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UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

December 18, 2017

Kirby Smart

Athens, Georgia

KIRBY SMART: Excited to be here. I'm really proud I got to take a picture with our new nine graduates the other day, and really excited about those guys. I think we're going to end up with 16 guys total with their degree out in Pasadena, which I'm really proud of the young men who have already graduated, but also the ones who just did, and they continue to do a great job academically in a really competitive environment and university.

As far as practices go, today will be our fourth practice. We're having another camp-type practice, preparing for the Rose Bowl, preparing for a really, really good Oklahoma team. We focused on ourselves the first five practices. We planned to do camp-type practices, and really improve our roster and try to work on our team from a development standpoint, getting ones, twos, threes, every guy on our team reps. So we've been really excited about the work we've gotten and that will continue into today's practice.

Couple injuries of note, John Atkins is still battling a little bit with the big toe he got in the SEC Championship game. He's been able to practice, but he's had to push through and be limited in I see his reps. Sony has done a good job pushing through. Malkom Parrish continues to work on his situation, and he's not been able to practice a lot. He's been able to practice some. So those guys are bouncing back.

As I'm sure most of you guys are aware, and everybody wants to know and talk about Natrez and Jayson Stanley situation under university and athletic association policies, both those guys remain part of the team and eligible to practice. As we always talk about disciplinary matters, they're handled internally. So we make disciplinary decisions based on our policies, and the September revisions to the substance abuse policy had no impact whatsoever on the situation.

So we're following our policies without any exceptions, and without regard to the players involved or where we are in the season. The Athens-Clark County situation with Natrez is a separate matter and we'll address it according to our policies once it's resolved. So with that, I'll open it up to questions.

Q. Certainly one of your advantages and expertise is all the time you spent playing games like this with Alabama. You haven't, however, had an early signing period thrown in the middle of it. I'm wondering how that's impacted your life and the life of the staff? Has it been any kind of challenge to handle?
KIRBY SMART: Yeah, it's been a great challenge. I don't think people anticipated -- at least I didn't anticipate some of the come replications. First off, trying to play for a National Championship, and I know there are four teams involved in that. You've got to look at it from both perspectives, from the perspective of us as coaches and then also the kids. I am all about if it benefits them then it's for a better cause. I think there's going to be 20 to 30% of the people who sign Wednesday that this is a beneficial process. But there are a lot of other kids that feel rushed. They feel like they're making decisions amidst a sea of coaching changes, and they're having to hurry up and make a decision and not really getting the chance to develop relationships with the people to the places they're going.

I think the public perception is you choose the school and you go to the school. You don't necessarily go to a coach. And everybody can say that until it's your son or your daughter, and you're having to meet these coaches. You make decisions based on relationships.

The timeframe with which we're having to make these decisions for the kids is really stressful on them. I think when you look at the coaching side, we could get used to it, but with the advent of the tenth coach in the same year as the early signing period, it makes it really complicated. Because now you have a lot of coaches that are going to be moving possibly after all the kids sign, and that's a lot of the problem that people complained about before. The guys move after kids sign.

So it's been a difficult process for certain. A little bit of that complicated by the fact that we played in the SEC Championship game and we lost a week of recruiting, and then signing day is basically upon us. It's in two days, right? So it's here. So it's been very complicated. You'd like to look into it and see who did it actually benefit and how many did it benefit?

Q. Do you expect Kevin Sherrer to be coaching you guys through the playoffs while still dealing with responsibilities he might have at his new job in Tennessee?
KIRBY SMART: Absolutely. Kevin, when he got the opportunity he got, which I'm really proud of him and his opportunity, first thing he said, he wanted to finish outright, and we want him to. So he's done a tremendous job with our outside linebacker group, and he always has. It's important for us to be at our best in this College Football Playoff.

Well, if it wasn't important to have him, why would we have him here all year? So he's been here. He's helped these guys develop, helped the young players develop. I've got a lot of respect for Kevin and watched him go through the high school ranks. Watched him do it at Alabama. Watched him do it at South Alabama. So I'm excited for his opportunity. He did finish up at Tennessee on their official visit weekend, so he wasn't here for a couple practices. But he's here today, and he'll be here the rest of the way through the bowl prep.

