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Video/Transcript: Kirby Smart Post-Practice Presser – November 19, 2024
On practice this week…
“It’s been good. They’ve done a good job being locked in. I thought yesterday was good. We were a little beat up and sore and had a little bit shorter practice. Late game Saturday, not good sleep Saturday night for the players, but then today was really good. So, I thought today was one of our best Tuesdays we’ve had. We had to go inside, so maybe that had something to do with it, but there was a lot of energy and a lot of speed and a lot of pads popping.”
On Nate Frazier…
“First of all, I think he’s very mature. He came from arguably probably one of the best programs in all the country with Mater Dei. They have put out more players and won more high school national championships than anybody. So, he’s a kid that’s very mature, knew exactly what he wanted, and I think our national exposure helped us recruit him, but he didn’t come in like everybody else. He came in May or June, and that’s hard to do. It’s not particularly hard for a running back to play as a freshman, but he didn’t come in midyear. The last guy I think maybe was Swift (D’Andre) because Swift went to a private school and didn’t come in midyear, he came in in the summer, and Nate’s [Frazier] picked things up really quick. He’s talented. He’s conscientious and just been really pleased with his overall work ethic.”
On Nitro Tuggle…
“He’s worked hard. He had a good practice today. I think he gained some confidence from that because he went against a really good defense, and he did some nice things, but he goes against a good defense every day in practice, and there’s times that he’s been frustrated. He would tell you openly that he wants to play. He wants to help. All freshmen want to play, and this has been a weird year for us because we have not had a lot of breaks in action to get those guys playing experience. I could go through Jaden Reddell and Colton [Heinrich], Ellis (Robinson], Demello [Jones], Ondre [Evans]. There’s just so many guys, the O-linemen, the other backs who are starting to get a taste. I probably met with that group, I don’t know, three or four times this year as a group who just said, stay the course. You’re going to get an opportunity because so many of them come in with high expectations, and they want to play, and Nitro’s [Tuggle] one of those guys. Ellis and Demello are so close. They’ve practiced so hard and so well and done so good, and you’re used to having these games where you can. I think [Glenn] Schumann said we averaged 100 snaps for our twos and threes over the last couple years. We’re not even close to that right now. We just haven’t been able to, and they’re getting better, and I’m excited about all of them, and I’m excited about Nitro.”
On allowing younger players to get opportunities this weekend…
“You don’t ever count on that. What you count on is you want to play well, right? You want to kill turnovers. You want to get turnovers. Sometimes these games get shrunk on you because sometimes teams throw the ball or get the ball out quick or they run the ball more to shrink the game, and that can be frustrating because you might go in with three possessions or something and a half, and that’s tough. You want to get snaps, but we’re not counting on anything. We want to go play well, and to do that, we got to practice well, and we did today.”
On the tight end production against Tennessee…
“People always ask about that. Our offense is not built to say, we’re going to throw the ball to this guy all game. No, it’s what they play, so if they play split safeties, ball’s going to go here a lot. If they play single high, it’s probably going to go here a lot. If they play quarter halves, it’s going to go there a lot. If they play blitz a lot, it’s going to go here. Carson, has full field reads, progression reads, and it just dictated the ball went there some, and I feel like every game our tight ends are part of the game plan. It just worked out better in this one where they made some plays.”
On Carson Beck in practice since Saturday’s game…
“There’s been no difference in Carson, so Carson’s been consistent all year to me in terms of his practices, his habits. That doesn’t change. He doesn’t go with the emotional roller coaster theory. He’s level. He practices his technique right. He puts us in the right place. He gets the game plan ready. He studies the defense. He has steps that he goes through each week, and he follows that the same way I do. I think that’s what makes people successful. They have a process, and they believe in that.”
On Brett Thorson…
“He adds levity. He’s funny. I was telling [Will] Muschamp last night, there was a guy, golly, must be 20 years now, ago at LSU, a punter by the name of Donnie Jones, and Donnie used to get up in front of the team. Coach [Nick] Saban would let him talk to the team and break the team down every Thursday, and he would talk about the upcoming opponent. When a punter gets up there and talks about an upcoming opponent and just how we’re going to dominate them get after them, it always provided some levity. It provided some humor. I think of Brett when I think of Donnie. He’s just a funny guy, and the players really enjoy him and like him. We thought it was a good opportunity for him to take advantage of what he did, and we’ve struggled to tackle for whatever reason. We haven’t tackled well, so we’re searching for any answer we can, and we wanted to drive that home to them that he did it.”
