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UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 1, 2018

Kirby Smart

Athens, Georgia

KIRBY SMART: I'll open with we're excited to move on to Vandy, to a homecoming opportunity in Athens. It's always a big deal to have your fanbase, your alumni base, former players, alumni coming back to homecoming. I know it's special to a lot of people, and we need our fanbase to turn out. Looks like we're finally going to get an opportunity at a night game. So certainly expect the atmosphere in our stadium to be really good. Should get some cooler weather, I hope, by that time as well.

As far as the injury front goes, the only guy of note I would think would be Tyler Simmons. We're hopeful to get him back. He ran all last week. He's going to practice today. Probably going to have to have a harness for his shoulder, which may limit him some, but we hope to get him back for this week.

With that I'll open it up if there's anything else anybody wants to ask about.

Q. Kirby, following up from Saturday when you were saying the plan is there is no plan on the quarterbacks, how advantageous is that for you guys when you're another team trying to study it, because if you look at your all's three SEC games, you've kind of handled the quarterback situation in different ways in all three of them.
KIRBY SMART: Sure. I think the most important thing is that each quarterback is developing and getting better, because people forget that Jake Fromm is a sophomore, and he's played in a lot of football games. He's lot a lot of experience with the extra games he was able to play last year, but both of these guys are developing and need work, and we get them tons of reps in practice. And I think that's the most important thing is that we grow. And you gotta understand that the plan is there is no plan means that we don't have a plan going into the game. You can't have a plan, because we don't know how the game is going to go. That doesn't mean we don't have a plan in practice, doesn't mean we don't get certain reps for certain guys, but if you sit here and think that we know exactly when Justin is going to go in or when Jake is going to go in going into the game or the third series of the fourth snap in the second quarter, the game doesn't work like that. It just doesn't work like that. We don't know how they're going to play us, what front they're going to play us in, what pressures they're going to run. So a lot of that is determined in game, and that's why we practice.

Q. With the fumbles that Jake had against Tennessee on the pass rush, is there any goal or desire maybe to have Jake be a little bit more mobile in the pocket to step up a little bit or step out? I know he did that in the Rose Bowl on that pass to Sony. Is there any kind of goal to do that this year with the offensive line that you have?
KIRBY SMART: Yeah, the goal is to protect the ball. Jake is one of the best I've seen at management in the pocket, movement in the pocket. Been a couple of times this year where he's had nowhere to go, and one of those caused fumbles the other day. There was a free guy coming right up the middle; he couldn't step up real good. But we work really hard on that. We actually do more than anyplace I've ever been where we have pass rush in practice so that the quarterback has to move in the pocket. Both quarterbacks are working hard on that.

The number one thing Jake's gotta do is protect the ball. What we can't have is the ball on the ground. But the number one thing we gotta do is protect the quarterback, and that comes from a lot of people. What Jake's good at is keeping his eyes down field and making sure that he's looking at the coverage and knowing where to go with the ball. It's hard to look at two things sometimes. But we do think he's gotta protect it well, and he'll be the first to recognize that if he gets an opportunity to run, Jake's a viable runner. He ran for a lot of things last year. He hasn't had that opportunity and instinctively hasn't taken off yet.

Q. Five games in, how close is your team to where you thought it would be heading into October? Have there been any surprises that come to mind?
KIRBY SMART: I get that question a lot. Each week I answer it the same. It's extremely hypothetical because I don't think you can say where I thought they would be. We're a work in progress. We're a child trying to learn to walk and then run, then sprint. And we're not sprinting. I don't know if we're jogging yet. I don't know where we are on the continuum. But we gotta improve. And I don't think any coach in the country could tell you right now that they don't need to improve. We certainly got some areas to work on and get better at. We had those same concerns and same areas for me last year. It's just a different team, different spots, and we've gotta continue to work and get better.

Q. Kirby, I know Justin has shown his ability as a passer at times this season, but what does he bring to your offense with his ability to make plays with his feet?
KIRBY SMART: Brings the dynamic of being able to run and pass that is very valuable. He's a big physical runner, good passer. He's a good football player.

