University of Georgia head football coach Kirby Smart, along with
several players, previewed this weekend’s game at Notre Dame with media members
on Monday. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday in South Bend, Ind.
Smart and the Dawgs offered the
following comments during Monday’s media session.
Head Coach Kirby Smart
Opening comments …
“I will open with a quick update on Jacob Eason. I know you guys are probably concerned and want information on that.
After our medical staff did x-rays and a MRI during the game Saturday night,
they found he has a sprained left knee ligament, which is non-surgical. We
expect a full recovery this season. He is performing rehab daily. He started
yesterday. Not sure the length of time he will be out, which I know you will
want to know, but we do not know that yet. It will be week-to-week. More
importantly, his family and his parents were with him Saturday and got to spend
time with him. He was down a little bit, but he will back from it, he will be
back this year and we are actually fortunate that it was not worse than it was
probably. So, that is the good news.
On to Notre Dame now for us. We are
excited to play a program of that much prestige. I think a lot of Brian Kelly
and his staff. They do a tremendous job. They have a very storied program of
which our players have been made aware of and understand. They have some really
good football players. They played a really good game Saturday and did a lot of
good things with their program. So, we are excited for the opportunity. I know
a lot of our fan base is planning on going up there. I think these kind of
games in college football are really cool because you get to go play somebody
that you don’t normally play. I know our fan base is really excited. Our team
is excited. I mean it will be the first team ever from Georgia to get to go to
South Bend and play and we are excited for that opportunity.”
On clarifying if Jacob Eason will play
this week …
“Just to clarify, Jacob will not play this
week but Jacob is going to be week-to-week from this point forward. We don’t
know how long it is going to be. It’s going to be kind of week-to-week.”
On how much his confidence increased in
freshman QB Jake Fromm following last Saturday’s performance …
“Sometimes it happens the unexpected way.
You certainly don’t script that to happen that way. I thought he came in and
managed the situation well. Every situation will be different because App State
obviously wasn’t planning for him, so the next team probably will be. We know
that. Jake Fromm is a mature freshman that’s going to be able to take over the
offense and hopefully go out and execute. He’s got some good players around
him. He’s got to use those guys.”
On how much of the offense he trusts Fromm
with …
“Jake does a good job. He is a very mature
kid. We are excited about where he is at and we have to continue to work with
him. I know the team is really excited about the opportunity to go play Notre
Dame and that is what we are focused on.”
On how Eason has responded and what he
tells him as a coach in this situation …
“You be positive with him. You look at
it from the outlook of — I mean we had Nick talk to him. It could have very
easily been similar to Nick’s and it wasn’t. We had several guys talk to him. I
think he knows that in the game of football injuries happen. Look across
college football now and we are not the only ones dealing with it. You look at
history — there have been teams that have had this happen before. Other guys
have to step up and play and everybody has to play around him. I am just
disappointed for Jacob because of how hard he worked and how much he grew and
how much better he had gotten. He really didn’t get to showcase that and show
it the other day.”
On any updates on Solomon Kindley,
Aaron Davis and Malkom Parrish …
“We hope Solomon is able to go. We are
going to find out a lot more. We don’t know what the recovery did — not playing
the other night. We find out where he is at a little more today. Same thing
with AD (Aaron Davis). He got to play a little bit in the game. We think AD is
going to be fine and get to go. And then Malkom again is week-to-week.”
On coaching against Notre Dame in 2013
national championship with Alabama and any similarities to this season …
“It is hard for me to do comparisons
because I can’t remember that far back to be honest with you. Obviously, we had
a lot of time to prepare for that game and that team was probably a little
different. I know quarterback wise the kid, the quarterback they have now is a
really special and talented player — extremely fast, extremely athletic. I was
aware of who he was because he was at the same high school as Minkah
Fitzpatrick when we recruited Minkah, so I got to see him there. But, they have
a great program. They always have great players. They have a really good
looking offensive line. They’ve got four returning starters. Their defensive
linemen are really big kids, so it’s exciting.”