Q. If you asked people to say, who are the top 10 players in college football, I'm not sure that many people would have Nick Chubb on the list. Why do you think that is, and have you ever had to have a conversation with him about, hey, this is going to be your role here, you may not get the national attention you deserve, but we love you anyway kind of thing?
KIRBY SMART: I think running backs as a whole recognize that now. You look at the guys that are winning the Heisman, there are some backs in there. But those guys don't get enough carries a lot of times. And the ones that do, they know it can affect their pro careers, just the longevity. So, no, I've never had that conversation with Nick, nor do I ever expect to have that conversation with a running back, because if they're worried about that, then they're probably not worried about us winning games.

I like the running backs that are a lot more concerned with us winning football games, and we've got to do what's best to win a football game. He's got to carry it 35 times a game, so be it. He acknowledges that. He's done that in his career here. But that's not his whole right now. He's embraced his role, and best thing he does is lead by example, he and Sony.

Q. Coach, talking quarterbacks on both sides of the ball, talk about how pleased you've been with Jake and with Roquan playing on defense?
KIRBY SMART: Tremendous job. Both those guys have grown up a lot throughout the year. Roquan took on a leadership role in the time in the spring when it was hard because he was injured. He's embraced that. He's had two or three really good practices. He looks fast out there. Really competitive, playing fast. Jake continues to grow and mature. There were times that we were on the road and he led to help the team do seven on sevens. He's grown as a leader among the team. With each game in each situation he gets involved in, he tends to play better and understand the offense better. So they make the other players around them much better.

Q. Back to Natrez for a minute. He's had multiple incidents whether arrests or indirectly. What is your level of concern about the kid for whenever he legitimately has a problem? And by following that up, if you play him, could that qualify as enabling bad behavior and sending the wrong message?
KIRBY SMART: Yeah, I think for us, which I'm not allowed to talk much about this subject because a lot of it is confidential, and you've got to respect his confidentiality. I have a lot of respect for Natrez as a person, a student, a student-athlete. He's done a lot of good things along with his mistakes. I think for us and for me I can't sit here and outline and define everything that's happened because of his confidentiality and for the kid's sake. So with that, there is not a lot I can talk about in that situation. It's limited.

Q. Given that your defense has an odd front, Oklahoma runs an odd front. I think Isaiah said you guys faced three odd fronts this year. How beneficial is it that some of the good on good could simulate what Oklahoma might want to do?
KIRBY SMART: I think it's great, but it goes both ways. They get to see our odd front. They play against an odd front for a lot. For a long time odd front was different. Odd front was like the exception. And now the better teams, it seems like more and more, do both. We do both. You've got to do the one that fits your program the best.

I think it presents challenges because they're not exactly like us, but we have visited with Oklahoma in the past. We've shared ideas, so there are a lot of similarities. I think, if anything, that makes it a lot like fundamentals. Working on blocking and tackling and all of that. It's not going to be a different scheme. It's going to be a similar scheme from the standpoint of our defense and their defense, and they've got some talented rushers in that group.

Q. Now you've had the benefit of practically an entire season now. What do you see as the impact of the guys who had to decide to come back, and how much of a role have he this played in you guys being where you're at now?
KIRBY SMART: Probably more than they have been given credit. I think every time I talk, people talk about those guys deciding to come back and what impact they had. I think the greatest impact it had was it gave the younger players, juniors, sophomores and freshmen, confidence in the regime. It showed them that, hey, man, these guys have only been with this staff one year, but they're willing to stay. I think that gave a quiet confidence to the spring.

Then I think the leadership of those, I don't know, seven, eight seniors has been tremendous for the off-season workouts and setting the tone. But the value of experience, I mean, you could have a freshman that's better than the senior, but the senior plays better in the big moments because he's got poise. He's got an understanding of it. You think of Davin's played against Notre Dame, played against Auburn who were both kind of momentum-changing plays. I don't think you can put a number of wins on that. So I think it played a major factor for us.

