Kirby Smart addressed the media after day 11 of spring practice Thursday afternoon. The head coach seemed in a chipper mood as he laughed through some of the questions and even smiled a few times. One of the topics was Richard LeCounte’s progress.
Smart talked a good bit about LeCounte’s growth and how he has his up’s and down’s as a player. He appears that he wants to be the next great player but still has his moments. Smart says LeCounte needs to grasp those responsibilities and learn about them if he wants to be the next great.
He’s still growing and it’s going to be a growing process for him in the secondary,” Smart says. “Sometimes I think Richard really wants to be good, and I don’t know if Richard knows what it takes to be good – the demands, the study habits, the seriousness it takes. He’s a very talented young man but he’s got to meet the demands that position demands, which is come in make the calls, make the decisions and I don’t know sometimes if he wants that responsibility on him. But we are certainly counting on him and we are going to continue to coach him until he gets it.”
LeCounte played in 10 games and recorded 10 solo tackles and 5 assistant tackles. He didn’t get a whole lot done on the field last season. However, with a year under his belt, fans and coaches hope LeCounte puts it together and has a breakout season. Throughout spring practice, LeCounte’s practiced with the first string and appeared to be right on track. However, after Smart’s press conference on Thursday, maybe that isn’t the case at all. G-Day is nine days away and hopefully, LeCounte will show what he’s got during the scrimmage.
Smart’s said multiple times that the secondary isn’t where it needs to be.
We still have a long way to go,” Smart says. “There has been growth and I have seen progress. I have seen some of the drills we do correlate into the scrimmage or a team 11-on-11 situation. We have done a lot of drill work and some of the guys have gotten better. I am pleased with the effort but we aren’t near where we need to be yet.”