Everything Georgia coach Kirby Smart said about Tennessee on Monday

What head coach Kirby Smart said during press conference on Monday, previewing No. 6 Georgia against No. 15 Tennessee on Saturday (3:30 p.m. Eastern Time, ABC) in the SEC opener at Neyland Stadium:

Opening Statement

“Yeah, really excited about this matchup. One of the toughest places to play in all college football. It’ll be as loud as it ever is. It always is one of the loudest in the SEC for sure. 

“They’ve done a great job. Josh has got a great team and program. They’re a playoff team from last year that we’ve had some really, really physical games with. It’ll be no different. They are built around toughness, running the ball and stopping the run, which they’re very good at both. I think people have a mistake about their offense that it scores so many points, but they are very physical. You look at last year’s game between both teams, both lines of scrimmage were extremely physical, and it’s been that way every time we’ve played each other. It won’t be any different this time. 

“We’re going to a tough place to play. First game on the road in the SEC. When you open up on the road in the SEC, it’s always challenging. It’ll be important that our players understand that, that the environment is something that you don’t have to worry about. You got to worry about how you play, and sometimes that’s easier said than done, especially with young players. But we’ll prepare for it, and we’re excited to go play. These are the games you come to Georgia to play in. So I’m excited for these guys.”

Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar

“He’s playing really efficiently. He’s got great arm talent. He’s a really good athlete. You can tell he understands the system. He gets the ball out quickly. He’s been very accurate. He’s had some really well-thrown balls, a couple they’ve dropped in crucial times. But he makes some good throws, and really a good deep-ball passer. I think he puts air under the ball, gives the receiver an opportunity to run under it. He’s made plays with his legs, which you have to do in this league at quarterback, and he’s been very, very impressive in the two games he played.”

What he’s seeing from the Tennessee run game

“Well, they’ve always played a lot of backs, so they have multiple backs that come in the game. They’re very physical. I mean, they’re all 210-, 215-pound guys. They run downhill. They don’t sit there and try to attack the sideline. They get vertical. You know, they hit us last year on a vertical run. 

“Very patient runners, well-coached. They have a lot of schemes in their run game because of the formation variation they use, but they’re committed to it. Like, it’s physical within the trenches, and their offensive line plays extremely physical. They are very intentional with their bumps and their doubles. They attack you, and they try to get you out of your gaps. And they spread you out, and they do a really good job in the run game.” 

The balance of being aggressive at QB but limiting turnovers

“Well, as we’ve learned, you can turn it over on any player, right? I mean, we had a running play that was a turnover. So nothing’s inherently perfect or safe. I think passing the ball down the field is not necessarily, it’s one of the lower turnover rates there is. I mean, in the pass that we did get, just a turnover was a short intermediate passing game that a guy fumbled after he called it. So I don’t really know what you’re asking. I mean, there’s a good and bad for both. I mean, you can’t turn the ball over in a good offense. You gotta prevent turnovers, but you also have to have the ability to throw it down the field and hit some shots and be explosive. But I don’t think that would keep you from doing and thinking about turnovers.”

Tennessee’s fast starts and Georgia’s adjustments in the past

“Yeah, I don’t know that there’s any adjustments made as much as the tempo of the game. Nobody prefers to start that way. They do a good job of attacking, start the game. They’ve had good plans, but it’s more about settling in and playing the speed of the game that we can play. I mean, I certainly expect us to do that from the start, but it hasn’t always been that way. It’s very unique, the spacing and how much space there is when you play these guys. So we certainly don’t wanna spot a lead or give them a lead.It’s not our intentions.”

Update on Juan Gaston, Earnest Greene, and Talyn Taylor

“No, Talyn’s fine, and he played in different situations. He’s played all year in different situations. Both Juan and Earnest, we’ll learn more about today and see where they are.They’re both coming off of bumps and bruises and injuries, but hopeful to get them back.”