Q. And then in terms of the quarterback room with the camaraderie amongst those guys, what have you seen from those two in terms of how they've handled it, like in terms of Jake being able to give up that duty and then come back in on the next play or something like that?
KIRBY SMART: Yeah, I think it's a bigger deal made by you guys than by them. I think when you talk about Jake Fromm and Justin Fields, you're talking about two huge Georgia fans that love Georgia and love the University of Georgia. They love their teammates. They want what's best for the team, and they're both competitors. I mean the one quality that they both have is, number one, they're both good leaders, but they're really good competitors, and I don't think they would be where they are in their careers were they not great competitors. What do great competitors want? Number one, they want to win. Number two, they want to do well. But when you're in a team format, sometimes doing well may mean the combination of those two guys, and Jake continues to improve and do good things, and so does Justin. And that's our goal. That's our goal for our right tackle and our left tackle. That's our goal for whoever our Mike linebacker is going to be on third down. We have to get better, and both those guys are working at that, and they're doing it with a team goal in mind.

Q. Kirby, now that you've had some time to go back and look, you all have moved Cade around, left side, right guard. What's your evaluation the way he's handled playing those different types of positions and how did you think he played Saturday?
KIRBY SMART: I think Cade's a very intelligent football player. He's very instinctive. He's able to go from the left to the right side without being left-handed dominant or right-handed dominant. He picks things up. I thought after watching the tape he played probably more physical in the game than I thought he was playing in the game. When you watch the tape, he got some movement, did some good things. We gotta continue to shore up our pass pro, but those kids played hard up front, and they got more movement early in the game than I thought they did. Did some good things early in the game.

Q. Can you talk about the progress of Brian Herrien this season? I noticed that he seems to be a favorite in like a 3rd-and-1, 4th-and-1 short yardage situation. Is it his explosiveness to the hole? Is that a part of his game that you like?
KIRBY SMART: I don't know that it would be a progression for Brian Herrien, because Brian's been really consistent since being here, in my opinion. You guys only get to see the finished product on the field, and you go off results and you go off stats, where I'm going off the body of work for two springs where I've seen this guy. The run he made where he spun off a tackler, that's a common occurrence in spring practice. He makes guys miss in the hole. He's quick. Brian's a good runner. I mean I don't think it's been a progression. I think it's been since he's got here, he's a good football player. He's really been an asset for our team on special teams. He got to make the plays that counted the other day. He provided a spark and juice that sometimes he doesn't get an opportunity to because he's on the sideline. And when he's out there, he did a good job, and I thought he took advantage of his opportunities. I wish he had got to cash that touchdown in, but he had run the ball several times in a row and we wanted to change it up, and it probably paid off to get a fresh runner in there.

Q. Kirby, Jay Hayes and Demetris Robertson, two transfers, a lot of buzz in the offseason, not a real big impact from either yet. Where are they right now?
KIRBY SMART: Both good players, both growing, getting better. Both competing. I think both of them are good football players. I think they continue to get better and continue to work hard, and they're part of a team that's bigger than their individual goals and they're both improving. D Rob is a little different where he came in kind of late, didn't get the summer practices, didn't get to work out with the team, and he's still learning a lot of things.

But you don't see them as contributors. I do. I see them as, in my opinion, major contributors, because what they do in special teams and what they do in practice helps develop our team. And I don't know -- I don't know what the expectation would be for me is to get the best we can out of those guys and them to help us and also achieve their goals, and I think both those guys are working really hard, doing good things for us.

Q. Coach, when you look at the defensive front, talking about the physicality this past week's game, what was your thoughts on that?
KIRBY SMART: I thought they played hard, didn't get moved around as much. Probably wasn't as big of offensive line as they faced the previous week, didn't run the same type plays. Very different style of game than the previous week. But they answered the call as far as physicality and played hard, had some more tackles for loss and played with more toughness and effort. And those are the things that we want to do.

Q. Kirby, after the Tennessee game, you said that Tennessee didn't really test you deep a ton. Can you just assess how you think you've done in that area? I know you gave up the late score at South Carolina, but kind of a followup to that with Kyle Shurmur, do you feel like he's going to be able to do that this week as far as testing you all with some deep plays?
KIRBY SMART: Yeah, I think anybody can do it. It's a choice that their offensive coordinator has to make, shots that they want to take down the field. I don't think it's a matter that Tennessee couldn't do it or South Carolina couldn't. All of them can do it. They can match protect and throw the ball deep; they can free release and throw the ball deep. Kyle does a great job of doing that. He has a tremendous receiving corps. He's very intelligent. He understands the system he plays in. He's able to know what coverage you're in. He knows where to go with the ball. He knows what matchups are right. He's a really good quarterback that understands the game and one of the many in the SEC now that are grown up. Two years ago all these guys we were playing against were freshmen. Now they're all older and better players, but certainly he'll be able to test us deep because they've got the capability of doing that.

