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UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 12, 2018

Kirby Smart

Athens, Georgia

KIRBY SMART: Onto UMass. Our guys came in yesterday and were able to come around, get some treatment and do some things, and looking forward to moving on to UMass and getting another chance to come play at home, another home game for our seniors, one of the last two they'll have at home. I know we've got a really good senior class that has a chance to do some special things in terms of the number of wins in their career, and that's been exciting for them, as well as the win last Saturday night. So with that we'll open it up for questions.

Q. Coach, I was just reviewing some stats this week on you guys. In two-minute offense, you've had a lot of success at the end of halves, getting the ball in the last couple of minutes. Why do you think that you guys are having success there? Is that a Jake Fromm thing or what changes in those last couple of minutes?
KIRBY SMART: I think the tempo of play sometimes speeds up. I also think defenses, a couple of the games you're referencing, they played us differently. Sometimes defenses change during that time because they know the pass is imminent. When you've got the threat of run and pass, especially against us, it makes it a lot tougher to defend, and Jake's done a good job managing the clock.

Our offense does that every week. They do it against us. We practice it really hard, but I mean so does everybody else. So it's one of those things that I think we've been efficient at because of how much we work on it, but also because that's Jake's strength is being able to operate quickly and make good decisions with the ball, and he's not afraid to hit check-downs.

Q. Kirby, what do you think about playing non Power 5 conference teams, and especially given the most recent several games you've had, emotional games with a lot riding on them?
KIRBY SMART: I've spoken on this before as far as playing non Power 5 teams. I think it's -- there's two ways to look at it, you know. If attendance becomes a problem or continues to be a problem, which we haven't had a problem here at the University of Georgia, but across the nation, sometimes people are saying attendance on the decline. I think it's important that you play quality opponents, but I also think, having coached at lower division levels, it's important to their programs to be able to finance their programs.

I'm a big believer in the sport of football, and that's at all levels. I think football teaches you lifelong lessons. I think football is very good for young people to be involved in, to feel like they're part of a team, to feel the failure, to feel the success. And you don't get that at some of the levels without these games. Some of these programs financially can't sustain without it. So there's good and bad with that.

Q. Coach, Kendall Baker, I think you said, was going to have an MRI. Also, we saw Ben Cleveland in punt shield. Will he be back for offensive line play if any other injuries come up?
KIRBY SMART: Yeah. Ben played in the game the other night when Kendall came out, so Ben was able to get in the game, play. He feels better each and every day. We feel like he's a really good shield protector, and with our coverage unit he hasn't had to cover a lot, so that's one of the safer things he's been able to do for us. I'm not sure yet on Kendall when he'll be back. Same thing on Cade Mays. He's going to be day to day as well. So we may be looking at both those guys having work to do to get back.

Q. Kirby, UMass is the priority, but this morning obviously the Clemson and Texas games were announced. How does that fit with your overall strategy? And I know that it's 11 years from now, but Clemson, Texas and Georgia Tech in the same year. Any thoughts on the thinking there, too?
KIRBY SMART: Excited. I mean I think when you come to the University of Georgia, you want to play against the best. And I've always believed in playing Power 5 opponents. I mean, look, our fanbase will follow us anywhere. They want to go. We proved that last year. We've proven that over the history of time that the Georgia people will travel. They want great games. They want home and homes. And as a coach, I know going out recruiting, it helps.

The CFP has proven that they want strength of schedule. They want you to play good opponents. Who knows what the system will be 10 years from now. It certainly could all change, but I would argue that the better schedule you play and the better teams you play against, the more rewarding it'll be 10 years from now.

I know 10 years ago from today nobody thought we'd be where we were. And there are some teams that probably could have benefited themselves by playing a tougher schedule. And to go out and get these two teams in the same year, you know, you want to come to Georgia, you want to play against the best, and that's what we want to bill. We want kids that want to play against the best. So I'm excited for it and been looking at a lot of other opportunities as well.

Q. One more player question. Brenton Cox I don't believe played the other day. I just wondered if he had an injury going on with him.
KIRBY SMART: He's got a little minor ankle sprain. Should be back this week. He probably could have played the other day. It's more a situation I didn't think he was 100 percent.

