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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: ALABAMA VS GEORGIA

November 25, 2018

Kirby Smart

Atlanta, Georgia

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon. Welcome back to SEC Championship Game week. While we wait on those questions to come in, would you mind giving us a brief comment on Georgia making it back to the SEC Championship Game this season.

KIRBY SMART: Yeah, we're excited and honored to represent the SEC East, and we really feel like our team has gotten better throughout the year. We've had a really young team, and they've grown up throughout the season. We've got a big challenge in front of us now, playing one of the best teams in the country.

I know our guys are excited about getting back to Atlanta because that's always a goal for the program here at the University of Georgia, to have an opportunity to go play for a championship in what's one of the best conferences in the country, and we know what's at stake. Our kids are excited, and we're looking forward to starting our prep on Alabama.

Q. (No microphone). Damien Harris and Isaiah Buggs and all that, but I think Quinnen Williams, the big redshirt sophomore on defense, of course, but what would you say about him? He's had a great year, and I guess he's going to be one of the very top defensive guys you've faced all year.
KIRBY SMART: Murray, I missed the beginning of your question. I caught where you were talking about Isaiah Buggs maybe, and you said something about Quinnen Williams. Yeah, the last season I was there, Quinnen was one of the commits and certainly a very talented player. I don't need to tell you he's improved immensely over the last couple of years. He's a guy that's developed and gotten better with each year. He's playing at a really high level.

Q. Just given the way the season ended last year, how much did this game, this matchup, Georgia-Alabama, feel like an inevitability throughout the season?
KIRBY SMART: I don't know that it was inevitable. Certainly, both of us had to win some football games to get to it. I think last year's game is last year's game, and our kids are really focused on playing good football. That's really all we've worried about for the last five to six weeks, since the LSU loss, is moving forward and trying to grow as a team to get better, and that's been our focal point. It really hasn't been all that much about last year.

Q. The development of your wide receiver corps, I was hoping you could speak on the development of that corps and how they've developed this year, Coach.
KIRBY SMART: Yeah, they've improved with each week. I think their confidence overall has kind of been -- you know, every game's kind of had a different layout with different wideouts kind of being able to showcase their abilities. It doesn't happen by planning by us, it happens by what defenses do and kind of what we get dictated to us by the coverages and how they play us.

But I think they developed -- they played really hard. They've been a huge asset on special teams. I think six of those guys start on special teams and do all kinds of things to make our team better. They've really bought in to being a physical core unit, and that's what makes them different.

Q. With 'Bama's front seven, how big of a challenge is this going to be for the offensive line on Saturday, Coach?
KIRBY SMART: Well, it's always a challenge. You know, Alabama's always separated themselves in regards to the offensive and defensive lines, and this team is no different. They've got an extremely talented offensive line, extremely talented defensive line. That's who they are. There's no bones about it. There's no way around it. They're good on both lines of scrimmage, and that's where they try to control the game. It will be a great challenge for the offensive line. They get to go against a really talented group.

Q. Kirby, obviously, these two teams played for the National Championship. Back in July, these two teams were the overwhelming favorites to win their respective divisions. I mean, this has obviously been a good league, a lot of eight and nine-win teams in the SEC this year, but what is kind of separating Alabama and Georgia from the rest of the pack right now?
KIRBY SMART: Well, common thing would be quarterback play and third down conversions and protecting the ball and not turning the ball over a lot. Those are similarities. Both got good set of backs, good set of receivers. Both teams are scoring points. Biggest difference is they play better defense, obviously, than we have, and we've got to improve upon that.

But I think both teams are good football teams. That's why they're representing their divisions in the conference championship, and both teams continue to get better.

Q. Kirby, if I could take you back when you were Alabama's defensive coordinator, when you had those back-to-back SEC Championship games against Florida, losing the one in '08 and winning the one in '09. A lot of 'Bama players said after that '09 game that, at the beginning of the year, you all said Florida is who you all need to knock off to where you all need to go. You all are kind of in that situation with Alabama. How do you balance the goal of improving from within and then focusing on who you've got to take down to get to where you want to go?
KIRBY SMART: Yeah, I wouldn't say in '09 that our goal was to take down Florida. It was to take down whoever's in our path, to be honest with you. I've never been around really good teams that are focused on other teams. The good teams I've been around are focusing on whoever they play that week, and it's really not been different for us this year. I mean, we really tried to hone in on what we've got to do to get better. Our concern can't be with 'Bama all year. We wouldn't be here.

