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UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 24, 2018

Kirby Smart

Athens, Georgia

COACH KIRBY SMART: We move on to Tennessee. I think this is one of the exciting rivalries in college football. I think when you look over the last six, seven years, there have been some really tight ball games, some really exciting ball games, and some I watched from afar and some I've been a part of. I got a lot of respect for their program. I think Jeremy is doing a good job there, and certainly being a physical football team you can see that identity created and what they're trying to create and how they run the ball and what they do. So I think that's important in building a good program, and they're certainly on the right track when it comes to the physicality they're trying to do things with on both sides of the ball.

As far as before I take questions, injury reports, I know you guys want to know all that stuff. Jackson Harris should be back this week, ready to practice and play. Ben Cleveland will be out with the left fibula fracture. Not sure how long that'll be. He'll be on crutches for a week, and then he'll be back weight bearing after that. Monty Rice is expected back from, you know, he had the MCL in spring. He practiced last week. He just didn't feel like he could go in the game. We're hoping to get him back, hoping he's recovered some. Not sure how long Tyler will be out with his shoulder. May be a week, may be two weeks. It may be less. We don't know. We're going to see what he can do today. We'll find a lot more out about that. And then Andrew Thomas was no worse off with the ankle. Felt like he probably could have gone back in if he had to in an emergency. But he's no worse off, so he should be able to practice today. I think that's all the major injury guys. With that I'll open it up.

Q. Kirby, you were talking about Jeremy trying to build an identity. I don't know if you can see on film or what identity he's trying to build, and I guess the second part of that is he's coming into this game off a game where kind of nothing went right, I mean six turnovers, fumble into the end zone. You came into this game your first year two years ago coming off that Ole Miss game where not much went right. What do you say to your kids after games like that when first-year coaches have a lot of optimism but you're also balancing patience and stuff like that.
COACH KIRBY SMART: I don't know what he says to them. That's really his department. We're really concerned about us. We've got enough issues and holes and things we gotta fix. We didn't play with the right kind of physicality in the last game and we're certainly concerned with us. I think anytime you turn the all over six times he'll be the first to tell you it doesn't take a rocket science to figure it out you're not going to win many games when you do that. And that's what football starts with, protecting the ball and attacking the ball, and without those turnovers it's probably a different game.

Q. And what about his identity? Have you seen that?
COACH KIRBY SMART: Yeah, I see the physicality they're trying to run the ball with and stop the run. There's no question they're creating identity, and you can tell the way they're committed to the run, and each game they've gone up with the number of runs they've had. I think that's important part of football. You gotta be able to do that. And we didn't exactly do what we needed to do to stop the run last week or run the ball. So our concern is us. My concern is not Tennessee's identity.

Q. Coach, I was wondering if you could follow up on the Tyson Campbell injury, and then my question is about the first-down production on the run against your defense. How much of that is scheme versus assignment of execution?
COACH KIRBY SMART: I'll go back to the second one because I'm not sure I understand it. But the first one, Tyson should be fine. Tyson had a subluxed shoulder, but he was fine after that. He ended up getting dehydrated and started throwing up and got sick and we had to IV him. And he was able to come back in the game. It just didn't happen where he came back in the game, except for the play that Bake was injured. But Tyson should be fine.

As far as the other one, first-down -- talking about number of first downs converted by the run? I don't understand what you're asking.

Q. The opponent is getting yardage gouging on first down runs.
COACH KIRBY SMART: Yeah. Last week it certainly I felt that way. But I don't think overall it's that way. We didn't play the run game real good last week, and that's what we pride ourselves on. And we gotta do a better job of attacking the run and play the run. At the end of the day stopping the run is an attitude and a disposition you create within your team. And we didn't have that real good. In the previous games I didn't think it was a major problem. We weren't trying to stop the run a lot of times on middle Tennessee it was a different kind of game. We didn't stop the run very well against Missouri. I'll be the first to admit that.

Q. Swift and Holyfield each had personal highs for carries. What have you learned so far about their ability to handle bigger work loads than they've had before?
COACH KIRBY SMART: I think we're still learning that. I think they're both good backs, they're tough backs. I think all the guys, Brian and James included all have really important role on our team, including our receivers being able to handle some carries and get some carries to help spread that weight out. But what Swift and Holyfield have done, I think both those kids have been productive, tough, physical, good pass protectors. They've protected the ball well. They've had explosive runs. We gotta continue to help them. I mean we gotta try to get them in favorable situations to run the ball, and they've done a good job of that.

