Kirby Smart excited to see Georgia season-opener, talks Malaki Starks, Cash Jones, other Bulldogs

coach what's the biggest advantage of having a high caliber match up like this be your first game in the season uh strength of schedule I mean get to play a quality opponent route the the get-go and when you get into conference play You're battle tested probably better than a team that maybe doesn't play that kind of matchup find out more about your team um it's great for the the fans you know that's the AG great for recruiting exposure kby how has practice been so far this week it's been good been spirited guys hasn't been good yeah coach when we spoke to Carson yesterday I asked him to kind of identify what he thinks of Clemson's defense and their identity is he mentioned they're a team who likes to bring a lot of pressure and play a bunch of man coverage uh what would be the recipe to have success against a defense that plays that stock what would be the recipe re for Success offensively to have success in well don't get in situations that U that they're going to attack you and play Man in I mean the best thing to do is uh get first downs before third down they do a tremendous job on third down they do a tremendous job of disguising coverages uh they're very multiple in their fronts um they're aggressive they tackle well I mean a lot of their defense reminds me of ours I mean they're they're uh they're physical they got they're well coached um situationally in games they know what they're doing um you can't say they're going to do this you can't predict what they're going to do a lot of times and I think good defenses aren't predictable they're they're good so when you say how do I attack them I mean well you need to be able to run the ball you know you need to be able to control the line of scrimmage um a running game is a quarterback's best friend for sure uh but you know you got to keep them off balance and uh you got to win one-on-one battles he coach what's kind of been the advantage this uh fall with being able to have your analyst and other staff on the field you know coaching during practice well I think you're able to do a little more um in terms of walkthroughs for us we we we we do multiple walkthroughs we we we try to uh coach our younger players at a different pace because we have someone that can be assigned to them um it's probably been a bigger advantage through camp like practice 1 to 16 or 1 to 20 whatever it was and then when you get into the game week it's not as uh big an advantage cuz you're focused on the guys that are going to be uh playing but we're trying to bring the bottom half of our roster to the top half of our roster and I think the the the the more anal us helps do that it helps do that and I'm glad NCA did it because it gives more guys an opportunity to coach yeah what have you seen a KJ B throughout fall camp and where is he sort of mentally going into this first game we missed some time and that probably set him back some he was uh there's about a four or five day spell there in Camp where he didn't get to to practice but he's I guess he's been back for about 8 or n practices now and uh he's sharp very intelligent um very coachable kid um good athlete you know but I mean he hasn't played major college football he's made played Major level of high school football he's played is at the highest level but um he's an intelligent kid I think he'll he'll respond well and know when his number called on if it gets called on he'll be ready to play Kirby with the helmet Communications obviously the quarterbacks will wear that on offense but defensively who's going to be wearing that and what benefit do you think it brings to that side of the ball yeah we got about seven or eight guys that'll probably have it available and um you know can't one guy have it on at the time so there'll be multiple helmets and uh different different people that have the ability to to have it um the benefit of having it is just communication to 15 seconds um it's probably not as big as people think it is Kirby what do you need to see from your secondary on Saturday tackle well do their job compete they not going to win every battle not the not the positions you put guys in the secondary and they got good they got good wide outs got a good quarterback um just want to see them be resilient I want to see a a response time to positive and negative things that's really cool quick yeah coach you always mentioned that you think offensive line is probably the toughest position to play as a true freshman in this conference in this lead what would you deem apart from Special Teams might be the easiest position to get off the field early for young talented players Corner running back um those are spots that I think typically guys can get out their receiver we've had a lot of freshman receivers play contribute a lot of freshman Running Backs play and contribute we've had a few Corners um play and contribute uh a specialy pass rusher can play a contribute but uh some of those some of those positions inside or in the interior line or it's not that you can't because of the mental it's you can't because of the physical they're just stronger and been in a weight program longer than you Kirby I know um some sort of injury availability report system has been talked about a lot I know that this week wouldn't happen but what's your sense of uh where that is and what's your kind of General opinion on how it should go uh my only opinion on where it is is what I've been told which is the conference games we'll have it um and second part of that is what is my general opinion about what about it what do you think about it I'm I'm great with it as long as we're all doing it I have no issue with it I don't think uh I mean Ron's going to be in charge of it for me I don't look at it as a cuz I think you know they're going to tie fines and things to it and all that I I just want to say can the guy play or not and if it's a game time decision he goes out there and works out he can't then he can't you know and and I think everybody trying to make this big deal about deception or like misleading I mean if I don't know if a guy can play then I got to find out before the game if he can play then he's going to go out there and play but I mean we've had countless numbers of guys that have gone out for the game to work out to find out if they can play or not and we we'll abide by the rules they give us it's the same as the NFLs so uh they' done it for years and if it keeps pressure off of our kids for people reaching out to them trying to get information for betting sites and trying to gain information there is no gain if you've got accurate information so protects our kids I'm for it could we getting down in the Weeds on special teams what's it look like for you at the kickoff specialist Long Snapper returner I know you brought in some transfers and some of those spots yeah they're they're competing for that day by day right up until the end um you know Payton's done a great job ham kids done a great job kicking off and field goals the transfer we got and um both those guys have done a tremendous job Payton will be doing our field goal kicking kickoff is probably still to be determined um in terms of long snapping we've got three really good long Snappers who have all snapped and uh a couple of them snapped in games and we'll see how that plays out whether it's different for field goal and U punt um is that the the three you're talking about returner is also yeah we we've got multiple guys back there uh Malachi Anthony sovi mikae Jackson um cash has been back there on kickoff uh Dyan Bell's been back there on kickoff etn does kickoff um so we've got a lot of guys that that do the the K and uh we'll decide you know closer to the game based on the scheme which guys we put back there coach you talked a few times about cash and how people outside the building here may kind of overlook him a little bit I was wonder when he first got here you brought him in as a as a walk was there like a an eye opening moment for you to kind of let you hey this this kid may be what we thought yeah I can't remember it I mean I I don't know that it was the first year I do remember Dale coming to me and tell he had a kid from Texas that wanted to walk on and um I had not met him and uh he came in and man what a what a what a awesome kid he's been in our program and uh the wild moments for me are the first moments I remember are the the second spring when he was getting a lot of reps in Spring practice and uh made a lot of plays um got unbelievable toughness you know his ability to run between the tackles has been really good I think he's hard to see back there he's tough um he he he he runs our runs the exact way we want to in terms of who we read on inside outside Zone and um he does a lot of really good things and uh I'm excited for the kind of the buildup he's had he's he's waited his turn and um he's he's helped us this this I mean he's done a dominant job on special teams so I love seeing him compete on special teams he'll continue to do that but he also gets lots of opportunities at running back as well yeah for has already accomplished a lot in his career what do you want to see on Mal starting on Saturday just leadership I mean I don't I mean Malachi is going to play like he practiced today I hope which is toughness great eyes uh really good athlete playmaker on the ball I mean he's a he's a good football player and uh I don't I don't want to see anything necessarily him other want to see him do what he does every day at practice got more questions for coach back to return game p return game just a little bit Anthony I remember in the championship had that really nice return against he seen the same kind of flashing in that regard of you know practice sub par um yeah I think that was a little different circumstance than just a normal Power return but he uh he's he's he's done good things um with the ball has been a good decision maker he's he's called a lot of punts so has Jovi Malachi Mike Jackson Dom they've all done a really good job back there in terms of uh getting reps but Anthony is a explosive quick um tough stick his nose in there and does a good job so I'm excited to see him play you know the wide receiver position all right thank coach