Q. Kirby, D'Andre Walker, I think, has three forced fumbles. How important is that in terms of the aspect that that brings to his game and what kind of season has he had for you so far?
KIRBY SMART: D'Andre has been really consistent during games, playing with effort and toughness. He plays really hard. And I think the sacks turning into fumbles are critical because the most vulnerable position there is is when you're getting sacked, just like we see with our guy, you don't see them coming all the time. You gotta keep your eyes down field. If you're looking at the rusher to protect the ball, then you're probably not going to be a very good passer, and D'Andre is taking advantage of quarterbacks' eyes down field and being very disruptive and causing problems. We gotta get more guys to produce like D'Andre has. He's played really well so far.

Q. Looking back two years ago, last time Vanderbilt came here, what do you remember about that game and how does that affect your approach this weekend, if at all?
KIRBY SMART: I don't think it has any effect on this game being two years ago. They've got some of the same players. We've got some of the same players. The biggest thing looking back was out-gain -- I mean special teams killed us. We had a lot of special teams errors. We stepped out on like the one- or two- yard line at the kickoff return to open the game to, I don't know, inside the five. We just did not play well, especially on special teams. And out-gained them, but didn't score points, didn't give up many yards on defense and gave up points. And it was a great indicator of why special teams matter, because when you give up over I think 250 maybe yards special teams, you got a chance of losing the game. Every 100 yards is usually 7 points, and we didn't play really well.

Q. Coach, how about Deandre Baker and just the continued consistent high-level play that he's brought to your team?
KIRBY SMART: He's a very experienced player, played a lot of football around here. And he's a competitor. He rises to the moment, probably plays better in games than he does in practice. And plays really hard. He understands our system. He understands offensive football. And he's playing really hard right now. He's tackling better than he has in the past. We gotta continue to get that out of him, and we need him to be a bigger influence on some of the other DBs, you know, positive influence on whether it's Tyson, Stokes or Mark Webb or Ameer. He can help affect those guys.

Q. After going back and looking at the film, how big of a boost was Monty Rice for you guys at inside linebacker, and how is he kind of now after getting a full game of action under his belt with that knee injury?
KIRBY SMART: Yeah. He seemed great. I thought he practiced well last week, and he got better as the week went along and played hard in the game, played really physical, like he always does. And he runs hard to the ball. He's very intelligent. I think more than anything the boost he gave us was, number one, a confidence that I don't have to play as many snaps if I'm not him, and also, the confidence for the defensive line that I know Monty is going to make the right call and put us in the right defense when he gets an opportunity to. And he's a knock-back tackler, which Missouri, right, wrong or indifferent, I don't know if it had anything to do with Monty not being out there, we didn't have any knock-back tackles. We had more knock-back tackles in this game.

Q. What did you see from Andrew Thomas in his first full game after the injury, and how do you think he kind of handled the recovery and being able to get back on the field?
KIRBY SMART: I thought Andrew was good. He was physical at the point of attack. He was able to push off that ankle for the first time and felt good about pushing off. I think he's still getting back comfortable into his pass pro. I think he had maybe one time that a guy -- he tried to jump him and the guy got him inside. But he recovers well. He plays hard. He's one of our best leaders. I thought he was as close to himself as he could have been, and hopefully he continues to improve this week and getting back to his old self.

Q. Coach, you touched on the pass pro issue. Was there anything in particular you saw looking back on the film that was probably a problem you might focus on this week?
KIRBY SMART: I don't know that it's an individual problem. I think it's a total effect. I mean we had a couple good pressures against us against Middle Tennessee. Again, we saw Nauta in a one-on-one situation that he lost, and then Isaiah gave up one on the other side. And we just gotta win our one-on-one battles. It's no different than a corner getting beat by a receiver. So what do you do? You go back to the drawing board and you go get better. You don't scheme up some thing, because at the end of the day there's going to be four or five one-on-one opportunities. You gotta win your one-on-ones, and our guys we're going to challenge them to do that. And we know that when we protect the passer, we're really efficient. We're an efficient team. We can make big plays. We got explosive players; we gotta win our one-on-one battles, because if we're good in the run game, good in play action and we can convert on third down, you're hard to stop. But at the end of the day a lot of the times we've stopped ourselves more than somebody's stopped us. And we'll work hard on it and try to get better at it.

