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ICYMI – Video/Transcript: Kirby Smart’s Post-Practice Presser

On the advantage of a high caliber game early in the season…

“Strength of schedule. You get to play a quality opponent right off the get-go. And when you get into conference play, you’re battle-tested. Probably better than a team that maybe doesn’t play that kind of matchup. Find out more about your team. It’s great for the fans. That’s the advantage. Great for recruiting. Exposure.”

On practice so far this week…

“It’s been good. Been spirited. The guys have been good.”

On the recipe for success against Clemson…

“Well, don’t get in situations that they’re going to attack you and play man in. The best thing to do is get first downs before third down. They do a tremendous job on third down. They do a tremendous job of disguising coverages. They’re very multiple in their fronts. They’re aggressive. They tackle well. A lot of their defense reminds me of ours. I mean, they’re physical. They’re well coached situationally in games. They know what they’re doing. You can’t say they’re going to do this. You can’t predict what they’re going to do a lot of times.And I think good defenses aren’t predictable. They’re good. So, when you say how to attack them, well, you need to be able to run the ball. You need to be able to control the line of scrimmage. A running game is a quarterback’s best friend for sure. But you’ve got to keep them off balance, and you’ve got to win one-on-one battles.”

On having analysts on the field for practice…

“I think you’re able to do a little more in terms of walkthroughs for us. We do multiple walkthroughs. We try to coach our younger players at a different pace because we have someone that can be assigned to them. It’s probably been a bigger advantage through camp, like practice 1 to 16 or 1 to 20, whatever it was, and then when you get into game week, it’s not as big an advantage because you’re focused on the guys that are going to be playing. We’re trying to bring the bottom half of our roster to the top half of our roster, and I think the more analysts helps do that. I’m glad the NCAA did it because it gives more guys an opportunity to coach.”

On K.J. Bolden…

“He missed some time, and that probably set him back some. There was about a four- or five-day spell there in camp where he didn’t get to practice. I guess he’s been back for about eight or nine practices now, and he’s sharp, very intelligent, very coachable kid, good athlete. He hasn’t played major college football. He’s played major level of high school football. He’s played at the highest level, but he’s an intelligent kid. I think he’ll respond well, and when his number gets called on, he’ll be ready to play.”

On in-helmet communications on defense…

“We’ve got about seven or eight guys that will probably have it available. You know, can’t one guy have it on at a time. So, there will be multiple helmets, and different people will have the ability to have it. The benefit of having it is just communication to 15 seconds. It’s probably not as big as people think it is.”

On what he wants to see out of his secondary against Clemson…

“Tackle well. Do their job. Compete. They’re not going to win every battle. Not the positions you put guys in secondary in. They’ve got good wide outs. They’ve got a good quarterback. Just want to see them be resilient. I want to see a response time to positive and negative things that’s really quick.”

On what positions freshmen could succeed at early on the field…

“Corner or running back. Those are spots that I think typically guys can get out there. Receiver. We’ve had a lot of freshman receivers play and contribute. A lot of freshmen running backs play and contribute. We’ve had a few corners play and contribute. A specialty pass rusher can play and contribute. But some of those positions inside or in the interior line, it’s not that you can’t because of the mental. It’s you can’t because of the physical. They’re just stronger and been in a weight program longer than you.”

On his opinion on the injury report for conference games…

“My only opinion on where it is, is what I’ve been told, which is the conference games will have it. And the second part of that is what is my general opinion about what? I’m great with it as long as we’re all doing it. I have no issue with it. I don’t think – I mean, Ron [Courson] is going to be in charge of it for me. I don’t look at it – because I think they’re going to tie fines and things to it and all that. I just want to say, ‘can the guy play or not?’ And if it’s a game time decision and he goes out there and works out that he can’t, then he can’t. And I think everybody’s trying to make this big deal about deception or like misleading. I mean, if I don’t know if a guy can play, then I’ve got to find out before the game. If he can play, then he’s going to go out there and play. But, I mean, we’ve had countless numbers of guys that have gone out before the game to work out to find out if they can play or not. We’ll abide by the rules they give us. It’s the same as the NFL’s. So, they’ve done it for years and if it keeps the pressure off of our kids from people reaching out to them, trying to get information from betting sites and trying to gain information, there is no gain if you’ve got accurate information. So, it protects our kids. I’m for it.”