It's a concern now because we've got to go play them. So we've got to go play a good football game. We've got to execute. We've got to do a good job in order to play one of the best teams in the country. So we've never looked at it as it's all about them or all about us. We've just got to do a good job executing.

Q. (No microphone). Prepared for some of the best dual threat quarterbacks in SEC history. What makes Tua so special, and what have you seen this season out of him?
KIRBY SMART: That thing turned on a little late. Can you repeat the question?

Q. Yes, sir. I said, obviously, you've prepared for some of the best dual threat quarterbacks in SEC history, and you got an eyeful of Tua last year. What makes Tua so special, and what have you seen from him in terms of his progress this year?
KIRBY SMART: Makes him special? He's got an elite arm talent. He's really fast. He's got really good wide receivers around him. He's got powerful backs, and he's got a talented tight end and a great offensive line, and he knows where to go with the ball. He's got great vision downfield. He's got the ability to look off safeties. He can throw the touch pass. He can throw bullets. He's really good at the RPO game. And then on top of all that, he can run.

So he's a lot to take in. I think you see that by their scores and what they've been able to do. The challenges are to be able to cover people, be able to affect the quarterback, be able to tackle people in open space, and take advantage of mistakes. He's certainly a very talented -- and I don't look at him as just dual threat. I look at him as a talented pocket passer because that's where he does a lot of his damage.

Q. And following up on that, your secondary hasn't given up a lot of chunk plays. Your front seven looks improved. Can you assess where those units are at, as far as your secondary and the confidence you have in them, and then just where you feel like your front seven is right now.
KIRBY SMART: Yeah, I've commented all year we're a work in progress, and progress is about over. The season's coming to an end, and we're still a work in progress. So we've got to show improvement. We've got to change gears because what we did last week is nothing to do with what we're going to have to do this week. When you look at the players and the players that played, we'll have different guys in the game. We'll have -- it's a different mode. It's completely different.

So we'll have to get them ready to play, and that's our job as coaches to prepare these guys this week. Sort of excited about the opportunity. Our guys have gotten to go cover what is one of the most elite group of skill players I've seen assembled in college football. When you look at the wideouts they've got, they've got a bunch of them, and they're really good. Then they've got some toys they can do things with. Then they've got tight end, and they've got really good backs. With all those things, we've got to play a really good football game, and our kids are excited for the opportunity.

Q. Hey, Kirby, when you look back at that first college staff with Coach Saban in 2007, that everyone kind of learned going through that from a win-loss perspective. What signs did you see at the time that showed you that kind of success was going to come pretty soon?
KIRBY SMART: I hate to say this, but that thing went out again. You said something about 2007. You're talking about the 'Bama season, 2007?

Q. Yeah, you and Coach Saban, for Coach Saban's first season in Alabama when you guys were all together.
KIRBY SMART: And you're asking what about that year?

Q. I was asking what did you guys learn as a staff and you particularly, how you saw some success coming in the near future, even if it didn't show through the win-loss record in 2007?
KIRBY SMART: I think it was more about recruiting at that point in time and getting players to buy in and believe in the principles and values that we preached. You come in, and not everybody jumps on board right away. There's guys that say, you know what, I'm going to keep it my way. I'll get out of here before this guy ever makes it. Then there's other guys that buy right in and try to sell it to others.

Certainly, 2007, we didn't have a program where everybody was completely bought in yet, but we were -- coach does a great job organizing things, and he had everything in order, and guys started to buy in. As they bought in, we won more games. We recruited and got better players. It was certainly a process. As that happened, we got better and better. That's the way you build a program. You build it on a foundation that you want to be consistent and you want to be long term.

Q. We've talked a little bit about the LSU game, but specifically, when you guys came out of that game and came back to Athens, what were some of the things that you guys discussed as a staff about we've got to address this? Whether it be from a strategic standpoint, personnel, because obviously, you guys played markedly better from that point on.
KIRBY SMART: Well, it's a lot of things. We didn't handle the atmosphere well. We didn't play our best game, and we didn't coach our best game. It wasn't all the players, and it wasn't all the scheme. It was a lot of things combined. A lot of things happened in that game that were really close to go in our favor, and we've kind of belabored those things. But at the end of the day, we didn't put our best foot forward. We talked about moving forward, saying, hey, we're going to really hone in on things, get good at this, get good at that, and not worry about the rest. Take the players that want to be a part of it, want to buy into it, and get them out there and play.