On how he puts together film in a
situation like this with Notre Dame only playing one game …
“I think every place is different. I think
everybody does it a different way. They go out and sometimes get film from the
last time he was there. They have a staff that come from a little bit
everywhere. They have a receivers coach from I think Arizona State or somewhere
— they had worked together before. Coach Kelly has been involved in the offense
and he is still there, so there are still remnants of that. I think any time
you play a team like that you have to do a great offseason study, which is what
we have done, and try to put together as much as you can and do the best you
can because at the end of the day you have one game tape to go off of.”
On his team’s resilience and response
following the injury to Eason …
“I think anytime you get injuries,
especially at the quarterback position, it tests your mettle a little bit. I
think that is what this team will do. We have tried to put them through
adversity throughout camp, throughout the offseason. It’s the reason you do
what you do. You look back — think about Ohio State, which was in a little
different place, but a few years ago they lost Braxton Miller. Then they lost
(J.T.) Barrett I think with an ankle maybe in the same year and then they went
all the way to their third guy. So, it has happened before. Certainly, you do
not plan on it happening, but those are things that happen in football and
you’ve got to have guys prepared to play. It’s the reason why you do two-spot
drills, the reason you have two teams going on. It’s the reason why you
scrimmage everybody and not just the one’s, so those guys have to get prepared.
I think our team is going to take it in stride. They are going to go out there
and practice well and practice hard. They get it. It’s not like everybody is
gloom and doom because we did not get to see Jacob much this year.”
On how the freshmen graded out to him from
this past Saturday …
“Some good, some poor — I mean each guy
kind of individually. A lot of them got in on special teams. I think the
biggest jump they can make is the next game because a lot of them did not know
what to expect. To be honest with you, a lot of those kids had anxiety, were a
little nervous. Some of them did not do the right things all the time. We hope
to use that today to teach and grow, but we are no different than any team in
the country. They had guys play for them who were freshmen and those guys have
to grow and get better. If they are playing as a freshman that means they are
pretty talented. The hope is that those guys are putting them in there for a
reason so that in games like these the moment is not too big for them.”
On QB Brice Ramsey deciding to come
back and what that meant for the team …
“You certainly hope it’s a big blessing
because he has been able to get a lot of reps. I feel unfortunate for Brice
because your three quarterback doesn’t typically get any reps, so as the three
last week it was not like he took practice reps. He did not take a lot of them.
What he takes is usually when y’all are there for routes on air. He does not
get a lot of opportunity because your second guy has to take all the reps, so
he did not get a lot of those. He will be able to get a lot more this week
obviously and hopefully use those the right way so he can play a little better.”
On Notre Dame having three guys rush over
100 yards and the challenges of the run-pass option …
“A lot of challenges. First of all, he
(Notre Dame QB Brandon Wimbush) is an explosive athlete. He looks as fast as
any player on their team. Maybe a couple of the wide outs are faster, but he is
a very explosive player. They do a good job of the R-P-O system. I’ve had a lot
of respect for Coach (Chip) Long for a long time their offensive coordinator.
When he was at Memphis, I watched a game one night and I think they scored
every single possession of the game once. It was like score, score, score,
score, score. He does a good job of using the dual-threat quarterback but the
backs are big and physical. I mean bigger than our backs and physical. They run
downhill at you. Like I said, they have four offensive linemen who have played
for a long time and they are as good looking an o-line as you will play ever.
They are all big and they do a good job of running the ball, but the
quarterback’s dual-threat, which you saw the guy last week scramble around.
This guy is going to be much faster and much more athletic doing that.”
On personal memories of Notre Dame’s
football program…
“My memories of Notre Dame are more Rocket
Ismail, Tim Brown, around that time. I was really too young to remember
the national championship game and I was not actually in the state of Georgia
yet. It’s a special place I know that. They have had a lot of talented
players- the most Heisman Trophy winners, All-Americans, second nationally in
victories- it’s just a resume that speaks for itself. My personal
memories are Tim Brown or Rocket Ismail returning punts.”