Q. Coach, D'Andre Walker it's easy to see he could put some good pressure on the passer. How is he playing overall? What has been your view of his progress and how he's contributed to the defense?
COACH KIRBY SMART: I think D'Andre has grown into this role. I thought he had his best game of the four he's played last week. I would have expected nothing less because he's a leader on our team. He's a very motivated kid. He plays so hard. It's important to him. He still has room for improvement, he'll be the first to tell you he had some missed assignments in the game that he didn't do what he was supposed to do, he didn't play with discipline. But overall he had a very productive game, mainly because of how hard he plays. And he's a tough, good football player, winner that probably a lot of people overlooked throughout his career because he's behind other guys. But he had a good game the other day, certainly appreciate the production he had in the game because he's a -- when you ask other coaches, he's hard to block.

Q. Kirby, you said after the game about the discipline, that you'll get it fixed. What's kind of your plan for that and regarding the touchdowns, dropping it before the end zone? How do you address that?
COACH KIRBY SMART: I think we'll address it at practice. We'll handle it internally and it's not really for public consumption. I think that's important. I think the important thing is that we get it fixed. How many times does something gotta happen. But it's not something that you don't talk about. You talk about it, you confront it, you demand. And a lot of times I'm a big believer that leadership on the team has to do that. It doesn't just come from me. It comes from every player on the team buying in that that's important. And I can assure you that neither kid that, that that was their thought process as they were running down the field, I'm going to drop this ball near the goal line. It's just a lack of respect for the ball and a lack of respect for your teammates, which you can't have.

Q. When it comes to Tyler Simmons, if it does come up to be a situation where he has to miss some time, what guys are -- just trying to figure out the receiver situation. What guys are in a position to play that same role that maybe you're looking to to step up for that spot?
COACH KIRBY SMART: Trey Blount, J. J. Holloman, Jason Stanley, Demetris Robertson, all the guys that are playing. We're playing a lot of guys at wide out guys. There are a lot of guys playing there. So you just take the first three games and say, look at all these guys that have played. Could be one of any of those nine, ten. Matt landers. There's a lot of guys that can go in there and play and we'll certainly be looking at all those guys if Tyler is unavailable.

Q. Same kind of question related to right guard. No. 1, how did you feel Ben was playing this year and Justin sheriff went in. Will it be him or I know Kendall Baker is there. Maybe some other options, too.
COACH KIRBY SMART: Yeah. We're going to evaluate that through two, three days of work. The good thing is we get to get a lot of good on good work this week. We'll explore all those options. I thought that Ben Cleveland was playing really well. He was playing fast. He was final comfortable. He was moving around. He had gotten player of the week there one week for coach pit man, was doing a good job and was picking things up. He was very confident. You can kind of see the maturation process of the last two years of what all he's been through to get to the point he was. So you hate to see that injury, especially from a continuity part of him and Isaiah being there together. But to tell you who will be there, it will come out in competition. Sheriff was the guy that went in because he had practiced and he was ready to go at that position. Kendall will get an opportunity there. We'll also look at the possibility of Cade working there with Andrew being back at left tackle if that comes to be. So we'll look to get our best five in, and to be honest, you've gotta have seven or eight ready, just like we've had to play multiple guys in every game, Andrew, Ben. So we'll have to have seven, eight guys ready.

Q. Kirby, Jake's percentage, completion percentage is up about 10 percent from a year ago. What have you seen that he's done to improve that area?
COACH KIRBY SMART: Well, I think he's able to make quicker, smarter decisions. He processes information really quick. He understands what defenses are trying to do. He's in the second year in our system. He's got more experience to wide out. We had good wide outs last year, but the kids this year there's a bigger body of work. So they've made some plays for him, too. You look at last year, I know early, Mecole had a couple of drops. He had a couple things, and they're catching the ball better now. I don't think it was that he was less accurate last year. Some of them were caught, and he understands where the checkdown is. He knows how to use the tools that are around him.