Made a commitment to playing some of the younger players, and as they've played, they've played better. That's the only way to grow some of these young guys is to get them out there and put them in the game and let them make mistakes.

Q. When you look back at that specific point in the season to where you are now, are you pleased with what you saw happen?
KIRBY SMART: As far as the progress made since that game?

Q. Yeah. I mean, there's objectives, and then there's meeting those objectives. Obviously, you guys didn't lose again, but I'm sure -- I mean, you look at it so much differently than we do in that regard.
KIRBY SMART: Yeah, I feel like there's things we've done better each and every game, but there's a vast amount of improvement that can be done. I think the only way you improve is you kind of sharpen the iron and you go compete against each other, and you get better, and you keep working. We're not where we need to be by any means, and I think offensively we're playing good football, we're being very efficient. And when you're efficient, you give yourself a chance. But defensively, we've certainly got to improve.

Q. The offense has changed a lot since you've been there at Alabama. Are you surprised that Nick Saban even went this way to such a fast paced, high scoring offense as compared to his usual in the past grind-it-out running games?
KIRBY SMART: No, not surprised. I mean, I was there during some of Lane's time, where it was very high paced, high scoring, up tempo, and Lane always leaned on that. He certainly wanted to do that as much as possible. They're doing a really good job of it now. They can mix tempos. They can run power game at you. They just can score faster doing it another way, and they've certainly got a lot of talent at the wide receiver position, quarterback position, like I've talked about.

I mean, if they can score, they're going to score, and they're good at it. He's doing what they do best. I think a lot of that credit goes to Coach Locksley and Coach Enos and their offensive staff. They've got a who's who studded cast over there on offense as coaches that allow them to prepare. A lot of their support staff, I've known for a long time. There's guys that have been in pro ball, coaches in pro ball that are over there, and they get great ideas. They've got great players, and they put the package together, and they're really aggressive with it.

Q. So as a follow-up, this team has been outscoring opponents by over 20 points all season. How do you stop this offense?
KIRBY SMART: Well, you've got to play good. You've got to be able to cover people. You've got to be able to effect the quarterback. You've got to try to make them one-dimensional, but sometimes one-dimensional for them is they're okay with it. They want to be able to attack you down the field, attack you vertically, and you've got to play good football.

Look, I don't think there's anybody that's going to go out there and stone cold these guys. When you watch them play, you see them score points, so you've got to do a great job of creating turnovers, creating lost yardage plays, and you've got to make plays on the ball when you're not looking at it, when you're not in plays and your back's to the ball, you're going to have to make some plays on the ball because they throw the ball vertically down the field.

Q. Coach, I was hoping you could possibly update us on the health of Monty Rice.
KIRBY SMART: Yeah, Monty wasn't able to play Saturday. He's down to one crutch, and he's trying to get back. I was talking to him after the game. He feels much better, but he's not 100 percent. I'll know a lot more probably tomorrow after practice.

Q. And further, I mean, with what you saw out of Tua in the National Championship Game compared to seeing on tape this year, what areas have you seen improvement? Most improvement, or has he -- does he look like he did when he looked like he did back in the National Championship Game, Coach?
KIRBY SMART: Well, he looked real good in that one, but he looks really good now. He's definitely improved. He's confident. You can see it's just the experience of playing in games and being able to go in and affect the other guys, and the trust and confidence and timing. I think the quarterback coach he's got there, Coach Enos does such a great job. He's really developed. He's gotten better, and you can tell he's playing with a lot of confidence.

Q. Where has Jake Fromm gotten better this year, Coach?
KIRBY SMART: Same. He's gotten more confidence. I think he's comfortable with things. He knows where people are now. He knows the protections better. He's got a trust in the offensive line that's been playing well for him, and he's also got a run game that he's able to rely on. If things get hairy, he's able to put in the right run and make it a positive play, you know, staying away from a lost yardage play. A lot of our runs turn into two and three-yard runs, but they make third down much more manageable.

Q. What Steve asked about the running game and what you said, D'Andre Swift injured earlier in the year. He came on strong. How delicate and careful were you early in the season with him, and how banged up was he?
KIRBY SMART: It's hard to measure that because it's not an injury that you can test and measure. It's a feel. It's a personal feel for how he feels. He had some things in the spring that bothered him with that groin, and there were a couple of instances early in the season that he felt it bothered him a little bit. We obviously wanted to keep him fresh and try to keep him healthy.

