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UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 26, 2016

Kirby Smart

Athens, Georgia

COACH SMART: We're excited for another great opportunity to play a really good team in Tennessee. You know, I've always said around here humidity is a week away. When you talk about the SEC, you never get a chance to rest. All the teams we play are really good, well-coached teams.

I've got a lot of respect for Tennessee. As you know, I played them over all the years that they were a common opponent when I was over in Tuscaloosa. I think Coach Jones' staff and their team plays really hard and really physical.

They were probably the most physical team we played last year as far as just coming right off the ball and hitting you in the mouth. In special teams they do a really good job, so we've got a great challenge in front of us. This team is a good football team, and we've got to show improvement at pretty much every position, especially from the last game.

We got to get after it this week and make sure our guys know what they're in store for, because it will be a physical, tough game, which Tennessee just played in as well. Our guys got to be up for the challenge. They got a lot of good players back.

We'll open it up.

Q. Do you have a better feel on Nick Chubb's availability now that's it's been a couple days after the injury?
COACH SMART: Yeah, he's going to continue to rehab really hard. We're obviously hopeful he'll be able to do something, but we won't know more until later in the week.

But it is an ankle injury.

Q. Building on what you just said in the opening comments, Tennessee, when you first got to Alabama they went through three coaches in three years and had a couple of recruiting classes implode. Where have they come the furthest that you've seen as someone who studied them every year?
COACH SMART: Yeah, offensive and defensive lines. It's easy to say. Always been able to get wide-outs and get skill players, but the offensive and defensive lines, he's built a program around that.

They've got a core group of offensive lineman. I don't know how many starts those guys have, but I swear they got like 13 returning starters on offense. They got guys at multiple positions who have all started depending on what personnel grouping they're in.

I remember two years ago going and playing this team in Knoxville and they were really physical then. They were really physical last year and they're that way this year. So he's built it around the offensive and defensive lines, which I think is the best way to build a program.

Their defensive line is a lot bigger than it's ever been. Got some good players in there.

Q. What are some things that you could do to scheme around line play when you're getting out physicaled in the line? Are there things you can do to scheme around when you have a deficiency there?
COACH SMART: I think it's hard to scheme around fundamentals of football, and I think blocking and tackling are the number one things that you have to be able to do in football.

Right now, you know, we're not a real tackling defense. We had 15 something missed tackles in the last game.

And to your point, the offensive line, we got to be able to block really well. That's a key cog in order to be able to run the ball. We actually improved in that area against Ole Miss. It was all the other areas that imploded on us.

To try to cover that up, you don't cover that up. You confront. You go get better at it. You practice it and go against really good people. You play physical, you practice physical, you live physical. That's the way you improve that with the guys you got.

Q. Your guys have really been buying into the 24-hour rule. Is it more important this week that they forget Ole Miss leading into such a big game like Tennessee?
COACH SMART: I wouldn't say forget. Today is a learning day for us. Some guys got to watch tape yesterday on their own, and a lot of them feel bad about it.

We do have the 24-hour rule. Today is going to be about Tennessee and getting better. We'll have some corrections for things we might see again.

Don't think you ever forget it. You learn from it and you advance and you move on. You can't let that set you down for too long. You got to move on. Like I said, humility is a week away. When you play a team like Tennessee, they better get over it quick because they got to go out and compete and get ready for a physical, tough, game.

Q. With or without Nick this week, did Elijah play himself into more opportunities down the road?
COACH SMART: Yeah, he did a nice job. I thought Brian Herrien did a nice job. I thought Sony did a nice job. I think getting Elijah some experience in-game was valuable. Really we had been wanting to do that. It wasn't that we were holding back. Just only so many guys you can get carries to.

With Nick's injury, we didn't know at the time whether or not if he was going to be able to play this week. Still really don't. So we were sitting there going, We better get Elijah ready. And he did a nice job coming in, catching the ball out of that back field, running the ball. He runs really hard and runs a good toughness.

