Georgia begins prep for Austin Peay in the blistering Monday heat. Head coach Kirby Smart and his staff went back to their usual high energy and intense practice. There were plenty of explicit terms and yelling at the players. Steve and I break down each side of the ball and our takeaways from the eight minutes the media got during Monday’s practice.

Savannah’s Offense Report

The offense continued fundamental prep on Monday, and all the coaches were hot on the player’s tails. Georgia wants to avoid complacency, and each position had their groups working hard. Even if players did things right, the staff pushed for more and demanded perfect. I watched the running backs, quarterbacks, and wideouts the hardest as the offensive line continued to be split up and in position groups with the tight ends. They mostly worked on different blocking schemes, so I decided to focus on the other positions.

Quick Injury update:

• Jayson Stanley still off to the side with trainers
• Kearis Jackson still off to the side with trainers
• Jackson Harris is still a no-show with his foot injury.

Running backs

This group worked primarily on agility and cuts. Dell McGee had an obstacle course set up for the players to run through. Assistant coaches banged and tried their hardest to make the running back either drop the ball or fall. Elijah Holyfield mauled over an assistant causing the group to go ‘ooh.’ D’Andre Swift looks good; he looks healthy and ready for the Governors. James Cook continues to make strides as well. This whole unit seemed in the zone and tough. McGee was one of the only coaches that wasn’t yelling.

Quarterbacks

James Coley had his quarterbacks doing all kinds of fundamental drills. He worked them through a footwork drill and drop-back drill. Finally, before the media left, Coley had the group throw with wet balls. He said that the wet balls were, “back by popular demand.” Both Jake Fromm and Justin Fields had their moments, but for the most part, both looked crisp.  The wet balls didn’t bother the quarterbacks too much, but the wideouts had a couple of problems with them.

Wide Receivers

Wide receivers coach Cortez Hankton worked his unit hard. There was no standing around; the whole group moved constantly. He had the guys work on cuts and routes, to begin with, and then moved them to a sideline drill that made them concentrate where their feet were. Ahkil Crumpton and Mecole Hardman both had great days today. They were one of the only two that didn’t have any drops. Hankton yelled at Crumpton, “faster Crumpton faster!” Despite looking like he was doing the drill to perfect, Hankton knew he had more in him. Matt Landers is another the staff aggravated on every rep he took. Every ball he caught, an assistant would hit him hard and chase him down to make him hold onto the ball. He seems to be getting a lot more athletic and strong.

Steve’s Defense Report

-Divaad Wilson still running on the side working on his right knee
-Tyrique McGhee was not seen out there and Kirby announced that he will be absent for the Austin Peay game.
-High energy practice today from the coaches. Specifically, Kirby Smart who was all over the place watching the defense.
-Kirby Smart had a handful of good quotes today dropping a total of 12 F-bombs that we heard out there.
– “We don’t put safeties at f****ing corner! “Were throwing deep balls!”

– “Tyson! Tyson! Tyson! “Everybody is hopping! Step!” Kirby was shown some love his way at the same time critiquing his game. It’s looking like he’s going to play a ton this year.
– “Hurry the F*** up! Let’s go! F***ing move!”
-There was even one rage moment he had where there were so many F-bombs I couldn’t clearly hear what was being said. He was extremely high energy and was breathing down everybody’s neck at practice.
-The defensive line has kept the intensity at a high-level. Tray Scott has them ready to go and expect a big year from this unit. It’s going to be a brick wall trying to run through this defensive line.
-Quay Walker and Channing Tindall continue to impress me. The athleticism and size from these two are insane. They are going to do big things in Athens by the time they leave.