On knowing Jake Fromm beyond what is seen
on film…
“Jake is a gamer. He is a kid that
grew up around the game. I look at him and compare him to a coach’s son,
a football junkie. He likes it. He loves being around it. He’s
always cheering and fired up out there. Every time he makes a good throw
or a good play in practice he is jacked and he is as excited for the kid who
made the play as he is for himself. As a defensive coach you may see him
cheering and think that he’s rubbing it in, but that’s just who he is. He
really is passionate about the game. He can’t let his emotions get in the
way for him because, for him, it’s just an excitement. He’s that kind of
way. He’s just competitive.”
On the quarterback depth chart…
“We have a plan for that and we will
rotate guys throughout practice. We are very fortunate to have a very
good walk-on program. We have some good guys to help us. It really helps
that Brice Ramsey is back because it allows Stetson Bennett to also stay
with us and help us on scout team. We have Sam Vaughn who did a great job
last year with the scout team and took a lot of reps in the spring when Brice
wasn’t here. We have a couple other athletic guys that can play
quarterback, so we will do it by committee and kind of by period.”
On what made Jake Fromm come to Georgia
behind another five-star quarterback…
“I don’t think Jake Fromm cares about the
depth chart. So many people think that kids do, but the best quarterbacks
that I’ve ever been around are the ones that don’t care. I don’t think he
ever cared. He loved Georgia. The kid has loved Georgia since he
was growing up and he has wanted to be a Dawg all his life, so that
is what he chose to do. It didn’t matter who was here. He is pretty
confident in himself and the best ones are. That’s what he made the
decision based on.”
On J.R. Reed providing a spark in the
secondary…
“I have been a J.R. Reed fan since he got
here. He is very competitive. He loves the game. He plays
fast. He is a good open-field tackler. I think the kid is a student
of the game. He takes it serious. He has the right approach to the
game. I have enjoyed watching him grow. I thought he played a good
game the other night, but he has to continue to play better and improve. He played a position, STAR, that he had really only started practicing recently
and he also played safety. I thought that he was one of the bright spots
to go out in the game and do it with the lights on. We need him to
continue to play well in the secondary to get where we got to go.”
On grading the offensive line
run-pass-block, specifically Andrew Thomas…
“Up and down. I think each guy was
up and down. A couple good plays, a couple bad plays. I thought
Andrew handled that moment well, he had a couple MA’s, but that was to be
expected. They did a couple things that we hadn’t seen that were new to
him. Welcome to football. He will get that every week in this
league. Nobody is going to be just predictable and do the same
thing. We will continue to work with those units and try to get the best
guys. The hardest thing is not knowing about Solomon Kindley. Whether or not he’s going to be able to go and be there. He had earned
that starting right, but with his injury he wasn’t 100% healthy.”
On the concern of playing in an iconic
venue, especially having 17 true-freshmen who played ….
“I really don’t know. The kids
nowadays are different. If it was my freshman year and we were going
there I think it would be much more intimidating. To be honest with you,
these kids know Notre Dame’s players. A long time ago you didn’t know
Notre Dame’s players unless you saw them on TV because you didn’t get recruited
with them. These kids have gone to All-Star games with those guys. They
know those players. Our kids from Philly played in the state championship
game. There are a lot of guys who have played in big games before. I know
it’s not the same thing as playing at Notre Dame, but to them there is not a
huge difference. Certainly, when you go on the road the environment
changes. You have to try to simulate that environment, make sure they are
calm and that they play well.”
