pleased with where he's at.
Q: Kirby, can you give us some thoughts on Elyiss Williams and Ethan Barbour? I went back and watched the tape. I see those guys in a lot of plays, but you don't really see them on the stat sheet, but they're making big blocks.
I want to get your thoughts on those two. Yeah, I would argue all four of those guys. I mean, Lawson had two huge blocks in the game. Riddell had a huge block on a, on a, on a outside pin pull play. they're, they're all doing a good job in that room. So Elias and Ethan, as well as the other two, continue to be assets and finding ways to incorporate their physicality and, and, and how they help the team is good.
They've all really helped us on special teams with those four guys taking a lot of snaps. Thanks.
