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ICYMI: Video/Transcript – Kirby Smart’s Opening Sugar Bowl Presser

COACH SMART: Yeah, guys, we’re excited. Obviously, been in prep now for the Sugar Bowl for, I don’t know how many practices, several practices. We’re excited, very honored to be playing a really, really talented Notre Dame team. Have so much respect for Coach Freeman, his staff, everything they’ve been able to accomplish this year. 

I remember watching them early in the year when they got to play at A&M and had a huge win in a night game in our conference. So I have a lot of respect for them.

We’re looking forward to getting down to New Orleans. Always one of the most traditional bowl games or, in this case playoff games that there has been. So we’re excited and ready to get to work.

Q. Hey, Coach. In what ways has the extra time helped Gunner [Stockton] or is helping Gunner prepare for this start? 

COACH SMART: Well, I would say just experience, right? Just practice. He gets — he got lots of reps prior to these practices, but he’s getting much more now. I do think knowing when you get ready for an opponent like Notre Dame, you need time. And we haven’t known who we were going to play for, I guess now 24, 48 hours we’ve known. And 72 hours. And there’s certainly a lot of time and prep you can do to prepare for that. And we prepared for some of that prior to that because we knew it would be one of two opponents. 

But I think the biggest thing is just competition and practice. The situations we put him in. All those things allow him to get better as a quarterback.

Q. Kirby, it’s the third time you’ve faced Notre Dame at Georgia. What stands out about this team in particular? What differences and similarities do you see from the teams you’ve played in the past?

COACH SMART: Yeah, that’s a tough one because I don’t really remember the other ones. I don’t remember them as a team. The games, obviously, stand out. Both one score, fourth quarter, really physical games. You know, physicality, I see when I watch Notre Dame play is pretty incredible. On both lines of scrimmage. The way they play, the style of play they have. 

So comparing those teams is hard for me because there’s so many years in between, but this is a really good, solid, fundamentally-sound, don’t beat themselves, play good defense, great defense, and really physical on the lines of scrimmage, and they got a really athletic quarterback. There’s a reason why they’re at the point in the season that they’re at.

Q. Coach, obviously, there’s a new calendar this year and a lot going on. How challenging has that been to go through your preparations and also manage the calendar you have, I guess with the comings and goings and transfer and portal?

COACH SMART: Yeah, it’s becoming the new norm, you know. The December is absolutely just tough. I don’t know a good way of saying it. I wouldn’t say it’s unbearable. I wouldn’t say it’s unfair. There’s a lot of words you can use it for it, it’s just not probably the best thing for the college football game. Individually you could make a case. It’s good for some players. It’s good some teams. It’s good for some coaches. But the calendar is really challenging. 

And if we had the solutions, I think somebody wise, somebody smart would fix it. But when you intertwine all the working parts of academics and being a student-athlete and the timing of the playoff, timing of the portal, timing of signing days, it’s incredibly challenging. And it’s been that way this month. 

Q. Yeah, just getting ready for Notre Dame, what stands out to you about the run game? What has made them so effective on the ground?

COACH SMART: They have unbelievable backs. First off, who you hand it to does matter. Those guys are tremendously talented. They do a great job. Use all of them too. And when you throw the skill set in there of the quarterback, it just makes it that much tougher to defend. Because they have multiple weapons, multiple options, and they’re really physical. They’re committed to it. They’re not like — they’re very committed to the run.

Q. You became head coach at Georgia just before you turned 40. Can you appreciate the pressure one can be under in such a high-profile job at a relatively young age? And how would you say Marcus [Freeman] is handling it?

COACH SMART: Yeah, I can definitely appreciate the — you know, first of all, appreciate the job he’s done. He’s an up-and-coming riser for a long time. And to get that job, I mean, the national exposure, the national brand of Notre Dame is really incredible. And for him to take that over at that age, manage that, and have success and really go through some tough times. I mean, doesn’t come without criticism to be a head coach, but to do it at that age at Notre Dame is pretty special. And he’s obviously done a great job. He’s got great presence and command about him. And I think that’s what makes him a great head coach.

Q. Yeah, Kirby, you talk about the portal there a little bit. Just can you explain your thinking in allowing players to stay with the team after they have entered the portal versus letting them be away from the team? 

COACH SMART: I’m not sure I understand your question. 

Q. You just see differing approaches, like Arizona State and Kenny Dillingham are letting those guys stay with the team through the playoffs versus some schools that are saying, hey, once you enter the portal, you’re done with us?

COACH SMART: Correct. I think philosophically, it’s a choice that you make, right? You can have — we’ve had that done before. We’ve had guys stick around and play and be part of the portal. And we’ve had guys that want to go and leave and get to their new place and prepare for that. So a lot of times, it’s the preference of the player. And sometimes it’s the preference of the coach. Because the coach, obviously, does not have to allow that, but he can. 

