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UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

December 17, 2018

Kirby Smart

Athens, Georgia

KIRBY SMART: We're excited for the opportunity. Looking forward to this Sugar Bowl opportunity, and I know our players are certainly excited. We've already had two practices, and we'll get at least four or five more in before we break for Christmas.

This is the time of year where you actually get to develop the youth on your roster. We get to practice the guys, a lot of the younger guys who haven't got a chance to play and develop or maybe only some chances to play, they really get to grow and get better. I've always thought that bowl practices is where guys start to show the biggest increase. I think back to Roquan's game against TCU and what he was able to do to kickoff his junior season, he did some really good things in that game, and we're selling it to our program that you've got an opportunity to play on a national stage, New Year's Six game, and we're excited for that.

We do have four early enrollees that are out there practicing with us, in Clay Webb, D.J. Daniel, Tramel is with us, being able to practice and those guys have had to go through an acclimation period, and then Jermaine should be joining us today, but they all have to go through acclimation period. So there may be some things they can and can't do. But we're excited to have those guys. I think be that's a great benefit for kids to come in and get that practice, although they can't travel to the bowl game with us.

But with that we'll open it up for questions.

Q. With Mel now at Colorado, how are you divvying up coach's responsibilities, and if there's any time table as far as the defensive coordinator is concerned?
KIRBY SMART: Yeah. No time table on replacement. We'll have a ton of interest, obviously, with an opportunity to come in and be at a place with good players like University of Georgia. But as far as I'll be working with the secondary during bowl practices. Also our graduate assistant, will be working with us, and Schumann and Dan and Tray will all share some of those duties going forward, but we've always been really involved with the defense myself, so it'll continue to be that way.

Q. At this time a year ago Tramel -- well, not this time a year ago, but soon thereafter was headed to Kansas. What was it like, do you think, for him to go out there? How did you all keep in touch with him? What were the goals for him at that time?
KIRBY SMART: Well, first was to get very sharp and faster and go play and get an opportunity to improve, which we think he did. We got to follow him throughout the year, stayed in communication with him, did some really good things. He's come back in really good shape, got good size to him. Haven't really been able to see anything in the two practices because he hasn't been in pads. Today should be his first practice in pads, but we're pleased with where he is and we'll find out a lot more today.

Q. Coach, on the injury front, D'Andre Walker when he went out, what was his injury and what's the status of Cade Mays, David Marshall and maybe some other guys you can catch us up on?
KIRBY SMART: D'Andre had a groin injury late -- I guess early in the fourth quarter. He was unable to play moving forward. So he has had an injection to help him with his groin injury, and he's currently out right now. He has not practiced, but we expect him to be back for the bowl game. He won't be practicing today. He's had this injury before, and he's had the same treatment, and he's returned in really good health. So we actually think he's ahead of schedule.

As far as Cade, he's good to go. He's cleared. He'll be out there practicing. Same with Ben. Ben has been there for two practices. Ben is much better than he was, but he's still working on getting back. I don't think there's anybody else injury wise.

Q. Monty?
KIRBY SMART: Yeah. Monty has practiced the last two days, hit good GPS numbers. I wouldn't say he's 100 percent, but he's much closer and being able to sustain and do some things at practice.

Q. Coach, two-part question to kind of elaborate on your opening statement about the bowl practices and the importance. How does that serve as an advantage for a coaching staff to maybe just see what they can bring and their potential early on? The second part, I want to ask you about Jermaine Johnson. Can you kind of speak on his journey from junior college to here?
KIRBY SMART: Yeah. I'll reserve comment on Jermaine just because I think he may have to actually practice today and be out there enrolled. As far as the young players coming in, I thought it helped last year because what Cade and Warren were able to do when they came in early. I still have the first memories of practicing for the playoff game and Cade Mays was out there at practice going full speed and really lighting up some defensive linemen and they were kind of like, wow, this guy's talented. He's not intimidated by the environment. And you certainly find out that really quickly.

We haven't gotten that far yet because we haven't put pads on those guys, but I think it's a good chance for them to even jump ahead of the mid years who will be out at spring practice. And these guys, they're not intimidated by the environment. So many of these kids nowadays they grow up going to these, whatever these show cases, these combines are when they go and compete. So they've Kamari. They've seen Tre. Clay has seen all those guys. He knows all those guys. Same thing with D.J. Same thing with Tramel. They all go and compete against each other. So it helps them. It helps us from a depth standpoint because you're usually dealing with more injuries at the end of the year, and you're also dealing with the guys whether they decide to come out earlier. Your numbers go down. So in order to get extra numbers, it helps us at practice.

Q. Kirby, has anyone decided that they would skip the bowl, which seems to be a growing trend?
KIRBY SMART: We certainly support whatever decisions our players make, but not that I'm aware of. We don't have anybody right now. I think it's a tough situation. I think you can debate either side of it, but you have to look at it from each player's perspective, and I think each player should be treated individually based on their body of work they've had at that location, at that college.

