WATCH: Kirby Smart, Georgia players break down big win over Arkansas
Georgia came away victorious on Saturday, 37-0 winners over Arkansas. DawgsHQ was on hand to keep you up to date, before, during and after the game. Here’s what Kirby Smart and his Georgia players (Stetson Bennett, Kendall Milton, Warren Ericson, Nakobe Dean and Travon Walker) had to say to break down their dominant performance
Kirby Smart
Opening Statement
“My opening remark would be how incredible our fan base is. I think all you guys will admit they were elite and we noticed it. To come in warmups and out of the tunnel, to look up there and see every seat filled for a noon kick is special, is special to be at Georgia and they impacted the game.
I thought on the first offensive series for Arkansas, our fans were extremely disruptive. I thought our crowd impacted the blocked punt in terms of cadence and things like that which forced the touchdown. So, I give our fans at least 10 points, and that’s big.
We were patient today, but aggressive. That’s hard to beat. That’s hard to be in football, but we were patient and aggressive and I think that’s important. We preach that every week, one series at a time and not get ahead of ourselves.
I felt Arkansas had a really good team, but if we were patient while still being aggressive and physical, that we could at least impose some of our own will. I’ve got a lot of respect for Sam and his team.”
On how much the run game was planned because of Arkansas versus planned because of Stetson
“It’s called scheme. It’s not reinvigorated run game, it’s take what they give us. We felt it was important to play the game patient, but aggressive. I would have definitely thought there would be 53 runs, 57 runs, whatever there was, because that was the game plan we needed to approach it with. You know what? It might be different next week. The best teams I’ve ever been around can take on the personality of what they need to take on. I’m really proud of the offensive line proud of the offensive coaching staff who did a helluva job game planning against what is a very good defense.
It had nothing to do with Stetson Bennett at quarterback, it had nothing to do with a reinvigorated run game, it had to do what we felt it took to win.”
On Zamir White’s excitement for special teams, the punt block and what went wrong on the punt procedure penalties
“Zamir’s just incredible. There’s two kinds of players. There’s the player that knows his role. And then there’s the player that knows his role and is committed to his role. And Zamir knows his role and he’s committed to his role.
He probably had three or four of the biggest plays in the game. The touchdown that broke it open where the knee was almost down. The blocked punt, I think the Dan Jackson actually blocked the punt, not Zamir, but Zamir recovered it.
Zamir takes so much pride in it. You have to stay after practice two times a week and work on punt block. Well a guy that’s been here four years, that’d be so easy for him to say, Well I don’t want to do that. I want to get off the field and go inside. But he stays out there and works on punt block because that’s his unit. That’s his special teams.
Muschamp, the special teams staff, have done an incredible job of impacting the game. I thought they were both aggressive calls to come after the punt. And Zamir recovered it.
But as far as the penalties, that was illegal procedure, we didn’t line up on the ball, just silly, dumb penalties. We tried to get it fixed at halftime but then it happened again. So we’ll have to get that fixed.”
On JT Daniels, his health going forward and what it means to have a backup like Stetson Bennett
“Yeah it’s week to week, guys. I mean do your research on a lat injury. It’s one of the largest muscles on the body. It can be strained, it can be stretched, it can be torn. Dak Prescott went through this injury, and Dak’s was more extreme, we think, than we think JT’s is.
But JT’s is a Grade 1 sprain, and we think we’ll be able to get him back. But we don’t know when. I know this: the men in the locker room have confidence in whoever we put out there. And I know you all don’t believe what I say, I know you all say, ‘Oh that’s just coach-speak.’ We have confidence in our quarterbacks. I have a lot of confidence in Carson Beck. Brock Vandagriff goes in front of me every day. I’m very pleased with the quarterbacks we have.
It’s unfortunate that JT can’t go, because it’s not like we’ve done anything to make it worse, if anything he’s had a lot of time off. We don’t know if the oblique compounded the lat, but they’re two separate injuries, but it flared up on him, and it’s a painful injury, hopefully we’re going to get him back from.
But I can’t explain it any more than that. But I’m not losing any sleep over it because it’s beyond our control. And Stetson Bennett is a really good quarterback. I keep saying that, and people don’t believe us. But he’s a really good quarterback.”
On Georgia’s formula for creating fast starts
“Yeah, it’s a hell of a formula. You think we can keep it up, Marc? I love the formula. I don’t know that it’s going to always happen, right? So you prepare for four quarters of battle and you react to what you get, you respond to what you get. I mean, yeah, if i could write a script to drive down and score, block a punt, score, score, score, I’d be all over that.”