Georgia’s success vs. Tennessee

“Well, they’ve been really good games, right? When you play in the SEC and you’re in these really tough top ten matchups, top 25 matchups, they can go either way a lot of times. At the end of the day, they’ve played us physical, we’ve played them physical. They’ve all been really, really tough physical games. I mean, I think being at home usually helps either team in terms of road versus home, but I don’t know that you can attribute it to anything, because this year has nothing to do with previous years.”

Colbie Young’s leadership

“Yeah, I think he knows what he’s fighting for and what he’s playing for. He’s got a lot of good intentions in terms of what he wants to get out of the season, and that’s shown up in his special teams play. It’s shown up in his work ethic. It’s shown up in his demeanor, his fire, passion, energy, and just the way he plays the game. He’s a leader out there, and he wants it really bad, and that kinda rubs off on the rest of the offense in terms of his physicality, his catch radius, but the players love being around him. He’s got a lot of energy.”

The right side of the Georgia offensive line

“Yeah, a lot of guys played over there, which was the intent coming into the game with the temperature being as hot as it was and the weather. We felt like we would play some guys there and kinda see how guys did, see how guys played. It’s been a rotating kinda deal all throughout camp. We’ve had guys in and out of the lineup during camp that has made us kinda platoon that side. We’ve even flipped Monroe and flipped Micah over to that side at times. So they had bright spots, and they had disappointing spots, which is probably true for every position group on our field. But we gotta continue to progress there, and we gotta get the best guys in there and get them some continuity.”

Georgia’s tackling efforts

“Yeah, we worked hard on it, done some good things, had some missed tackles and missed some opportunities for turnovers. That’s one of the biggest learning things is you gotta get the turnovers when you get an opportunity. The balls on the ground, interception opportunities, hands on balls, you gotta get them. But for two games, probably haven’t been tested enough to really warrant and say where we are as tacklers.”

Prepping guys who have never played in the SEC

“Camp. Our preseason camp is extremely physical, and we prepare during that time as if we’re playing each other. So it’s what we do each day, it’s what we believe in. I don’t think you can prepare the next five days for it, though.”

Georgia’s first road game

“Well, I think it’s a mental disposition, and it’s part of your planning. There’s certain things you can do at home that you can’t do on the road. You have to be smart as a game planner. What kind of situations you put your team in, where the field position is, what’s the down and distance. And your approach to your game planning is, defensively and offensively, you have to think about that. And me being in this league for a long time, it plays a factor on the ability to execute when you’re in an environment that maybe someone’s never been in. And you have to be smart about what you’re asking them to execute, because at the end of the day, that’s what it is. Who can execute, who can block and tackle, and who can be physical?”

Ethan Barbour injury

“Yeah, he’s got a pretty significant ankle injury. He’ll be dealing with, similar to Rosemy(-Jacksaint) and Rod Robinson both had, and he’ll have surgery to repair it. So he’ll be out for a little bit.”

The number one priority when Tennessee’s offense spreads you and wants to go fast

“Not give them anything. I mean, I think you have to make them earn it. And we say go the long, hard way, make them execute, make them drive the ball down the field all the way through the red area. And just make it hard to score. And that starts with stopping the run and not giving up big plays. Those are the two key ingredients to Tennessee is, can you stop the run? Can you not give freebies? But they go with tempo, they do spread you out, and it’s a challenging prep.”

Georgia’s defensive priorities facing a team that likes to spread the field

“Not give them anything. I mean, I think you have to make them earn it, and we say go the long hard way. Make them execute, make them drive the ball down the field, all the way through the red area, and just make it hard to score. That starts with stopping the run and not giving up big plays. Those are the two key ingredients to Tennessee is, can you stop the run? Can you not give freebies? But they go with tempo, they do spread you out, and it’s a challenging prep.”

Making a big play vs. the correct play

“Yeah, I don’t know what you’re referencing. I like big plays, so I would prefer the big play. But correct play sometimes doesn’t always lead to a big play. But we talk about result versus process, and we don’t want to get caught up in the result. Yes, we want a big play, but I want to go through the process of doing the right things. Sometimes you do the right process, you don’t get the right result. Sometimes you do, and you don’t do the process right. We’re very intentional on making sure they understand doing the right process leads to big plays and leads to more success than just checking results. That’s, I think, what you’re talking about.” 