On Trevor Etienne’s injury…
“We think it occurred during the week of practice last week, but he didn’t take any hits. He was black shirt, not taking hits. He was running a route, and he felt something in there when he planted and pushed. So, we don’t know. I assumed it was probably during the Ole Miss game, but he didn’t complain of any pain. He didn’t complain of any soreness. We did a re-X-ray, and he felt good. He went out to practice Monday, felt good. He went out to practice Tuesday, and then something happened on Tuesday, but it would have been non-contact because he wasn’t getting touched. That’s when we checked it, and that’s when we found it, but we still hope we can get him back soon.”
On what Branson Robinson has been able to do this week…
“Yeah, he’s running. I think I’m saying this right. He started to cut yesterday, and he’s cutting. He did not do anything with us, but he did do a lot of running. He hit good speeds. He’s getting his confidence back, planning and cutting. You know, he’s in meetings. He’s in game-plan stuff, and he’s showing progress, but he is not taking reps with us.”
On why the CFP committee seems to value the Big Ten over the SEC…
“I don’t think they value the Big Ten over the SEC, I think they value wins and losses. So, they place people based on a column, a column of wins and a column of losses, not on the eye test of going to watch them play and see who they play. I think they base it on wins and losses. I don’t think they say, well, this is better than that. They just say this record’s better than that. That’s the most simple way to do it. It’s not necessarily the 12 best, so we’ll see what happens. I’m not worried about it much. I got to worry about our team and what we got going on.”
On voicing his opinions…
“No, I don’t think it’s any different. I never, I don’t really know that I had a lot to say. The two years previous, I mean, there wasn’t a lot there. The year that we were 14-1 and 15-0, there’s not a lot of complaints. There’s not a lot to fight for. You take care of business on the field and handle your business. You don’t have to say a lot of things. I mean, that was a pretty unique situation if you’re referring to Texas. I mean, I don’t know that I’ve ever been a part of anything like that, and I’m not. I wasn’t upset with them. I just didn’t understand, like, never seen that happen, but I would have said that any year. I don’t know what else you’re referring to in terms of stepping out. I just want to fight for my team and fight for our program because I think we’ve got a deserving group of young men who work really hard, and I’m sure every coach would fight for their guys.”
On scheduling out-of-conference games…
“Just, I guess, the happiness of our fans. That’s the incentive, right? Because fans want you to be in the playoffs, but they sure don’t want you to play cupcakes. They want you to go play, you know, quality opponents, and I like the homing. I mean, going to schedule on a great team and going to play somebody in a neutral site game, a kickoff classic, I love all that stuff. So, I want to do as much of that as I can, but I don’t know. We’ll see where all this stuff goes, guys. I don’t think you can sit here right now, not in the middle of it, but maybe, whatever, three-quarters of the way through it and truly judge it. We all knew when they started this new process, guys, we knew that the argument would be 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, first out, you know? It’s just it seems so much bigger than your first out in basketball because there are 64 in. You know, so, like, nobody really cares when it’s 65. When it’s 12, 13, 14, it just seems so big, just like the fifth team used to be, but we’ll see what happens. I mean, everybody gets a chance to go on the field and play. They need to really decide what they want, though, and that’s the frustrating thing because it’s record-based or it’s, you know, quality of opponents. It’s hard to say that you shouldn’t have a strength of schedule factor in there.”
On hiring Mark Robinson in the summer…
Yeah, I would say it’s, yeah, I would say it’s the same as Neyland [Raper]. I mean, it almost overlaps. I don’t even, I hate to say it, I can’t keep up with titles. I don’t even know what Neyland’s title was or what Mark’s is. You just said it, so that’s not important to me. What he does is important to me in terms of helping manage staff, helping me with our staff, helping me with, you know, there’s these silos. There’s player development. There’s academics. There’s strength staff. There is recruiting staff. There is support staff of the coaches. There’re the coaches. There’re just nine million silos, and I like to coach. He helps manage a lot of things. He’s been part of Florida State programs, Texas A&M programs. He’s been places. He was at Florida. When you have someone that experienced, it’s very valuable, especially when he’s been in our league, and he creates a lot of value and knowledge and experience in areas that I don’t have to deal with. So, he does a lot of management-type things.”