On Stetson Bennett…
“Stetson is a talented player. He is
a bright surprise of our camp. Coach Glenn Schumann does a tremendous
job with our walk-on program. It is one of the best in the country
because you have a lot of kids that would love to come to the University of
Georgia and to get that opportunity to do that. His father went to school
here and he decided to come. He has been a really pleasant surprise. He
has great arm strength. He sees the field well. He’s not exceptionally
tall, but you can ask our defensive players, he’s been a handful on the scout
team. He has done a great job with that.”
On Notre Dame’s offensive line, especially
Quenton Nelson and Mike McGlinchey…
“I think McGlinchey is going to be a first
round pick, if not, he’s going to be really close. He is very
impressive. That whole left side is really strong and powerful. They have a good offensive line as you see. We are excited for the
challenge. Our defensive line has to step up and play well because they
are going to play against some big, physical guys. Once you include them
and the tight ends, it’s a very impressive group, size-wise.”
On the challenges of seeing different
offenses…
“It’s going to be a great challenge. We are going to be finding out a lot more about our defense. The matchups
are going to be bigger and faster. The quarterbacks are going to be
bigger and faster. The offensive line is bigger, the wide-outs are all
6-3, 6-4, 6-5, so the matchups are going to be different. It’s going to
be a lot different from that perspective. I have a lot of respect for
what Coach Long does offensively. This team is going to go fast, they’re
going to go tempo. We have work to do and it presents a great challenge
for us defensively. We’re excited for it and we have three days to
prepare for it.”
Senior Outside Linebacker Davin Bellamy
On the week-to-week approach…
“I would say the same, but you have to put
them on different scales. You never want to take any opportunity for granted.
With this place having so much history, and to be going there and Georgia
playing in the national championship awhile back, it adds a lot of ‘umph’ to
the game. Every week we want to approach every game the same.”
On playing at Notre Dame…
“That’s the place growing up that you
always want to play at. Very legendary. The way it’s built, the infrastructure
of it. I think it’ll be really cool to play in it.”
On the team message going into week two…
“Things aren’t going to change here. You
take every play the same. We’re going to go out there and have a tough practice
on Tuesday, and a tough practice on Wednesday, no matter who we’re playing, and
I think one’s, two’s, three’s all know that.”
On Jake Fromm…
“If you guys knew how well this guy prepares,
as a student of the game, even in the summertime in seven-on-seven. The guy is
the real deal."
Senior Wide Receiver Javon Wims
On Mecole Hardman and his switch from
defense to offense…
“He’s a true athlete. When I went against
him [at practice], you’ve got to respect that speed. But he’s a true athlete,
he can feel comfortable on both ends.”
On the touchdown pass from Fromm in the
Appalachian State game…
“I think it was a perfect throw. He gave
me the opportunity to make a play on the ball."
On playing at Notre Dame this weekend…
“Being from Miami, I remember watching the
30 for 30 on Miami vs. Notre Dame, and that stuck out to me. But also just
knowing the history they’ve got. They’ve got the most national championship
wins. They’ve got the huge beautiful statue, the Touchdown Jesus. They’ve got a
lot of rich history.”
On when he noticed Fromm’s talent…
“I saw it in the spring, with the
practices leading up. I thought, okay, this kid might be really good. I think
in the spring games, with his throws and his just overall smart, his knowledge
of the game.”
Red Shirt-Sophomore Defensive Back J.R. Reed
On making Georgia debut this
past Saturday and traveling to Notre Dame…
“It was amazing. I felt like I was at
home. I really liked the crowd and I had a great adrenaline rush when I ran
out. It was the first time experiencing 93,000. My heart was beating out of my
chest but once I got that first hit everything just settled in and it was easy
for me. This is what you dream of. Playing in front of 93,000 and then going to
play in South Bend against a good team like that, a historic team.”
On transitioning to the STAR position…
“I always believed I can play any spot
back there in that secondary and when coach asked me to play it, I knew I could
do it since I played safety. I knew what the STAR position does and I just took
a full head of steam and went at it.”
Senior Fullback Christian Payne
On facing and traveling to Notre Dame…
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