On how close JT Daniels was to being able to play today
“Why is this the conversation? I mean, was it close at all? He couldn’t play. He couldn’t go out and effectively lead the team and play. To do that, you don’t need to have a strained lat.
Now could he have gone out there and handed off the ball? Possibly. But guys you’re missing the window. Y’all are making the story all about that. The story should be about these fans. The story should be about these players that go out there and lay it on the line and play and play their butt off and I’m so proud of our offensive line, our tight ends, our receivers who didn’t get a ton of catches and blocked their butt off and the defense and the special teams unit. Make it about that, guys.
JT is going to be okay. Make it about what matters.”
On JT Daniels’ availability being based on pregame
“And it’ll be based upon pregame next game too. So go ahead and write that down. It’s going to be based on the pregame next week to see if he’s ready to go.”
On his aggressive call to go for it on 4th and 1 in the first quarter
“I wanted to show confidence in our players and our offensive line and the demeanor we’re trying to create. To be honest, I’ve got a lot of confidence in our defense so if we don’t get it, we’ve got to be able to handle that.
We were not in field goal range so it was not a real hard decision for me. It was either punt it and gain 20 to 30 yards or go for it and possibly get seven points. So it didn’t make it real hard and if we hadn’t gotten it, I’d have had to live with that, too. That decision was made a long time ago in my mind.”
On if the defense has exceeded expecations
“Yeah, I was proud of the defense because they’ve got a good offense. That quarterback is one of the toughest human beings I’ve ever seen. He doesn’t blink. He doesn’t flinch. He’s tough, man. He sits in there and he’s hard to tackle. Coach (Kendal) Briles does a good job with off-tempo stuff.
Hey, look, all we told our defense all week is you ain’t played nobody. They went out there and played, I don’t know what they were, 26th, 30th, I don’t know. I know they beat two good football teams and they went out and they shut those guys down. We’re going to tell them next week that they ain’t played nobody. We’re going to keep preaching to get better and grow. We’re not where we need to be but as long as they’re buying in, because we’ve got this really good vibe on our team of complementary football — offense, defense, special teams — and the defensive coaches do a great job of selling to the defense that, ‘Hey man, what you’re doing is elite. It’s special.’
No we didn’t force any turnovers. I don’t guess we got any turnovers and that would be the one drawback that we’re really trying to get more of those.”
On how the defense compliments each other front to back
“Man they play hard. I’ll tell you, we’ve never met as a defensive unit this long, and I think what Dan (Lanning) does and Coach Addae, Coach Schumann, Coach Scott, Coach Muschamp and the GAs, they sell unity in there. They have fun. We have a 45 minute meeting on a Tuesday or a Wednesday and you would think everybody’s like, ‘Oh, I have to go practice today.’ They hype it up, they play music, they show turnovers. They’ve really done this great messaging where they are showing elite defenses. The teams that were like super elite, the Ravens, the Bears. And what’s happened is everybody wants to be them. Everybody wants our defense to be those guys, emulate those guys. It’s really made them not go about playing the opponent. We’re playing the standard, and we’re playing this, ‘Can we be this elite team?’ Our offense really helped us today because, I don’t know what the time of possession was, but it seemed like we ate a lot of clock and ran the ball really well so we didn’t have to play as many snaps.”
On progression of the offensive line
“From the get go, from when we won that game last week and before we even got on the bus at Vanderbilt, I already had my mind set on what we were going to have to do to win this week. It was issuing a challenge to a group of men who have a lot of pride: Justin Shaffer, Warren Ericson, Jamaree Salyer, Broderick Jones, Sedrick Van Pran, Warren McClendon, Amarius Mims, Xavier Truss. Say all their names because they bought in to what they had to do, and they liked that. The backs liked that. It was a really good, grind it out — I thought Coach McGee did a great job of selling his backs on the Georgia five. ‘You go get a Georgia five.’ A Georgia five yards is grown man ball. It might be two yards, but you get five. There was a lot of buy in to that.”
On elite or not, buy in to that and if they are preaching that they aren’t elite yet
“Yeah, you’re either elite or you’re not. We’ve had what I think are elite performances. I thought today’s was special. I thought Clemson’s was special. I didn’t think UAB’s was so great. But we’ve had some that are really special. Elite or not is really about turnovers. You either get them or you don’t. So today, we weren’t elite in terms of turnovers. But we were elite in a lot of other ways. The buy in to that has been great. The kids, they understand it. Theres not a lot of grey area where it’s 50-50. You either are, or you’re not. Nobody wants to be not. Everybody wants to be elite, at least in this group, and that’s kind of permeated into our team.”
