Kirby Smart gets testy with reporter over Trevor Etienne status | Georgia football

um I hate it when you change rou team but we don't we didn't do anything with the player the players didn't have anything to do Sunday and uh they didn't have school Monday and I don't know historically the years I've been here Monday's not great of Labor Day because they lay around all day Sunday and then they lay around all day Monday because they don't have classes and then they come over here and um didn't have a great day but um today was much better I think maybe they had something to do with the weather it's a little cooler today and we were good spirits we had good practice yeah coach I think I saw 13 true freshman made their debut on Saturday against Clemson what does that say about your program just playing time get used against you on the I don't I don't know about playing time I think I think we can disapprove that with the guys that have started and played it may get used but it doesn't work very effectively because we have as many freshman all-americans and as many freshman play as anybody in the country so I don't know how effective it is but I don't know I would I would be interested to see how 13 compared to other years obviously the type of game you play in um would dictate that meaning you know last year probably had more than 13 play because of the score and the differential a couple years ago against Clemson probably didn't have many I know one that did but I don't know many more than that one um but every year it's different you know it's not about it's about their development I think so many freshman across the country right now are so caught up in am I going to play am I going to play this week am I going to travel what am I doing did I make the right decision cuz all they got to think about is the alternative of where I can go and if you just be where your feet are and get better you'll come out on top in the end kind of fall up on that how much more are freshman more ready to play now than maybe they were five years ago oh they're not not I don't know you're having to play out of necessity having to play out of uh the fact that we got more transient rosters I mean they're not any more ready to play physically mentally that disposition not many freshman are let me say this in our league playing in our league sec to SEC if you're playing with a lot of freshman you're in trouble because they're not physically developed that doesn't mean one can't do it but you don't want to be out there playing a lot fresh Kirby as you go back and watch the film from Saturday what stood out to you about the way that railen played I haven't gone back and watched the film from Saturday since like Saturday night that game's over and done I'll speak about raen but I can't tell you the first thing because I'm on and and and popping to the next one um raen uh worked really hard in Camp he had some struggles with cramping and he wasn't able to finish some some practices and and he he missed a little time not really injured just not being able to to finish it up and um I thought that hurt his stamina in Camp and then the last week he started playing up better and better and better in practices and then that carried over a little bit into the game I think he's much more confident in the scheme um he's seeing things well he has a nice plays Saturday's a really good athlete yeah had to kind of just follow up on linebackers you talk so often about how offense has changed playing Bo space how has that changed how you recruit I guess inside linebackers specifically PL space cover tight ends everything like that yeah it's a premium Now to it probably used to go you know size speed toughness keys and now it goes speed uh intelligence space player size you know toughness it just changes the order because it's it's a priority to have length it's a priority to be able to match up and play in space and you got to be able to run cover down I mean you're in Conflict every play you got this Gap but you also drag up play the bubble you got got to see counters pools rpos it's it's absolutely insane uh how much you're having to spend now compared to 2012 yeah what does Dan Jackson bring to this program and what does it say about its ability that whether it's mountai veteran KJ whoever's at that other safety spot he's able to keep that sort of secondary that same high standard uh Dan's a product of toughness the program I mean first of all we're lucky to have Dan Jackson because we fell into him we didn't do one thing to to to to earn Dan being here he he came to us and and he has made himself into a a really good football player but he did that through hard work um it's proof that if you stick around and you have toughness and you're smart you're going to play I mean we got millions of examples of kids that have come here has showed toughness stuck around and played cash cther and all these guys have done it and Georgia has a long history of great Walk-Ons and he's he's one of those wonder how George PA doing now yeah they're both they're both doing great man they were running today flying around uh sideline like just just running not not practicing but running straight line cutting um I'm fired up I know uh was Sunday or Monday I looked out my office and uh two days run together because of Labor day but Jordan was out there smoking it across the field and uh excited he was up 5:30 in the morning game day rehabing on his own beat Ron in there riding a bike in Atlanta I mean he is uh he is a different dude when it comes to to rehab he hasn't attacked it um Dove all in I think he's probably a little ahead of McLoud M's dealing with a different muscle tissue type injury and he also hasn't really ever had a significant injury so um but they're both pushing I want to ask you about non-conference games I know you play Georgia Tech every year Wonder with like a merer or Georgia Southern or another inate school why they haven't been on Georgia schedules when you have Tennessee Tech gave you not the slightest clue can't give you good input I mean the the schedule I have now as far as I know I inherited it if I didn't inherit it and I'm lying to you I don't know I didn't I didn't go down the schedule and say let's go play Tennessee Tech Over Georgia Southern or merer I mean I I don't know it's probably be a better question for Josh Brooks kind of on that note I talked to Bobby Wilder today he said he wasn't thrilled about coming down and playing Georgia and sing from Stadium lost his quarterback this past weekend and there's you know there's obviously those differences and everything as you you as the host coach you've you've been outspoken about you want to help these programs out you want to bring them in how do you sort of balance that you know you don't want to get anybody hurt you don't want to embarrass anybody you still want the check he said he absolutely did he said but there's no other way really for them to do it than that you know that's my point I mean I everybody can put me in a