I've challenged those freshman guys. They've got to help us more on special teams. They're size/speed guys. They're both 200+ pounds and they run fast. We don't have enough guys in special teams that can do that. They can, but they just never done it before.

So we're needing their help and we expect Elijah to play a role certainly on offense.

Q. I want to ask about Tyler Catalina. Just the adjustments he's had to make, especially going up the Charles Harrises, Marquis Hayneses, and Derek Barnetts of the world? What kind of year has Tyler had so for you?
COACH SMART: Well, he's working to get used to playing against these kind of players. He gets it in practice and during camp. We to simulate that. They do a lot of things in practice to go against whether it's a speed or power rusher. We've worked him at right tackle, left tackle, guard.

So he goes against all type players so that when he gets in the game he's got some experience doing it. We all know the in-game experience is invaluable. Can't get enough of that. He's had some trial by fire. He's got to go out there and compete and do it against good players.

They guys, Haynes, Charles Harris, those guys he's gone against will prepare him to go against the guys he will go against in the future.

It's every week. It's part of the reason he came to this league is that there is a really good pass rusher every week we play against.

Q. Lorenzo Carter has obviously had some trouble closing. Doesn't have a sack yet. Where is he right now? How are you handling him going forward?
COACH SMART: Yeah, Lorenzo has worked hard. We're going to continue to work with him. He's got to continue to practice more physical, practice better.

The kid wanted to make those plays. He didn't not want to make them. It's a situation where he came free on one, and one he did a nice job playing a run play and he came out of it and just missed the quarterback on it.

We're going to work hard at everybody tackling better, especially in space, and finishing on the quarterbacks. Because when you play a quarterback that's athletic, a lot of times you don't temper your enthusiasm when you arrive in the pocket.

The kid last week was good at making people miss. Same as this week. You get a free shot at a guy, you got to under control and be able to make the play.

So I think Lorenzo is going to come out and accept the challenges we've issued to him and get better. He's got no choice but to get better. He has to work on it, work on his trade, just like a lot of guys do at a lot of positions in our program.

Q. How was the morale of the team coming home? How are your team leaders kind of stepping up to the challenge of keeping that morale up?
COACH SMART: Yeah, morale wasn't up coming home. Shouldn't be. We just took a tough defeat. Wasn't good, but it's improved. We got to see come of the guys yesterday. They came over and stopped by.

That's a big part of today. Part of my job is making sure they understand that that loss has been put behind us. We got a great challenge in front of us playing another really good football team that's good in a lot of areas. The focus will be on that and not on the perceived morale of when we came back from the game.

Q. Jonathan Ledbetter be available to play this week?
COACH SMART: No, he will not be available this week.

Q. What challenges does Derek Burnett pose?
COACH SMART: First of all, he's a phenomenal athlete and he's big, so when you got a big, athletic guy, he can play a lot of positions. They can move him around. He's a dominate rusher. Plays the run well. Really not a lot that you can say the guy does poorly.

When you have a guy like that, you got to know where he is at all times. Center has to know, quarterback has to know, tackle has got to know. It's really not easy to game plan because they can move him around.

So it's more of an I'm-up-to-the-challenge. When this guy is here, you got to know where his presence is at all times, because Coach Shop and them do a good job of using him. He's a talented rusher.

Q. Looking down at Tennessee's receivers, pretty easy to see, 6'3", 6'3", 6'4", 6'5". Can you just talk about the matchup? Obviously the secondary is what it is in size, and the Josh Dobbs factor as well?
COACH SMART: Yeah, they've got big wide-outs and they've recruited to that size and that speed. Again, these guys have been there for a while. I've seen them for a long time. The guy that's really impressive is Jauan Jennings. He is tough, he is physical, he enjoys blocking, and I think that's a credit to the job they do with them.

Josh Smith has been there for a long time. Many a lot of plays. Josh Malone is a great player. They have Preston Williams. They have big, big receivers. It's another challenge for us to go up and make some plays and get some guys in the game that can compete and fight to make the plays down the field.

Because ultimately you're going to be in those opportunities, those situations where you've got to win some one-on-one battles out there, and we got do a better job of doing that.