So it was a topic of conversation in some early games, but there was never a point where we were like, hey, we've got to get him out of there. He's hurt. It wasn't like that. It's just the kid went out and competed and played hard in a lot of early games, and as the season went on, I think he's gotten better and better.

Q. And as far as your linebackers go, obviously, you lost a lot of guys last year, and the run defense over the last month has been significantly better. What clicked with those guys? And how do you assess their progression from Game 1 to Game 12?
KIRBY SMART: Well, I think as a unit we've gotten better. The run game is never one group, the D-line or the linebackers. The secondary is really tied into the run support and run defense. So it's on all of us. We've improved on that because we've worked hard on it and we've gone against our offense. I think that those are only ways we can get better is to really preach the fundamentals.

We had some sloppy tackling in the LSU game, and that probably hurt us more than the schemes. We just didn't tackle real well. We've got to tackle well in this game. They've got really good skill players. Doesn't matter if it's a back, tight end, or receiver. When you start giving them yards after the catch, it adds up.

Q. Hey, Kirby, I know he's been dealing with an injury, but just in general, how would you describe what you've gotten out of Cade Mays this season?
KIRBY SMART: Very dependable. He's a kid that came in that's played every position except for center. He's played four positions on our offensive line. He's been very intelligent. He's been able to go in, plug and play. A guy gets hurt, he goes in, he pops in there. He takes three or four reps at each position during the week, and he's able to go in and communicate and function, and that's been big for us.

He's really physical, really tough guy. Those qualities are pretty important in offensive linemen.

Q. And do you expect you'll have him back for Saturday?
KIRBY SMART: Don't know that yet.

Q. Kirby, just wondering in general, what's the biggest difference between this team you'll bring in Saturday compared to a team that you had in January against Alabama?
KIRBY SMART: I don't know. That's a tough question. I feel like we're probably not quite where we were special teams-wise last year. We've been really good in some areas, and we've really struggled in some, so we've been up and down, where last year I felt like we were a more complete special teams unit. Defensively, we just had so much experience. We were playing with guys with 30 and 40 starts, and some of them were -- you know, they weren't that talented, they just played -- they had a lot of experience. Now we've got a little less experience on the left side of the ball and we've got a little more experience on our offensive side of the ball minus two really good backs.

So it's a very different team, very different personality team, but they have been very effective and been very good leaders.

Q. What kind of challenge is it for Lamont Gaillard and the offensive guards facing a guy like Quinnen Williams, and what do they need to do to keep him out?
KIRBY SMART: That's the ultimate challenge. You're playing one of the best football players in college football. He's extremely quick, extremely athletic. He uses his leverage well. He's powerful. Obviously, Raekwon was extremely disruptive last year and a really good football player. They've got really good football players. We are well aware of that.

Biggest thing is being fundamentally sound, have a good pad level, and being able to put ourselves in positive situations in the right plays. I don't think you go out there and just stone these guys. They've got good football players. You've got to do a good job mixing things up. You've got to stay balanced, and you've got to stay consistent with it.

Q. And you guys obviously have been throwing the ball around well down the stretch here. What do you make of the matchup with their young corners?
KIRBY SMART: Well, first of all, they've got two really good corners, and they're good football players. Our guys have been having good timing and running good routes. We've got a competitive group of receivers, so I think it will be a good matchup.

Q. You talked about a lot of the young kids you've had playing for you, and particularly a lot of freshmen who have contributed this year. So 13 games in now, is it a case where they're no longer freshmen, or are you still getting concerned about some of that youthful exuberance in a big game like this?
KIRBY SMART: No. I think that any time you look at -- each freshman is different. We've got some freshmen that it never affects them. The moment is never too big for them. They go play. Other freshmen probably get more anxiety than others, and each one's different. The ones that handled it well early will probably handle this well. The ones that got nervous early will probably be nervous for this one. But each one's different, and each one is kind of separated out.

I know this. They've bought in and are playing really hard for us, and they're gaining confidence in the games they've been able to get experience and play in.

Q. And in particular, about Adam Anderson and the kind of progress he's made? He seems to be playing pretty well as of late.
KIRBY SMART: Adam is rolling. He's getting better. He's taking on a role in special teams, and he's developing. He's got a lot of speed, a lot of good instincts. He's become a lot more serious about learning his assignments, which has given us an opportunity to place some responsibility on him, and he continues to get better at that.

THE MODERATOR: Coach, that's going to wrap you up. We appreciate your time and look forward to seeing you on Friday in Atlanta.

KIRBY SMART: Thank you guys.

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