Video/Transcript: Tuesday Post-Practice Interviews – November 19, 2024
On viral video and personality with team…
“I’ll give Coach Smart credit. That was his idea. I got told yesterday morning. And at first, I thought, oh, this could come back and bite me in the [butt] if stuff doesn’t go our way in the future. But I figured, ‘Yeah, why not?’ The idea was to hopefully get a good laugh and get the team going. And as far as myself, hopefully I just bring a pretty light-hearted, easy-going personality. Not too serious. So, I think the boys find it funny. Whether it’s just funny the way I say stuff or funny what I say, they get a good laugh sometimes. So, I think hopefully it worked. The boys definitely got a good laugh out of the video. But, yeah, Coach Smart can have that one.”
On what has led to his success with punting…
“I think everything that goes into it, to start with the coaching and the game plan. They give us a good look during the week and come up with a good plan for who we’re playing against. Then, you’ve got to start with a snap. I can’t punt the ball if I don’t get a good snap. So, I feel like this year, Beau’s been exceptional. And then, the protection and the coverage. So, you have Arian and Dom and whoever else has been out there, they’ve been elite. So, I can’t take too much credit because without any of these other pieces that I just mentioned, it can’t happen. And it has lasted about two and a half years. So, a lot of people have played into that. A lot of different guys, a lot of different protection, a lot of different looks. So, there’s a whole team involved in that. That’s not just, I think, a punting thing.”
On what happened during tackle…
“Pretty straightforward. Obviously, it was a hold-up look from them. They were trying to get a return. So, the process of the punt was pretty straightforward. We were backed up, I remember. So, I didn’t really want to muck around. So, I wanted to get the punt off. And yeah, just saw the ball. Like, I thought it was an okay punt, but we knew he was a really good returner, and he liked to return punts. So, I always knew it was a chance that we’d have punts come back. But it got pretty crowded. He worked his way through some traffic there and popped out one side. And, obviously, saw him, kind of, cut to that side and saw the person coming out. So, pretty much, just after the first person, wanted to make sure it stayed outside of it. And it ended up he kept going outside. So, I just tried staying outside and it ended up where it ended up.”
On Smael Mondon Jr.’s impact on defense…
“He’s one of the veterans on this team. He’s been there through all of our years leading up to here, and he’s been our linebacker ever since. Obviously, it’s a personal thing with him being out there with me because we came in together. But it’s just a great addition, just trying to work him up in reps and trying to get him out there full time.”
On what’s been working for him the last few weeks…
“I’ve just been doing what I’ve been doing. In our defense, you can’t be selfish in our defense. When plays come to you, they come to you. When you go out there and try and force plays, that’s when you don’t have people trusting you on your own defense. It’s just being in the right gap at the right time.”
On how he evaluated playing fullback…
“I’ve only gotten a couple walk plays during the week. I try to focus on defense, but I mean, it worked exactly how we walked it out. I’m kind of surprised that it did. Obviously, I’ve never been on the offensive side of the ball here, and it just worked out perfectly.”
MBB: Georgia Rolls, 93-45 Over Alabama State
The Georgia Bulldogs (5-0) defeated the Alabama A&M Bulldogs (3-2), 93-45, on Tuesday night at the Stegeman Coliseum. Four scorers reached double figures led by freshman forward Asa Newell’s 17 points paired with six boards.
Fast Facts
• After Newell’s 17-point effort, sophomore guard Silas Demary Jr. followed with 15 points while graduate guard Tyrin Lawrence and freshman center Somto Cyril finished with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
• The 45 points scored by Alabama A&M was Georgia’s fewest allowed by a Mike White team.
• The 48-point win was Georgia’s largest margin of victory since November 10, 2006, when it defeated Southern by 60 points (97-37).
• Somto Cyril produced his best night as a Bulldog, posting career highs of 11 points and nine rebounds while also tallying three blocks on the night.
• Tyrin Lawrence recorded a new career-high six steals, two more than his previous best and one shy from the program record (7 – last recorded by Billy Humphrey in 2007).
• Freshman guard Savo Drezgic posted a career-high six points, tacking on an assist and one steal in 11 minutes.
NOTES:
• Tonight’s game marks the fourth meeting between the two programs with Georgia now holding a 4-0 series lead.