Q. Latavious Brini, what is his status?
KIRBY SMART: Yeah, he's still in court right now. Still going through the process and the decision-making process. As we get more information we'll let you guys know. We just don't know a whole lot.

Q. Baker Mayfield presents a lot of different challenges on the field. My question is, is the most difficult thing when he breaks the pressure and the play breaks down and he gets out there and starts sort of freelancing and picking guys out on his own, because you don't know what he's going to do?
KIRBY SMART: Yeah, he's really elite. It goes up in that category beyond Johnny Manziel when it comes to creativity with the ball. He can make all the throws from all the angles. It's not just the scrambling. It's the fact that when you get to him, you sometimes still can't get him down. He's strong. He's built lower body like a running back. It's like having a wildcat quarterback that can throw it really good. His release and finding guys open has really been amazing. It creates a lot of dynamic for us. We're very fortunate to have a quarterback like Stetson Bennett who I know a lot of you guys don't know, he's not the stature, but he's done all year some plays similar to Baker. If we're tackling him live, that would probably be different because he's not as strong as Baker, but he does a great job of scrambling, adding time to plays. He can give us at least a good picture, not the real picture.

Q. You've mentioned to the team about perspective for this playoff, given what they've accomplished already this season, how have you tried to challenge them to, I guess, take it up another notch or keep going?
KIRBY SMART: Yeah, intensity. That's probably why you hear my voice is hoarse right now, because I'm trying to make sure they understand that you can't acknowledge the Pats on the back. You can't embrace that. You can't feel good about yourself because obviously their hometown, their communities, in the media, winning the SEC Championship is a great honor and they'll have that for a long time. It will be on these walls for a long time, but they can't be satisfied. I think that is what makes the difference in the playoffs. How you approach this layoff and the perspective which you view it.

So how are we managing that? We're bringing speakers in, we're using every resource we have to make sure they take advantage of this opportunity. We're challenging them each day.

Q. This is kind of generalizing, but you see it every week during the regular season. Big 12 scores that are 50 to 45, and SEC scores that can be 10 to 6. Why are there such different styles in two of the top conferences?
KIRBY SMART: Well, I would agree with that, except I didn't see any 10-6 SEC scores, because it doesn't seem like they're there anymore. I can go back maybe eight, nine years ago. But I thought you were going to say 28-24, 24-21, because people are scoring more and offenses have been innovative. They continue to progress. They take advantage of rules with the RPO and the different things they use.

Why is theirs different? I don't know. It seems like in all the years I've been coaching bowl games, a lot of the games I've been on involved in have been Big 12 games, been Big 12 match-ups, whether I was at Alabama or here. It's a different style. I think they do a tremendous job of throwing the ball down the field, up-tempo, do a really good job of that. I don't know if it's the difference in the defensive lines. People have always said the SEC is going to have really competitive defensive linemen that can pass-rush and reduce that time window.

But I think Baker Mayfield is the great equalizer because he extends that time, and he makes those plays go longer where you have to cover longer. That has a lot to do with it, and they've got really good skill receivers in that conference.

Q. You mentioned in the preseason how much better you guys had to be in the kicking and the punting coverage game. They're seeing improvement, but how important will that be against an explosive offense like Oklahoma, just the field position battle?
KIRBY SMART: Yeah, it's the battle that nobody talks about. It's the battle within the battle that we've worked really hard on improving that in the last three, four practices. We believe in working hard on special teams. Our core unit, those guys on every team, they love it because they see themselves as starters. It's had a great impact on the games we've played this year, because I feel like we've been maybe not statistically, because I don't even look and say, where are we statistically and this and that and that.

We've done a good job on special teams because there's been opportunities there. There's been plays made there. There's been momentum-changing plays, and we've got to continue to do that, and Oklahoma knows that. They've got really good special teams units as well.