Q. Coach, in terms of UMass this week, how much does this serve as an opportunity to maybe evaluate those players who haven't had the opportunity to play as much this year if you're able to get out and get an early lead?
KIRBY SMART: Well, I think that's a large assumption, first off, because I got respect for Coach Whipple, and seen him coach for a long time. And there's probably an assumption in that they've got really good wideout. They've got good personnel. We have to get better, and that's what our focus is this week, on us getting better. Our ability to grow young players, that comes -- I mean I put just as much emphasis in practice as I do in the game. So we'll see how the game goes. If guys get to play, they get to play. I'm really focused on our practice today and how we can get better, like get the younger players better so they can help us down the road.

Q. You guys have had a couple solid outings from the run defense in the past two games, so I guess how much more confident are you in that now, and do you feel like those are like a good measure of where it's at right now?
KIRBY SMART: Feel better. I think we've really worked on it. I think when you try to emphasize something, you get what you demand a lot of times, so we've certainly worked really hard to shore up those areas through technique, fundamentals, going against a pretty good run team in our offense.

We've gotten a couple guys back from injury. But at the end of the day I don't think you've ever arrived when it comes to any statistic, and I don't know where we are now in the country in run defense, but we certainly know that coming down the road with Georgia Tech, UMass and SEC Championship game, we got physical teams to play. So we've gotta continue to get better at our run defense, and that comes by how we practice.

Q. Coach, Deandre is coming off a string of three pretty doggone good games. He revealed after the game that he had actually had surgeries on his groin. Was that maybe worse than -- it seems like we tend to hear groin injury and you think, ah, it's a little nagging thing, but maybe he was dealing with some more serious medical issues than maybe we thought, and then now he is completely healthy and that's the main difference?
KIRBY SMART: I mean, he may tell you that. I don't know. He had the surgery over the spring, and that was something that he recovered from over the summer. And he really came to fall camp and was moving around well. He had a setback in fall camp a couple times that it bothered him, and I think it bothered him early in the season some, but Deandre has always been a competitor, works hard. He plays for the big moment, does a really good job. But I think the surgery was during the spring.

Q. Just want to ask you real quick about their No. 5, their wide receiver, Isabella, posts some really big-time numbers. Is that really indicative of how good a player he is?
KIRBY SMART: He's talented. He's got really good quickness. He separates. He double moves a lot. They get the ball to him a lot. I think he's got a really good rapport with their quarterback. He's a good football player. He's one of those guys that is quick in and out of breaks, but he runs by people vertically. So I think it's pretty easy to see when you turn the tape on why they've scored the points they've scored. Scored a lot of points in a lot of situations, and he's a big reason why.

Q. Coach, we saw Eric Stokes emerge the other night. How many other competitions are going on within the team? Are there any other positions where we might see different personnel come out Saturday?
KIRBY SMART: All of them. Every position on our team is every week inside backer, every week outside backer, probably more use the second and third at the outside backer than the first. But defensive line. We've had changes in defensive line, and you all don't write about who starts there, but we've had a lot of changes there. Secondary, we've had a lot of battles at safety, and rotating the dime money, the nickel star.

Look at the offensive line. I think it's changed every week, not necessarily out of competition, but out of health reasons. Wide receiver, it's been that way. It's changed throughout the year at wide receiver probably three times as to who started, based on who practiced well during the week. That's been pretty consistent. I mean Holyfield started some games at running back. So that comes about through the work ethic you have during the week and putting a priority on how your practice matters, and that's every position.

Q. Another question about the secondary. I mean there's been some rotation at safety with LeCounte and Otis Reese. What have you seen from those two as they have kind of gone in and out?
KIRBY SMART: Yeah, it's really not a rotation as much as it is personnel based. So depending on what the other team's in, we play one or the other of the safeties. Otis is getting better. Richard is actually getting better. The best thing for Richard has been Otis's growth. So I think that the motivation and the competition has made Richard better.

Q. What do you like about what Eric Stokes brings to the corner position, and how does he differ than maybe Tyson in terms of his style?
KIRBY SMART: Very similar. They're both young guys. They're both really fast guys. They're both track guys. They're both pretty good tacklers. Eric's played well in the moments he's gotten to play in the game. And a lot of getting to play in our games is based on how you practice, so we see 2,000 snaps and you guys see 20 snaps, and he's done a really good job in the snaps he's been in the game, and he continues to improve, and we're really fired up about the way he's been able to play. He's one of the brightest kids. Like you teach him something, he knows it and he applies it to the game. And the moment he's been in the games, two big games has not been too big for him.