pigeon hole of well Kirby believes in these games Kirby doesn't believe in these games I believe in the sport of football and if you told me that the sport of football is going to lose program s because they can't sustain without the the financial uh help then then I want to support that I also want the financial support of our fan base and if you pull them D rathers play you know Clemson Notre Dame uh uh you know every week play somebody and I respect that too I I I enjoy that I coached in the NFL I've been around those kind of leagues I mean I'm sensitive to both of those things I just think that if we're going to lose football at at a lower level because of financial reasons I'd rather try to sustain those programs than keep them up which by the way the quarterback he brought in played really well too and uh is a really good athlete and and you know I mean I hate it for the other kid because obviously he was a starter because you can feel free to swap me away here but do you dare take time to look at Kentucky this week yeah I don't have time I don't what I do do is look at all the third one and four one plays in our conference you know all the explosive plays in our conference and the tape was extremely long um considering there's 60 and 70 point games out there but it's not looking at anybody specifically it's just what's going on ask about a couple transfers Michael Jackson Jake pop how they come along both working hard both doing good both you know part of our culture and our program doing a really good job of pushing and why were you looking at the yard some of trend or is it something to always do you know I think it's important to if I got to make the decision whether we're going for it on Third and one and fourth of one I want to know what's going on you mentioned the work that Hall and McLoud are getting this week what are Janelle uh Warren Branson and Michael able to do this weekend what specifically is it that Janelle is dealing with in terms of a PO uh yes a soft tissue injury Janelle practiced and did everything today I wouldn't say he was 100% but he practiced and did everything um Warren did some things was out there moved around pretty good um I would say that Janelle's ahead of Warren but Warren got a shot um Mel's out there you know watching our guys doing rehab um being in all the walkthroughs and things but he's not participating yeah Trev weekend again we don't talk about it so it's not something that I share and talk about respectfully respect your question yeah seem like always taking bullets on this but on on the uh going forward the the uh availability reports start next week so uh if a guy is suspended you have to declare somebody's in or out right by Wednesday will you at that point I think this past week you might have told ESPN that I tell ESPN anything was was I ESPN so don't put words in my mouth CH I didn't say that you said I might hly McGrath said that you said I haven't talked to anybody yeah so I just wonder I mean not giv anybody any more information than I give you so I don't I don't tell them anything but about the I as as I understand the uh availability report when it was discussed it there was a debate about whether you had to put that on there I think you're talking about a non-injury reason to not be playing like a kid's uh got a death in the family and he's not going to be at the game he's got to go to a funeral or he's suspended you have another category there that you have to to report that they're not going to play and there was a debate about that I think it ended with you do have to put that but there was disclosure to me and the several coaches in the SEC that were concerned about what the speculation will be because if you put them in that category what are you immediately going to assume that they're what're and I don't think that's fair you know what I mean because you could be an assumption that this wrong um but I think you do have to disclose that in there I'm not 100% accurate on that we haven't had to worry about it because we're not to Kentucky week and like I said Ron's going to handle the the entire injury part of that because I don't want anything to do with the injury part but following up on that your your impetus for not wanting to declare like it's a suspension or whatever is it to is it gamesmanship is it like you just Theon all for me it's it's it's a kid it's a kid his family it's respecting when recruits come in my parent in my my my my room they say we respect the way you handle things because a kid takes enough drug through the mud headlines everybody puts it out there and then nobody knows if it's wrong or it gets dropped or any of that they never they never get to do that I want to defend the kid and to to discuss it again and say it again then it's another whole headline out there so it's not it's not gamesmanship in any way shape or form for me is just I don't want that for the kid I don't want to have to go through that again that's why I don't discuss it thank could you emphasized that you tried to instill toughness in your players early on um were you pleased with what you saw from your freshman in terms of toughness against Clemson uh I don't know I didn't see I mean had a couple freshman go in and get the get knocked off the ball I mean so no I wasn't real proud of that but I had you I had some guy I don't know that a freshman got to show toughness there was not enough snaps I mean what freshman took the most snaps KJ Balden he didn't have a lot of he had to show a lot of toughness he wouldn't up there in the trenches and he had some nice tackles he had some nice plays but he had to show toughness you know Nate Frasier had some nice holes and made some nice Cuts but he didn't have to show toughness so I respect your question but I don't know how to answer it because I I don't know that our freshman had to show tough us Monroe in there pretty early uh on Saturday just where has he grown the most since he arrived last year he's physically stronger um mentally in a better place more confident in the system um we wouldn't put him in there and rotate him if we didn't have a lot of confidence in him so he's U going to continue to get better curious what you think of the two minute warning or two minute time out whatever they're building is I don't I mean I think it's an extra time out you know like like I've said repeatedly I think it's going to get coaches more criticized it's another thing that you could screw up and you got to be really smart I'm not talking about me now I'm talking about you got to be really smart to not screw it up based on the analytics and all the things a lot of people just say oh I'm not worried about that I'm just going to play with my gut but when you read all the analytics into it it's uh it's pretty deep because she have someone on staff that's sole job is toay attention to yeah we got three or four people on staff to do that and I think it's really critical that you got people covering your back any more question coart all right thank you