On if Georgia has a higher ceiling with JT Daniels than Stetson Bennett
“That’s probably not a fair question because you’re asking to make a comparison or an opinion. I’ve seen more snaps than anybody. I was here the whole time with Stetson along with some of offensive staff. As well Monken was here the whole time with JT. I just think it’s a hypothetical, Jeff. I’m not upset with you for asking it but I would’ve begged to my team, why does it matter. I think both of them are really good players. We have a lot of confidence in both of them. I think the outside perception is that one guy is way better than the other. I think both of them are really good. I’m proud of both of them. I’m so glad they’ve handled it the right way.
JT is frustrated, he wants to play quarterback and he doesn’t get to when he has an injury. Stetson just goes out and does his job. He wants to be there to help the team. I don’t think ceilings, I think growth.”
On Dan Jackson
Drew, awesome question dude. This is the best question of the day.
Daniel Jackson is the most untold story on our team. The guy came from I don’t know where, walk-on. He runs a 4.5 all of sudden his freshman year. Where did we get this guy from? He’s a good football player. Doesn’t play but he’s out there. Then spring rolls around and we have a mass exodus of DBs, eight to be exact. So he went from 16th to 8th in one semester. And then he worked his way from 8th to 6th. And then he worked his way to fifth and then he goes and blocks a punt.
All he does is give everything he’s got every single day. I love the kid, he’s done a great job, the kid deserves a dang scholarship and soon as we can get one from him, we’re going to try and do that. Every player on the team when you ask him who they respect. I call on James Cook, who do you respect on the team. The first two guys he mentions is Ladd McConkey and Dan Jackson. The kids know. Kids see it. He’s a special player and I appreciate you asking about him.”
On Darnell Washington, how excited he is to get him back
“Extremely excited. However much you excited you can say and be excited because he’s another guy that bought into his role. We said it all week. There’s a difference between knowing your role and buying into your role. We had video of two teams that were severely frustrated playing Arkansas. Frustration had set in. And all we talked about all week was patience, aggressive. Had several conversations with Darnell where if you’re ready we want to play you. If you’re not, we’ll wait. After he smacked about three linebackers during the week we knew he was ready. He embraced his role. He is not 100 percent and he’ll be the first to tell you that. Man, go back and watch the film, man go back and watch the film and see a guy fight for his teammates. I have immense respect for guys who buy into team values and Darnell did that today.”
On the crowd noise and rarity of back to back shutouts
“You just said it. It’s 1980 rare. That’s a long time.
The loudest I ever remember it being ever was fourth down against Notre Dame. I thought that was extremely loud and impactful. To be that loud at noon it’s beyond elite. Let’s call it like we see it. We challenged the fans because I knew we needed them. They answered the bell. The players answered the bell. Total team unity and effort and buy in from the fan base and everyone else.
Now if we can just not complacent, coaches, players, fan base, take things for granted and not have that same impact at other home games then we can be a good football team. I know it’s as loud as I’ve ever heard it at 12. I’ve never seen it packed at 12. It may have bene the loudest ever. Somebody told them it was the loudest they’ve heard it back at the LSU-Georgia when Mett (Zach Mettenberger) and Aaron Murray were playing.”
On his frustration for questions about JT Daniels
“Why am I frustrated? Because I want the guys that deserve all the credit for all the work they’ve done, for all the things they’ve done positive, I want them to be able to receive that. I want you guys to write about their effort and how they played instead the story being about JT’s lat. JT can’t control his lat injury. There’s nothing I can say. I’ve talked to trainers at the Cowboys, the Yankees. We’ve done all this research. There’s nothing else we can do but let it heal.
The story’s not about George not being out there right now, right? The story should be about the guys that went out on the field and performed today and did such a great job of following the game plan. I want them to get that. It’s not a frustration that you’re not asking about JT, but that you’re not talking about the other guys, but Chip was.”
On the defense’s ability to help the offense through lulls, the decision to go for it on 4th and 1 in the first quarter
“We’ve got a good defense, right? I probably would have gone for it on that one because it’s the best decision. You can’t do much there but gain 20 or 30 yards. I have a lot of confidence in the offensive line and offensive staff to get one yard. That’s the way you have to approach college football because you have to score points.
Stetson is right because they helped get us through lulls because we had a couple of lulls in the game where we lost the field position battle and I got upset and was frustrated. Coach Monken reminded me we changed the field position because we moved the ball from coming out one time and flipped it. That’s how you play football. You play complementary football and I thought we did a good job of doing that.”