Georgia QB Gunner Stockton preparing to make his first road start and how he’ll handle it

“I think he’s going to be great. I mean, it’s something that we practice for all year round. I don’t believe in waiting till the week of the game. We do it in spring. We do it all preseason camp. We put a lot of pressure on the players in practice to communicate. A lot of times, it’s to keep both sides of the ball from hearing each other talk. So I don’t want to hear the coaches talk. So you’ve got to crank it up. It almost becomes the norm to do that. But there’s also a defense over there that you’re trying to simulate, and that’s hard to simulate because they are very good defensively. They create a lot of issues, very intelligent with their defensive staff in terms of protections, looks. They know what you’re thinking, and they try to counter that. So that’s the hurdle for us offensively that we all have to get over, is making sure we understand what they’re trying to do, understand what we’re trying to do, and do it better than they do.” 

Gunner Stockton and how the downfield passing game can be improved

“Well, success comes through throwing and catching it and getting opportunities to do that. We didn’t protect long enough in some of our opportunities to get a chance to do that, so first thing is, what can we do, right? We’re running the ball successfully. We ran the ball successfully and ran it down their throats for the most part. When we do take shots, we want to keep a clean pocket, and he was able to do a lot of good things for us in terms of when the pocket’s not clean, of not being second and 20 or second and 15, and instead we’re second and 8. Avoiding some really long situations or giving up sacks. But certainly, we want to be able to improve downfield passing game. I think that comes a little bit off of what we talked about before. How is the defense playing you? Different defenses play different ways.”

Georgia’s lack of tight end usage Week 2 and Tennessee’s basic tendencies

“That’s a two-part question, and I don’t really understand how they relate. The first, I don’t think that would be true to say that we didn’t target tight ends. There’s multiple plays that the tight end was No. 1 option, but he was either not there, or he was missed, or there might have been a misread. But we had a tight end wide open where somebody fell down in coverage, and he was targeted, but we ended up going to the check down. There’s a couple other ones that we probably could have hit the tight end on, but we could have hit anybody because it’s called zone defense, so you go with the read. But there’s no rhyme or reason where we can’t call a play where we say, this ball’s going to the tight end. There is no such thing. There’s plays where he’s one, two, or three in the read. But a lot of people think that’s just an easier throw. It’s really about who gets your touches, and we basically get the touches usually on who breaks tackles. And that’s a big part of being explosive, is who’s gonna get the most run after catch. Where the space in areas of the field that are soft to get easy throws, I think everybody’s looking for that. And most offenses do, if you get free access, you take the access.”

On Tennessee’s defensive line

“Play really hard, really physical. They’re penetrating upfield, low pads, come off the ball, contact tough. I mean, they play really hard. They’ve disrupted the pocket in each game, and really affected the interior pass rush lanes and push back.”

On Gunner playing as well in games as practice

“Well, I don’t think it’s about him. I think it’s about the 11 people with him, right? So when we say we wanna see Gunner do that, see a carryover, it requires the 11 people doing exactly what they did in practice for him to have success. Because in an offensive unit, one guy can mess up, and that ruins that entire play. Typically on defense, one guy can mess up and it may not affect the play if it’s not attacking that side. But there’s several times, several instances, one guy’s off, one guy’s not at the right depth, one guy doesn’t protect, or maybe Gunner. But you can’t have the cumulative effect of those things and be effective. And we didn’t, we really were very effective outside of really one drive. But outside of that, we were very effective in what we’ve done and gotta continue to do that. I’ve seen him execute well in practice, and we’ll continue to see that.”

On Jaden Reddell’s progress

“Yeah, he’s a great size, speed guy. He’s helped us on special teams. He’s been physical. He’s a weapon. He’s getting better, his growth is getting better. It’s hard when you come in from never having been a true blocker or do any blocking to having to do all that. He has improved in that through the weight room and through physicality, and he continues to improve. We’ll need him to step up and be able to play even more snaps.”