Q. Is there anything you learned or took away from playing Chad Kelly that you think can be applied in the preparation for a guy like Josh Dobbs?
COACH SMART: Certainly. I think the biggest thing is finishing on the quarterback when you get a chance, because you're not going to get a whole bunch of chances on these guys. When you get your opportunities, you got to make them count.

You can't miss them. You got to finish on the quarterback. You try to limit the opportunities they get by getting off the field on third down. I think that was a big part of our game plan last week, but also this week. When you get somebody in second long, you got to force them into third and long and get off the field.

Big part of that is third down conversions. Limiting his opportunities is important. Josh Dobbs is a phenomenal player who plays the game with heart and energy. He plays with a great toughness. They ask him to run the ball up the middle, he does it. Ask him to run outside, he does it.

He's become a lot better passer over the last two years than the first year we played against him.

Q. How important was it to score 14 points in the second half? Obviously not going to win the game, but how much momentum can you carry over to this week?
COACH SMART: Well, I don't know that it carries over. I mean, I think when you got a defeat like that, the big part was that they came out and fought and battled and they competed.

It was important to them to score. It was important to them to get the backs in there, and the backs ran hard. I think that part was really what I wanted to see out of them, was no-quit, fight-your-tail-off, and keep battling.

As far as momentum, I wouldn't say it created any momentum.

Q. Coach, coming off a tough defeat like that, is there a silver lining to taking a butt whipping like that?
COACH SMART: No, I wouldn't say that. The silver lining is you get another opportunity to play a good team this week. The opportunity that we have looking forward is what we're fired up about.

I mean, the best thing we can do is look forward and continue to develop our players to get better. My end goal is for each guy to play his best game this game. That's what we want. That's all we can focus on right now, is what do I have to do to play better? The areas we are deficient in, how do we improve them? That's what we're focused on this week.

Q. As a coaching staff, what can you do about the number of big plays given up on defense?
COACH SMART: Tackle. Tackle better. I mean, the offenses we play, they get explosive plays on everybody. It's more about limiting those. Like you mentioned, of how do I give up less?

If we tackle better and you take 9 of the 15 missed tackles away, then you take away about seven big plays. I think that's the most important thing. Great defenses are built around tackling and getting the other team to turn the ball over. We didn't tackle well.

They're going to hit some down-the-field plays. They're gonna be one-on-one and hit some. But you got to tackle them when the ball breaks out of stack, and you got to do the great job of limiting the opportunities to hit those big plays, and we didn't do that Saturday.

So we got to do a better job of that.

Q. What are you looking for the role of your athletic outside linebackers, Davin Bellamy and Lorenzo Carter to be against Josh Dobbs and the run-pass option this week?
COACH SMART: The role for those guys is to play really physical. Sometimes both those guys can't be on the field. Tennessee has a big offensive front. They run the ball well.

The role was for them to do their job. Their job might be to strike the tight end; might be to strike the tackle. Both those guys are 240, 245 pounds and they've got to play against bigger people. They got to be able to hold up when they play against bigger people, especially in the run game.

They don't get any smaller in the SEC the rest of the way. The whole outside backer group has got to be able to match up and play against tight ends and tackles on a consistent basis in a big league.

Q. Wanted to ask about Les Miles. You were at LSU for one year and obviously had some pretty classic matchups with them when you were in Alabama.
COACH SMART: Yeah. I mean, I'll be dead honest with you. I don't have a whole lot to talk about. I know Less. Les is a great man, good person. I respect Les and the job he's done in this profession. I think he's a very great kind of ambassador for our league. I hate what's happened.

But I'll say this: Les has been nothing but good to me and he's a great person.

But I got to focus on Tennessee obviously.

Q. Wanted to ask about you D'Andre Walker. He didn't play a whole lot game one, but has played a whole lot since then. What are you guys seeing out of him? Do you like what you're seeing as far as him making those plays?
COACH SMART: Yeah, I do. He's a guy we talked a lot about yesterday. Interesting you brought it up. He's playing good in that group. He's playing really hard. He doesn't play as many snaps as those other guys so it's a situation of where is he maxed out snap-wise. Right now he's getting 15 to 20, whereas the first game he didn't get that many.