Q. Talk about your staff, meeting with the Oklahoma staff, when did that take place, and why did you choose on the ground oak as a school to pick their brains a little bit?
KIRBY SMART: I really don't remember when we met with them. But they do a good job. We've always shared ideas with those guys. I've always liked to because I thought Bob Stoops did a great job defensively. And even when Brett Venables was there, we met with them when I was at Alabama. We shared ideas offensively uniquely because they had some really talented backs in their past. They've used those backs different ways. So as we've known we were going to have backs here, we said, how can we use our running backs in other ways? That was a big study for us two years ago when I got here and this year. So we've done some stuff with them.

Q. Baker obviously gets a lot of attention with that passing game. But how dangerous is the rushing attack going for 215 a game, and how Ware do you have to be to stop that?
KIRBY SMART: That's tough. They're really big up front. People don't talk about the size of their offensive linemen. They're humongous, they lean on you, they wear yo down, they go up tempo, they go really good pace and they do run the ball. It's not like it's just a -- it's a great RPO offense. They do a tremendous job. He always has. I remember watching East Carolina, he really does a great job. You really do have to stop the run and they have great backs with which to do it.

Q. From a defensive perspective when going against a guy like Baker Mayfield, how do you balance rushing the passer and getting after the quarterback versus keeping contain and keeping him from extending plays?
KIRBY SMART: That's the million dollar question. I don't think you're going to contain this guy. He can escape when he wants to escape. So you have to invite him to stay he can make throws from the pocket, or you have to flush him out and have somebody athletic enough to get him on the ground.

The best thing they do is make explosive plays. So you look at them and they'll go, three, three, three, three, bang, three, three bang, and get explosive plays. You've got to prevent the bang. You've got to prevent the big play from happening. Hopefully, you'll get the turnover. You've got to stop them in the red area, get turnovers. You do have to affect him, and you've got to be smart because he's seen it all. It's not like this guy hasn't seen a pressure that we might be running. You're not going to reinvent something that he's never seen before.

Q. Coach, to that point, how important is Roquan in this game as kind of the guy in the middle that has to keep an eye on that quarterback and watch if he breaks contain or watch if he moves around and the play breaks into another play?
KIRBY SMART: Yeah, he's a tremendous asset for us because of his speed. But we can't make this Roquan Smith against Baker Mayfield because that's not the case. He's not assigned to Baker. He's assigned to a gap. He's assigned to a coverage responsibility. He's assigned to a running back, man-to-man. He has all kinds of assignments.

It's not as simple as people want to make it seem like. Hey, it's Roquan against Baker Mayfield. That's not what this is. Roquan has to play within our system, and he may end up in a match-up with him sometime. We've got other guys we spy with. We've got other guys that got to rush and contain the quarterback. He's certainly going to be a key factor in getting our defensive line correctly. Which is the most important thing. It's what we do, not necessarily what he does.

Q. Speaking of Roquan, Kirby, he's genuinely considered that this will be his last year. He'll have opportunities beyond this. Generally that window to figure that all outcomes between the championship game and the bowl. Have you been advising him?
KIRBY SMART: What do you mean championship game and bowl? Are you talking about the SEC Championship game?

Q. Yeah. The window before they came back to practice here is generally when you get advice and stuff like that. What do you think Roquan's going to do to even address it with these big games waiting for you?
KIRBY SMART: We handled it the same way we've always handled it. We call every kid in that we think has that potential. We talk to them about it. We say this is the process we're going to follow. We're going to get information, and gather information for you. We're going to receive it from the NFL, and we're going to give it to you. We're going to be able to give you advice. But that's not right now. Right now the focus is on Oklahoma, and that's the concentration and that's what we're doing.

We make sure it doesn't become a distraction because we know you guys are going to ask him. So we go to him and say, listen, be prepared for this. This is what we're doing, this is how we're handling it and we'll follow the same exact steps we followed last year with our guys. Everybody gets the same information, everybody makes their own decision, and we'll give you all the information you can to make the best decision possible. But let's make sure the focus is on the team, and the focus is on Oklahoma.

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