• Starting Streak – The Bulldogs rolled out the same starting lineup for the fifth straight game with Cain, Demary Jr., Lawrence, Godfrey and Newell.
• First Half Force – Georgia held Alabama A&M to 25 first-half points, the squad’s lowest first half total this season.
• Nonstop in Non-Conference – Georgia extended its non-conference home winning streak to 22 games.
• Major Margins – The 48-point margin of victory tonight is the largest since 2006 when Georgia defeated Southern University 97-37.
• Sneaky Steals – Tyrin Lawrence posted a career-high 6 steals tonight. Interstingly, Lawrence’s 4 first-half steals would have also marked a career-high. While not leading the team, Silas Demary Jr.’s four steals is also a career-high for the sophomore guard.
• Surreal Cyril: Somto Cyril totaled season and career-highs in points (11) and boards (9) which marks his first career double-digit scoring performance.
Georgia Head Coach Mike White
On closing out games…
“We referenced the end of the Tennessee Tech game and even the end of the Georgia Tech game where we just couldn’t get a stop down the stretch. Of course, we were just trading free throws for baskets the other day. We’re all trying to grow as programs and as teams. That’s just something that stuck out to us here recently. We’ve been really good at times defensively, but have we put 40 together? That’s what the good teams do. That’s what the top of our league is going to do. It’s a process to get there, and I thought we took some steps there today where the detail is great. We know they touched the paint probably too many times off of the bounce, but fortunately, we have guys that are back there erasing some mistakes, as we’ve talked about a lot over the past few months. Our execution versus a lot of their changing disruptive defenses wasn’t pretty at times, but our effort was certainly there throughout, and as strong as it was all game in those last few minutes, which is growth.”
On Somto Cyril and Justin Abson…
“Decision-making, passing, not turning the ball over, just being more secure with the ball in his [Cyril] hands. Ball screen defense has gotten better. Transition defense has gotten better. His footwork in the post, he’s a guy that’s kind of settled in. The game has slowed for him a little bit. He’s a little bit more poised with the ball in his hands close to the basket, not forcing as much, and he’s just scratching the surface. He’s a talented guy. I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about the improvement with his motor too. You talk about some of those hustle plays. That’s growth for him. He’s playing hard. You heard him a couple of times too, communicating on the court, even calling out different things on the court during the game. He’s got presence, obviously, and so when he’s talking, you can hear him. He’s got to continue to be convicted in what he’s talking about, being decisive, being loud and early with some of his defensive communication. I thought Justin Abson did a good job of that with us tonight too. Justin has so much maturity offensively and defensively, just kind of anchoring some things and putting guys in the right spots. He’s got some quarterback in him as a big. You’ve got so many combinations you can use, or different guys on the court, at different times.”
On the depth of this team…
“Confusing, but a luxury. We like our depth, but that said, Marquette and St. John’s have great depth. I haven’t studied those guys much at all. Honestly, I haven’t seen either team play. I’ve seen some of the teams in our league play and saw them last year. Depth is prevalent throughout the league – height and length, speed and quickness and a bunch of guys that can do damage to SEC opponents as starters or off the bench. We’ve got a roster that has a better chance to be more competitive against high-level competition. I really like our depth. I don’t know what we do moving forward. Who knows how many minutes some of these guys will play, how many our starters will play moving forward, but we’re open to continuing to evaluate it. As long as each one of these guys individually is getting better, and collectively as a team, we continue to make some improvements, everything will work itself out.”
On what he hopes to see from his team in the next two games…
“Growth. You’d like to go 2-0. Beating one of these guys would be great, but most importantly, it’s a process. It’s a journey for this team. Can we continue to make strides? Can we continue to protect our culture? Because I really like what we’ve got going on right now. At the end of the day, wins and losses are going to take care of themselves. We’ve just got to continue to improve and embrace the process and enjoy it. We’ve got a team right now playing with joy. Now we’re in high-level competition. Adversity is coming at some point. It might be the next one. Who knows what type of adversity, but how do we handle it? Can we continue to move forward together?”
Up Next:
The Bulldogs will head to The Bahamas for the weekend when they face their first ranked opponent of the season in No. 15 Marquette on Saturday, Nov. 23 with tipoff set at 11 a.m. ET at the Imperial Arena at Atlantis.
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