Q. Coach, when you have these injuries like Andrew and Ben, what's the important of Lamont and his role to kind of keep everybody level here?
COACH KIRBY SMART: I think he's the rock, you know. You got one guy in there, and that's always one of the toughest positions to replace is that position. That's the cog, that's the voice, that's the leader. That's the guy that handles it all. And Lamont has done a good job of that communicating across the board, different fronts, different movements, different looks. He's the guy that leads that room through vocal and through kind of being the guy that's done it the most. So it's important to have him part of it, but all that stuff factors in. Continuity is really important in the offensive line and whether Andrew is beside Solly or Cade is beside Solly. That guy in the middle is one of the centre pieces, and he's done a good job leading that group.

Q. Coach, I know that Tennessee's quarterback took a hit and didn't come back in, there was a couple of quarterbacks prepared for. How different is Tennessee's offense with Guarantano in versus Keller Chryst which you've seen on film?
COACH KIRBY SMART: Not a whole lot different. I think the other kid has the ability to take off running. Now, Chryst has had some runs as well. And he's done some whether it's by design or by accident, a couple of times he's had to run it. They're both capable of doing that. We don't see a whole lot of difference in the two of those guys and what they'll do with those guys, but again, a lot of that's out of our hands.

Q. Last year you guys in crunch time seemed like you played four tight ends just about every game, and this year that number has been kind of reduced to two with the injury to Jackson. How much does getting him back potentially impact you guys and what you're able to -- how diverse you're able to be in the run game?
COACH KIRBY SMART: I think it depends on his health and how much he can handle stamina wise and what he can do and how caught up he is on the offensive service and have a good understanding of it having played in it for a couple of years and looking forward to Jon both continuing to grow. So we're trying to grow those guys, and a lot of these young players on our team we feel like are getting better week by week and getting closer and closer to an opportunity to go in and compete and as they get a little experience on special teams, a little more experience, good-on-good in practice they're getting closer to helping us as well.

Q. Kirby, I know when you were at Alabama you had your share of nonoffensive touchdowns, you're doing that again this year. How demoralizing are nonoffensive touchdowns for opposing teams?
COACH KIRBY SMART: Well, I think Coach Tucker would be the first to tell you it's like some stat, 89 percent of the teams that have a nonoffensive touchdown they usually win the game. And those are very impactful, hard to overcome those emotionally because they're sometimes a shock. But at the end of the day they happen. They happen on special teams. They happen on defense. And whether they happen to you or for you, it's the next play that matters. It's not that play. So a lot of it is overcoming adversity and how you're built within your program to overcome things like that.

Q. Kirby, how is Tyrique McGhee playing as he comes further away from his injury?
COACH KIRBY SMART: He's able to sustain longer. Thought that this last game he played more snaps than he has in the past. I still think he's getting some of the rush calls. He'll be the first to tell you he didn't play his best game the other day. But he understands what to do. He's a good leader. This kid practices really hard, really tough. We have to be smart with him because volume affects him, and we gotta be smart about the amount of volume he takes.

Q. What concerns you the most about this upcoming game? I've heard the word physical used a lot, is that the point of emphasis this week after the Missouri game?
COACH KIRBY SMART: No. The biggest thing for us is us. And we've gotta really concern ourselves with that. I mean I think perception out there is some people look at Tennessee and say certain things. I look at Tennessee and say that's a really well-coached, hard-nosed fundamental football team that's coming in here off a situation where they had however many turnovers they had. So the focus for our players is this is always a tough physical game. It's always this kind of way. It's been close for years, and we gotta worry about us. We gotta go correct our mistakes and our problems and make sure that we got our stuff tightened up so we can play the best we can play.

Q. Kirby, after looking at the film from the Missouri game and they're ability to run, how would you assess the play of the defensive line and was it problematic in that area as far as stopping the run?
COACH KIRBY SMART: No. The run is never -- you don't ever say, well, the defensive line is no good, they rushed for 180 yards. There's a coordinated fit. But we didn't do well, we didn't close, we didn't strike. We didn't knock off blockers, we didn't tackle well. So that secondary, linebackers, a lot of the D linemen aren't in on the tackles. They're the glue that holds things together on the inside. We didn't play the way we were capable of playing, and we also put our guys on some tough run positions because we knew we had not to give up the big play in the pass game. So you play games certain ways. You change things up. You change your strategy so the other team doesn't know what you're doing all the time. And a lot of those rushing yards had to do with that, a lot of them had to do with unwillingness to strike people. If you don't strike people, you won't stop the run in our league. You will not stop the run in our league. So you gotta strike people and be physical up front in order to do it.

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