A lot of coaches would not mind doing what Coach Dillingham is doing, but the player chooses not to, because at the end of the day, they may not want to practice. The reason they’re leaving sometimes is they’re not playing. So I’ve seen a lot of stuff out there about that. I don’t think that’s that big of a deal. 

The bigger issue is the school starting at a new place while you’re in playoffs. Because you can miss the window of school starting, hypothetically, January 6th, and a team’s playing further into that, and you can’t be two places at once. You can’t be in school and playing at a different institution. So that makes it tough.

Q. Hey, can you provide any update on the deliberations that Carson [Beck] and his family were going through as to, you know, his treatment and how he’s going to proceed?

COACH SMART: No, the only thing I can update is they’re still going through those deliberations in terms of decision-making process time, all the kind of decisions they have to make as a family.

Q. Yeah, Kirby, Notre Dame is allowing the six fewest passing yards in the country. What makes it so difficult to throw the ball on them? And what do you guys need to do to push the ball down and through?  

COACH SMART: They play great defense and great pass rush. They’re physical up front. They affect the pass rush with how hard they play, and they got really good defensive backs. They play man to man. They get up on you, put their hands on you. You can tell it’s a great brand of football between Coach [Al] Golden and Coach [Marcus] Freeman have done a great job. So they play really good football.

Q. Yeah, with Gunner’s [Stockton] mobility and his willingness to run, how does that maybe impact what you guys might try to do in the running game and focusing on that? 

COACH SMART: You know, I think we are who we are in regards to that. I mean, we’ve played an entire season offensively. You know, Gunner’s a good athlete. I think Carson’s [Beck] a good athlete. So it’s one of those deals I don’t know how much that changes things. 

Q. Kirby, wanted to ask, this is a pretty long amount of time off for y’all. Is that making you — where are you at with this extended period of time? Is that good or bad, being off between games?

COACH SMART: Well, last year, we played in the SEC championship, and I think we played on January 1st or maybe December 31st. I think the last few years we’ve played in the SEC championship, we’ve played our next game around the same time. Am I saying that correct, Dean?

ANTONIO DEAN: I think that’s about right, yes. 

COACH SMART: So I wouldn’t say it’s uncommon for us. I do think it’s a long time off. But I don’t know that it’s uncommon, right. It’s really just hard to manage, hard to deal with in terms of that space and how you keep your players in shape, but in football shape and game shape. That’s the bigger dilemma, do you lose some rhythm? I mean, you watch it most times in bowl games, people that have those long breaks, it can affect how you play. And we’re trying our best to manage that.

Q. Kirby, what have you seen out of Notre Dame’s line of scrimmage? And just how do you think that your offensive line is progressed? Especially in run blocking and pass play through the year?

COACH SMART: I’m sorry, you kind of went in and out there. What were you saying about the line of scrimmage?

Q. Just going and watching the Notre Dame game the other night, what did you think of their lines of scrimmage? And what did you think about your offensive line’s progression in pass play and run blocking through the year?

COACH SMART: Yeah, watching Notre Dame all year and the game the other night, physicality, they’re really physical up front. They play really hard. You see it on tape. You see them dominate the line of scrimmage. That’s why they win football games. That’s where the game’s won or lost. It kind of showed the other night almost what they’ve done all year.

In terms of our offensive line, you say the progression, we’ve had a mixed starting lineup. I don’t feel like it’s been like this guy’s been out, he’s been out, he’s been injured — I mean, we had more rotating changes in lineups than probably any year since I’ve been here. I’m very proud of the fight, the toughness, the grit in which they played with and pushing through the injuries that pretty much every one of them’s had. 

Q. Yeah, Coach, just the competition to be the punter been decided? And just how did you go about determining who would get the job?

COACH SMART: That’s a day-to-day competition, to be honest with you. We get a lot of guys reps and we’ll decide probably closer to the game as we finalize that, but that’s been, you know, going on since we started back. 

Q. I was going to ask the same question on the punter, but I guess you mentioned the guys that are punting. Who are some of those guys that are punting? And how have you seen Drew Miller specifically respond?

COACH SMART: Drew’s been great. He’s done a good job. He’s taken a majority of those reps. But when the job is open, we let everybody punt. So we got them all out there punting. Gunner [Stockton] can punt, [Ryan] Puglisi can punt. We’ve got some wide receivers that can punt. I’ve had to punt a couple times. So we’ll just keep going until we run out of punters. 

ICYMI: Video – Notre Dame Head Coach Marcus Freeman Talks Sugar Bowl

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