Gone up each week in snaps because he's played better. We will continue to develop him. He plays hard and runs fast. He's not the biggest guy. He does play hard and play physical, and that's what we're looking for. That's the challenge for our team this week.

We're going to put the best guys out there that will go out and compete and play physical.

Q. What can the fans do this week to offer their support? Getting the home field advantage is always important. I think more so coming off last week.
COACH SMART: Absolutely. We're going to need the fans to help us defensively when Tennessee is out there to make it really hard on them. They really haven't played on the road. They played a neutral site game that was in a large stadium, but really haven't played truly on the road.

That's got have an affect. We need a packed house to affect their offense and their ability to communicate, and then we need the ability for our guys to communicate offensively.

I think the enthusiasm and the juice they bring helps our team. They feed off that. They feed off the energy. We got to go out and do our part by playing good and keeping the crowd into it, but that can play a big part in this game, which I think will help us tremendously.

Q. I think you gave the stat of 15 missed tackles. What did you have for drops by the receivers? How much of a concern is the pass catching for you guys?
COACH SMART: Well, it's something we got to do a better job of. We challenge those guys every day and try to put them in tough situations. We're trying to make those receivers make the tough catches, which we struggle with. We dropped some balls this year. I think we had five or six in this game that we counted as drops, and that's frustrating. Two of those could have been game changers, momentum changers.

That's the most frustrating thing about that game in the past was the opportunities missed that had could have changed the game. Most games you can say that in, so it's no different than this one.

We'll continue to challenge them. That receiver group is a work in progress because we want them to be physical; we want them to play hard; we want them to go catch the balls.

We're working hard at it with them. I'm on those guys every day to challenge each other and compete in that room. It's one of major rooms we got to improve in.

Q. I know you're thinking about this week's game, but you've blade in this rivalry. What do you remember? Obviously when you were here Tennessee had some unbelievable offenses.
COACH SMART: Yeah, they were very dominate. Peyton was here and Tee Martin, both really good quarterbacks, really good offenses; very power based, good-run offenses.

It's a great rivalry. It's what college football is all about. It's a pretty balanced rivalry. It's gone kind of in cycles back and forth traditionally, but got a lot of respect for their program. To be honest with you, it's what the SEC is about, these kind of rivalry games.

Q. I wanted to ask you about Isaiah McKenzie. Obviously his production was way down this past game. Did you feel like it was a schematic thing? Drawing more attentions? Just tougher day for Isaiah?
COACH SMART: Yeah, they did a good job game planning on Isaiah, especially from a receiver's standpoint, which we expected. We had some plays in to complement him. Some of them we weren't able to hit. Some hit and dropped and just didn't get.

But he'll continue to see more defenses like that. But, again, he's a competitor. He'll go compete. A lot of times it's not necessarily the scheme of the play or ticking them with Isaiah. It's blocking the right guy and getting Isaiah in one-on-one matchups.

If he can get one-on-one in space we like our chances. It's when they get two-on-one or we don't block one of the two that we get in trouble.

So we'll continue to use him and he'll continue to compete and do it. We didn't do a good job getting him the ball in this game, but a lot of that had to do with what they did.

Q. What makes Barnett so tough off the edge, and how much does Vereen on the other side help him out?
COACH SMART: Yeah, the fact they've got two helps tremendously. You can't focus on one, slide to one all the time. He is a dominate pass rusher. He's what this league has been known for for so long. He's just another one of those guys that when you look out there you say, I got to have one of those.

The teams that got those, even the guy at Florida, Brantley. A lot of teams got that dominate guy that changes the game for the offense. Hard to block.

Well, they got him and Vereen who are really good players. When you got two of that caliber it's tough to game plan for. Again, you got to do a good job blocking and tackling in order to be good at the fundamentals. That's what Saturday is going to come down to: Who blocks and tackles the best and makes the plays at critical times.

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