Q. I guess sort of along those lines, it's weird with the early signing period, I know there's so many moving parts.
KIRBY SMART: A lot of moving parts for next year.

Q. Do you have anybody that you know is not returning or is going pro?
KIRBY SMART: That is not returning or going pro?

Q. Or both.
KIRBY SMART: Yeah. I do not know of anyone right now. We have a lot of juniors in the information-gathering stage. I've been meeting with them. We've been gathering information. We've had advisory committee that we sent names off to, waiting on response on those. So this is kind of the meat of that time, and then when we get to the bowl location, they kind of put it away for a while and then they revisit after the game. I think some of our guys may be close to making a decision, and they like to put it away before the game. But we sort of reserve the right for them to make that decision after the game. They've got all the way up to the junior declare date to do that. It is a very, very tough time talking to my colleagues in this profession, to deal with a signing date here, which we experienced for the first time last year, a junior declare date here, and then also having a signing date before we have all our grades and all our information back from this last semester. We don't have that back yet to know who's eligible, who's not eligible, what losses you may have, the juniors coming out, even transfers. So when you add all that in, it's really hard with the early signing date, and I think the early signing date was thought to be 50 percent or 60 percent. I don't know how many guys signed early last year. I would guess it was 60, 70. I would say this year it's going to be 90, 95. So initially the signing date is now in December with an option to sign later. But you're making a decision before you know your entire roster, before you know grade, before you know juniors, before you know transfers. It's really tough to manage that number. And we're experiencing that right now as we are 48 hours away from signing date.

Q. Going back to the bowl practices again, as far as the players that are already on the roster, what specifically is it about these practices that allows them to take that next step and develop and do you see any of the younger guys on the team now working their way into more playing time by the time the bowl game comes around?
KIRBY SMART: Yeah. I couldn't say specifically. I know from me being with the DBs the last two days and being around them, obviously there's guys that are getting increased roles. They are getting more reps there. I mean Divaad has been growing, coming along. He's getting a lot of reps there. We're working those young safeties, but the biggest thing about bowl practices, we're not -- a lot of people think you're going to go out there and go practice for Texas 15 times. We're practicing on Georgia for like six or seven, and we're practicing on Texas for six or seven. And you can't -- you can't just do Texas. Guys will be like tired of it. So you gotta do a really good job of structuring, making it fun, making it competitive and coaching your younger players, because this is where it may affect them in spinning practice and fall camp to make our team better. And I think we've always done a really good job of using bowl practice to springboard these younger players into a better role.

Q. Kirby, how have the moving dynamics with recruiting and guys leaving early or not leaving early, how has that affected this last run up to signing day? I mean it's impossible.
KIRBY SMART: I mean there's no way to be right because there's an unknown of we don't know who we're getting outside the ones committed; right? So let's say there's 10 guys in that pool for four spots, five spots. I mean it's just impossible to know. And it's not fair for me to go to a junior who's got an opportunity to come out for a draft because he wants to get his information. Some of them want to play in the actual bowl game and gather more information, because there's certainly movement that could be made, within like what Sony and Nick were able to pull off in the two playoff games, I think it helped them tremendously in the draft. And had they been juniors when that happened, they don't want to declare until after that.

So it makes it hard to manage. I don't think there was enough foresight by the coaches and by all the rules makers that this was all going to collide. But it is equal. So it's not like anybody has a major competitive edge. It's very complicated. It's very complicated, and it causes for a lot of sleepless situations because you're going, what if this happens, what if this happens. Just your sheer numbers at each position you could end up very deficient at a position and then you have no chance to make it up, because you have no spots.

Q. What kind of adjustment do you think it will be to be calling the game defensively without Mel here for the first time as head coach and also with Jay and the others going to Colorado. How does that affect preparation for Texas?
KIRBY SMART: I think it affects preparation more than the actual game. Obviously those guys helped a lot in preparation. I think the biggest adjustment will be what you mentioned to start, the biggest change is Mel called it and Mel's not here. So we've got guys with experience calling it, whether it's a spring game or my 12 years or whatever it is experience calling it, so we've got a lot of experience and value there. We bill a call sheet that Mel uses as a team defensive unit. He's able to pull from that in a game. We make adjustments together during the game, so that's not something that just one person does. And it wasn't that way at Alabama when I was there. It was a team effort and it'll continue to be that. So I think the biggest thing is making sure that the defensive backs get the attention they need because there's certainly a lot of defensive backs on the field. You got four, five, six guys on the field at a time. So you gotta make sure you got enough sets of eyes back there.