Q. We saw Justin Fields pass the ball and also hand off the ball during Auburn. What did you see from his performance and as he continues to just to improve as quarterback?
KIRBY SMART: I see him growing. I see him getting opportunities to manage the game a little more. You got to see him do it probably a little more this time than he has before. And he had some freshman deals. He had the shot clock run out on him, and he had the scramble play that he'll be the first to tell you he should have thrown it away. Those are the things that we see him do right in practice. We put time constraints on him, and he manages it well. And he's made a lot of really good decisions in practice to throw the ball away; he didn't in the game. So I mean, those are things he's gotta grow from, and he will and he continues to get better.

Q. Has it been more challenging to keep the intensity going when you guys have to practice indoors in inclement weather, and how do you stay sharp when it is a nonconference game after these ranked opponents you've just finished playing the last three weeks?
KIRBY SMART: I think that's leadership. I think we'll find out a lot about our team this week because it's never about who we're playing. I mean for you guys it's about who we're playing. But I told you all every week that it's not about Florida, it's not about Kentucky. It's not really about them. It's just about how we work, because we worry about us. And that way when you get to this week, it's not different. And we focus on us.

As far as being inside, it's not harder to have intensity inside. As a matter of fact, sometimes I think we're faster when we're inside, and the collisions may be greater. Space is probably the toughest thing, having everybody in a limited space. We have to do a good job of rotating where we do things.

Q. Coach, I think of your team and I think of really good special teams play. Do you guys have some kind of overall rating method where you -- how you do overall in special teams play and can you just speak generally on how you guys -- it seems like you have an advantage almost every week when it comes to special teams play.
KIRBY SMART: We work really hard on it. And I think Coach Fountain and his staff of guys that help him with special teams have done a tremendous job. Our kids are committed to special teams. I try to make it the most important thing of the game, because I really think it's a selfless part of the game where guys don't get a lot of credit. I mean Mecole gets credit, but the guys that are doing all the work up there don't get a lot of credit. So we say it's not for yourself but for others when it comes to special teams. And they've bought into that.

Now, we don't statistically -- we're not really where we need to be, like on kickoff coverage, but it's very misleading because of Rod's leg strength and his ability to get touchbacks, and the same way with punt coverage. We haven't hit a lot of great punts, but we haven't had a lot of return yards against us because our gunners are good. We're good in both return units, and that's thankful to Mecole as well as some guys that are committed to it.

We do a composite at the end of the year that tells us where we rank across the board. We don't do it throughout the season, but we do expose our players to where they are in the SEC and where they are in the country in terms of special teams.

And the other thing we do is we talk about momentum plays, and I thought the other night we had some huge momentum plays. A momentum play is a big play on special teams. Scott has a criteria for what that is, a tackle inside the 20 on kickoff, a downing the ball inside the 10, which Mecole did a great job and Jake hit a great punt. And then the thing that goes unnoticed is what Terry Godwin does to make a decision to get the ball in the end zone and be a decoy or fair catch the ball and get a 15-yard penalty. He did a really good job, and that's something that changes field position, which I thought in this game was really big.

Q. What's been the key to improving on your run defense? I know that was an issue earlier this year, your front seven, you've shuffled players. You seem to be executing better since the LSU game.
KIRBY SMART: Like I said earlier when she asked, I think it's just work. I think going against our offense creates a more competitive run environment. I mean our guys are physical up front and can run the ball. So when we go against them in good-on-good, we really try to crank it up and challenge our defensive line and don't shy away from practicing hard.

The other thing is we've tackled better. We try to play with better technique. We've been healthier. I mean there was some time in there where we didn't have as many 300-pound guys healthy, and we've got a couple more guys now that helped build a wall for us. Jordan has been a big part of that. Although he was present at LSU and we didn't tackle well, he's been present since and we've tackled better.

Q. Do you have an update on David Marshall and DaQuan Hawkins-Muckle?
KIRBY SMART: Yeah, they both will not be available this week.

Q. I was also going to ask along the lines of that, in terms of pressure on the quarterback with sacks show one thing, how do you feel like you guys are doing just affecting the quarterback?
KIRBY SMART: I thought that was a big difference in the game this past week. I thought we were able to disrupt him. We didn't always sack him, but we moved him out of the pocket, made him think a little bit, did some things that we hadn't been doing, changed him up from the SEC Championship game, and I think anytime you can give the quarterback a different picture or picture he's not clear on, you got a chance to rattle him a little bit. We just gotta do a better job of finishing on him when we can get to him to get the sacks and not hurries in pressures. Thanks.

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