On special teams…

“They’re competing for that day by day right up until the end. You know, Peyton’s [Woodring] done a great job. Ham Kidd’s done a great job kicking off in field goals, the transfer we got. And both those guys have done a tremendous job. Peyton will be doing our field goal kicking. Kickoff is probably still to be determined. In terms of long snapper, we’ve got three really good long snappers who have all snapped. And a couple of them snapped in games. And we’ll see how that plays out, whether it’s different for field goal and punt. Is that the three you’re talking about? Returners also. Yeah, we’ve got multiple guys back there. Malaki [Starks], Anthony [Evans], Sacovie [White], Mike Jackson [III]. Cash [Jones] has been back there on kickoff. Dillon Bell’s been back there on kickoff. [Trevor] Etienne does kickoff. So, we’ve got a lot of guys that do the KOR, and we’ll decide closer to the game, based on the scheme, which guys we put back there.”

On Cash Jones’ ‘wow’ moments at Georgia…

“I can’t remember it.  I don’t know that it was the first year. I do remember Dell [McGee] coming to me and telling me he had a kid from Texas that wanted to walk on. And I had not met him. And he came in and, man, what an awesome kid he’s been in our program. And the wow moments for me are the first moments I remember are the second spring when he was getting a lot of reps in spring practice and made a lot of plays. Got unbelievable toughness. His ability to run between the tackles has been really good. I think he’s hard to see back there. He’s tough. He runs our runs the exact way we want to in terms of who we read on inside-outside zone. And he does a lot of really good things. I’m excited for kind of the build-up he’s had. He’s waited his turn. And he’s helped us. I mean, he’s done a dominant job on special teams. So, I love seeing him compete on special teams. He’ll continue to do that. But he also gets lots of opportunities at running back as well.”

On what he wants to see from Malaki Starks against Clemson…

“Just leadership. I mean, Malaki’s [Starks] going to play like he practiced today, I hope, which is toughness, great eyes, really good athlete, playmaker on the ball. I mean, he’s a good football player. And I don’t want to see anything necessarily out of him. I just want to see him do what he does every day at practice.”

On Anthony Evans’ contributions on punt return…

“I think that was a little different circumstance than just a normal punt return. But he’s done good things with the ball. He’s been a good decision-maker. He’s called a lot of punts, but so has Sacovie [White], Malaki [Starks], Mike Jackson, Dom [Lovett]. They’ve all done a really good job back there in terms of getting reps. But Anthony is explosive, quick, tough, stick his nose in there and does a good job. So, I’m excited to see him play in the wide receiver position.”

Malaki Starks Post-Practice Interview – August 27, 2024

On what he has seen from the defense this week…

“I think we put a big emphasis on just tackling the ball and being very aggressive during camp, and I think it’s just kind of carried over into this week. It’s just a big emphasis and I think it’s just something that we’re getting better at day by day.”

On how he has helped prepare the freshmen for their first game…

“It’s crazy because you never really know if you’re ready until you’re in the moment. You know you put in the preparation, and you have trust and faith in the work that you put in to prepare you for the moment. But everyone seems to be doing good and I’ve just been telling the same thing people were telling me you know just take it day by day play by play. See it a little, don’t see too much and you know, enjoy it. You only get one shot and just enjoy it while you got it and just be calm. You know you’re not out there by yourself, you know you got plenty of other guys with you.”

On his thoughts prior to his first game against Oregon…

“I just wanted to get in, that was really about it. I just wanted to go out there and play, and I didn’t want to let down the team. I had the chance to get in but just tried to enjoy it. I talked to my mom that morning and she told me “you know you only get one chance to be a freshman so, enjoy it while you got it.” You know I remember waking up that morning and sitting at the table with Chris [Smith II] and Dan [Jackson] and everybody eating – just kind of really just being in the moment, being where my feet are, not getting too far ahead of myself. It’s kind of the same message I’ve been relaying to them.”

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