Opening Statement…
“In terms of speaking about the young men in this program, it’s something that we’re extremely proud of. The Dawgs for Pups Program is our movement, our initiative, and our guys have taken an awesome approach to it. They’ve really embraced serving this community. We’re consistently trying to enhance the culture, no matter what it is. Coach [Kirby] Smart always talks about putting ourselves in an uncomfortable position and continuing to grow. When you look at it, they’ve really taken ownership in terms of being intentional and serving this community. Just to recap what we were able to accomplish last year starting with the internet drive, we were able to raise over a $100,000 to give Kindergarten through eighth graders internet so they could attend school virtually, which was huge for them. The snack drive, we were able to raise almost 30,000 pounds of food. When it comes to the coat drive, we’re talking about 437 coats donated. For Christmas, we were able to adopt 100 families to buy Christmas presents for. It’s been an awesome deal under the leadership of Josh Brooks and Coach Smart. I think our guys have really embraced this responsibility, and we’ve empowered them to continue to serve the community.
On the mental development of George Pickens…
“It’s just one of continued growth and maturity, and he has embraced it. When you look at our entire team and you talk about altruism, I think there’s this aura of selflessness and a positive vibe, which has really continued to grow. It really shines brighter. For him, he’s embraced that, so I’m looking forward to how he continues to move forward.”
On Arian Smith’s development…
“Just like any young receiver, it’s just about understanding the technique of how to play to position and continuing to grow from a football awareness and a knowledge of the playbook and how he fits in the grand scheme of things. He’s really embraced it this off-season. When you look at it, really with all of our guys, we didn’t have an opportunity for Spring football last year. Now, these guys get to learn from cutups from last year of what we put on tape. That’s really big with all of our guys, and we’re looking for Arian to grow as a receiver.”
On social justice efforts within the team..
“Absolutely, with our guys, it’s not just about developing them from an academic standpoint or athletically. We want to make sure that we’re giving them a platform to express their feelings. It’s also about education and providing awareness, and that’s the only way that we can impact any type of change. It’s one, educating and making sure people are aware of what’s going on in this country and also just acknowledging it. We all have a right to feel a certain way, and we want to make sure that we embrace each other’s opinions.”
On Demetris Robertson…
“I think [Demetris Robertson] brings a veteran presence to our room. He’s a guy who has versatility because he can play multiple positions. He also embraces his role on special teams. From that standpoint, when we talk about certain things like being selfless, he displays that every single day with his actions. When you have a guy who is willing to come back and really embrace his role on this team, and he’s going to continue to compete, you have to be excited about that.”
On having a veteran receiving core…
“It’s definitely huge because you’re in a situation where you have the opportunity of being under the same offensive coordinator going into the second season. That being in itself, these guys are going to have the opportunity to continue to get better. Granted, we are talented and you see some flashes of some things but we have to become more consistent and the position and there are some things that we have to improve on. We can’t be complacent and comfortable just because we have the skill set to perform at a high level. We need to make sure, day-in and day-out, that we compete and be very intentional about getting better at the things that we can improve on.”
On pressure to continue improving…
“It just goes back to taking it one day at a time. We learn from the things that we didn’t do well last year. As a staff, we look over some things that we can improve on and get better at, and we just try to apply that as we move forward, whether it’s in our off-season strength and conditioning program, what we’re doing from a mental standpoint or when we get on the grass in terms of football concepts. There are always going to be areas that we can improve, and that’s always going to be something that we want to push forward. The only thing that we can worry about right now is how we perform and the team the next day. When Spring ball gets here, we want to attack that in a different manner. The thing that’s going to remain consistent is that every single day, we’re trying to improve on something.”
On future initiatives of the Dawgs for Pups Program…
“We’re currently in the planning phase of providing programs, really providing education for our guys on local charities and what they’re trying to accomplish. We’re also trying to identify the immediate needs where we can make the biggest impact. There is an aspect where we want to do some mentoring. Of course, there’s always the restrictions and the challenges with COVID-19, but we’re trying to find a way where we can organize and do that from a virtual standpoint because any time we connect our guys with the youth and being that positive role model speaks to one of those values that we’re always talking about, they connection piece, just finding a way to connect to the community. We have some things on the horizon, and we’ll be able to reveal them in the next couple of weeks.”
On teaching players to bring initiatives into broader community…
“First, we’re talking about some things that we want to roll out and expand outside of Clarke County. We do want to touch as many people as we can in this great state of Georgia. In terms of the individuals, we look at this think collectively. We have a bunch of guys who have been involved, whether its Jamaree [Salyer] or Kearis [Jackson], they have really embraced it, but it’s so many more guys that we can discuss and talk about because this is something that our guys came up with. They wanted to do this and discuss and talk about this. They embraced the opportunity to give back and serve the community, so I’m proud of the guys for even coming up with this.”
On Dominick Blaylock’s and Marcus Rosmey-Jacksaint’s recovery…
“Physically, Ron Courson and his staff have done an amazing job with those guys. They’re working to come back. We do have a return to play protocol and they are right on schedule. From a mental standpoint, they’re awesome. In terms of being positive and just having the energy to fight to come back and being around the guys any way they can, those guys are definitely two of the more positive, football savvy guys. Especially helping out the younger guys. Any way that they can help from a mental standpoint in terms of coaching the younger guys up, has been a huge help for us.”
On how last summer made him want to put together these different programs…
“Well when you see some of the things that occurred, emotionally, there are a wave of different emotions. From anger, hurt, frustration. When those things come up, you try to find the way to really redirect it in a positive manner. The way we best felt to do that was to really provide an open forum for ours guys to just clearly communicate their emotions because I knew how I felt and we wanted those guys to feel and be comfortable in a space where they talk about anything that they want to. Through that, it has really helped our team become closer. When you talk about a connection with each other, really understanding the background, where guys came from, understanding their why and their motivation of why they play this game, I think that part is huge. So, as we grow together, we continue to impact the people in a positive manner.