Q. Coach, just kind of an off-topic question. Let me ask you about being Georgia Tech, rival schools and everything. But can you tell me about 2007 and 2008 and just how you all --
KIRBY SMART: I mean that's a long time ago, 2007, 2008. I got a lot of respect for Geoff, first and foremost. I respect him and his family. And he does a tremendous job. He's a bowling ball of energy. I mean if you hadn't already noticed, he's very much a go getter in recruiting. He was very instrumental in that year at being -- thinking outside the box from a recruiting standpoint. He enjoys that part of it. He's also a good football coach, and what he's been able to do in his career, the places he's gone, he's shown that success. So I got a lot of respect for Geoff.

Q. Kirby, one unfortunate by-product of the playoff system is it's taken the shine off some of the bowl games, even the premier bowl games like yours. I was just wondering what your thoughts are on that subject and sort of where games like yours still fit in.
KIRBY SMART: Yeah. It's been a big topic of conversation for our staff, because what you find is where a traditionalist like myself and probably my age and older see bowl games, the Sugar Bowl in particular a certain type way. And it's kind of like talking to our players about Herschel Walker. They don't have memories of that. They don't know that. Shoot, our guys don't remember Robert Edwards. You know, it's just very different in a very delicate situation, because you have to make football meaningful and fun. To us, there is a ton meaningful about an opportunity to play another football game, to increase your legacy as a senior class, to be one of those three most winning senior class to ever come through here. There's value in that. But sometimes to the senior class you have to be careful that they don't see it like it's punishment.

No family ever see that, but kids nowadays, they look at it as what's my next opportunity, and we see guys are declaring for the draft, getting ready, not seeing the value in playing in them. I would have to draw on my personal experience that some of my best memories were Outback, Peach Bowl, the bowls we were able to play in. So as coaches our big thing is developing the roster, making sure the seniors are important and they understand. But they also have to recognize that this team has to get better and grow and that we highlight how many guys have gone out and played really well in these games and improved their draft stock.

But at the end of the day it's not always about just the draft stock. It's about a memory. It's about a legacy. It's about winning the Sugar Bowl. It's about being part of something bigger than yourself. And that's what you have to promote is team goals, and these bowls give a ton of kids an opportunity to go somewhere they've never gone, to go to a children's hospital and impact some kid's life. The charitable organizations involved in these bowls are incredible. So it's a fine line for whether benefit or requirement for some of these kids.

Q. We've heard from Greg Sankey since we heard from you last, and he's against expansion, but what do you think six or eight teams would do to college football?
KIRBY SMART: Yeah. That's not really for me to decide. I've read Greg's quotes. I've seen all the debates across the country. That's not a big thing for me right now. Obviously you want to be in the four. It makes the season very meaningful. There can be all kinds of debate and talk. I'll leave that to the coach at Washington, let him handle all that. The biggest thing for us is we know if you win the SEC, you've certainly got opportunities to go out and do things, and that's the ultimate goal.

Q. Kirby, there's been I guess a couple of reports the last day or so that Luke Ford is back home in Illinois. I was wondering if you could address that at this time.
KIRBY SMART: That's true. Luke is in Illinois. He's home right now, and we're expecting Luke to return right after Christmas and practice with us here and then go to the bowl game.

Q. Kirby, you've mentioned how tough it is to plan for early signing day with questions about juniors and guys leaving early and transfers, such like that. What is your solution for that, move it back to February? Move it to January? Move it up earlier? Can you address that?
KIRBY SMART: I don't know that I have a perfect solution, because just as soon as I say what I'm about to say, there will be somebody that has an argument against that, as we all know. But I do think that the gap between the two signing days is too small, meaning it's actually only, what, a month and a half at the most, just six weeks, to be able to say that you would have an August signing date and they're going to say, well, that's just speeding it up more and you're already complaining about that. That's moving it up too early. A lot of the kids that we've had committed have been committed since August. And you wouldn't have this dynamic of everything jumping on top of you. And you still don't know who's coming out. You look at the year they're going to have, there's a lot of question marks in that, and I don't think we knew the ramifications when we moved it up of dealing with the juniors. The other argument is move the junior declare date up early because they have to decide before the bowl game whether they're going to play or not anyway, and a lot of them aren't. So make them declare and you have a more definitive number going into your early signing date. But there's debates about both and there will be issues with both. The biggest thing is the whole process has been sped up to give these guys a chance to do official visits in the spring, and that pushed us all probably too far forward.

Q. Kirby, you were talking about how the -- given the younger players an opportunity during bowl practices and how important that was. I was curious to know first couple of practices, do you guys even involve the seniors in those first couple of practices or do you kind of lessen your pool a little bit so those guys can get more of an opportunity?
KIRBY SMART: Yeah, there's coaches across the country that have a couple of practices without their seniors. We haven't done that. We include our seniors in everything, but we have had practices where they haven't been involved on the back end, and it might be a deal that we go 60, 70 percent of practice and then those guys are able to leave. They've taken an abundance of reps in their years here, and we allow the younger guys to get more reps. But as we move forward, there will be less and less of that because they gotta prepare for the bowl. But I think every coach handles it in a different manner and every coach is in a different situation.

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