Q. Coach, Jeremy Pruitt said he thought he had some coverage sacks on you. I guess I would ask you just about your receivers down field. Are you pleased with the job that they've done and what did your film study show you as far as receivers getting open quick enough?
KIRBY SMART: Yeah. I don't know if I would call it that. I think we got beat in protection several times. I don't know that it was as much coverage as it was the protection. We just gotta do a good job blocking them up front. But we're focused on Vandy and getting better right now. That's what we're really worried about.

Q. I think you guys were maybe Top 5, Top 10 in the nation last year in net punting; whereas, the issues this year I guess you guys are lower. How much is on punter? How much is on coverage?
KIRBY SMART: Yeah. I wouldn't say that there's a lot of issues there. I think that we're better than we were two years ago, and we've got a guy that I think is a talented punter, who's being broken in, and he's also been in a lot of intermediate sky positions where he hits a 60-yarder, but the net is not there. And I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. I think comparing it to last year is probably unfair from the perspective of Cam had situations where he was able to pen them in. And Jake hasn't had a lot of those. He's had a lot of these boom -- that he wasn't in sky territory that he boomed into the end zone. But he's gotta punt more consistently, and he's gotta hit his spot more consistently. But I'm very pleased, and our coverage unit had three guys that were drafted in the first two rounds on it, and those guys are gone. So as much as anything, you gotta cover the punt as good as you gotta kick it.

Q. Two-parter, both about Tyson Campbell. The first touchdown for Vanderbilt, was he at fault in any way there for not rotating over; and second part, is this kind of a trial-by-fire year for him because people are not throwing to the other side of the field and they're kind of attacking his side?
KIRBY SMART: What were you saying about Vanderbilt?

Q. Sorry. The first Tennessee touchdown.
KIRBY SMART: First Tennessee touchdown. I don't really blame that on anybody. That was not Tyson Campbell's fault, no. It was more of a breakdown in assignment more than anything. But nobody really got beat because nobody had the guy. That's why he was wide open. So it was more of a lack of execution of assignment, not one guy getting beat. But I'm not into blaming people. It's on us as coaches. We gotta do a better job of getting them lined up and helping them. But as far as him being at the other corner, trial-by-fire, whatever you call it. Some teams throw at Bake. I mean Bake's probably been targeted almost as much as Tyson has. I think coverage dictates where the ball goes more than who is there. I think you guys look at it as Deandre Baker is here, they can't throw it there. That's not the case. I think it's if you're in this coverage, they're going to throw the ball here; if you're in this coverage, they're going to throw the ball here, so the quarterback gets dictated where he's going to throw the ball by coverage, not by person more than anything.

Q. Kirby, when you look, I guess D'Andre and Elijah have like 52 carries, about 10 a game so far. When you think about how SEC running backs can get beat up, do you think that's beneficial that they've kind of held their bodies with 10 carries a game, and do you still have that confidence if one of them could go in there and get you 22 or 24 in a game, they could?
KIRBY SMART: Yeah, I've got ultimate confidence in all those backs. I mean if they need to carry it 30, they could each do it. I don't know if they could do it for a whole year, but they could do it for a game. That's why you have the backs you have. That's why you have the ability to use different backs. That's why we hand the ball off to the receivers. We're sharing the workload when it comes to rushing because we want to be able to spread the ball out.

It's a long season. You want to be able to be hard to defend. And I'm pleased with the backs we've got, certainly would like some more bulk at the position in our league, but we've got two guys that are 210-plus, two guys that are a little bit smaller than that. But they run bigger than they are. They've got a big group of guys blocking for them. And certainly want to be able to sustain for the long haul. I think that's the most important thing that those guys continue to do good in protection, protect the ball and get yards after contact, which they've been able to do. Thanks, guys.

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