Quarterback Carson Beck said he’ll have a better idea about the new headset rule allowing coaches to communicate with quarterbacks on the field once Saturday’s opener against Clemson is complete.

But so far, he definitely sees it as being an advantage.

“Absolutely, because I’m able to get the play even faster. The other guys are looking at the sidelines and I’m hearing the play and trying to dissect,” Beck said Monday. “I’m watching the defense to get set up as I’m hearing the play in my mind so those thoughts can get in even quicker.”

Under the new rule, one player on offense and one player on defense will be able to communicate with a coach until 15 seconds remain on the play clock. That's when all communications are cut off.

There is one thing that’s somewhat concerning. During Saturday’s game in Ireland between Georgia Tech and Florida State, Yellow Jacket quarterback Haynes King had to put his hands over the earholes in his helmet to hear the call.

Beck said he’ll have to see how that goes.

“It’s definitely different being able to hear through the headset, as opposed to looking at the signals on the sideline. But we’ll still do both, which if you can’t hear, your eyes go straight to the sidelines,” Beck said. “But I don’t think we’ll have any communication issues, but we’ll see as far as actually being able to hear and hear Coach (Mike) Bobo in the helmet.”

… Smart said wide receiver Colbie Young (hamstring) will be good to go against Clemson.

… Smart confirmed that running back Roderick Robinson underwent surgery on his toe. It’s unclear how long he will be out.

… Defensive tackle Warren Brinson (Achilles soreness) will play in Saturday’s game.

“Warren looks good. He's practiced every day we've practiced for Clemson," Smart said. "He's done a good job. He's been out there competing. I mean, he didn't get the luxury of going through camp, which to me is like, you know, camp is what you build your foundation on. So, he missed some time in camp. But he also has had four camps in his time at Georgia. So, it's not like it's his first go-around in terms of that.”

… What does Smart think about first-year Clemson offensive line coach Matt Luke?

“I know Matt will do a tremendous job. They'll play with toughness, and effort,” Smart said. “I'm sure he'll add some wrinkles to their offense, but he's a really good football coach.”

… Regarding Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik:

“It seems like he's been there forever, and this is really his third year, but he's a great, really good athlete. He's played a lot of football for a guy that age, he can scramble, make plays on his feet, and has more weapons around him. I think he's a lot more comfortable now in their offense,” Smart said. ‘You could see that throughout the year last year as you watched the season go on, how much more comfortable he got, especially when they started going to Phil (Mafah) a lot more as their feature back and became a much more physical team.”

… Smart defends Dabo Swinney’s philosophy of not dipping into the NCAA transfer portal.

“I think that's much ado about nothing. I mean, you have who you have, right? So, in the spring, you have, I'm going to guess, 90 percent, 95 percent of your roster. You might pick up some after that. But I think everybody makes a big deal about that,” Smart said. “I mean, I'm like Dabo. If I could keep my entire roster, my roster, I'd be all for keeping my roster, my roster because I believe in the kids we sign, I believe in the kids we recruit, and I want to grow them to get better.”

… Count Smart as another voice impressed with Clemson’s front seven.

“When you look across the defensive front, Clemson is never going to be short there. They have twitchy, fast, hard-playing guys,” Smart said. “The linebacker crew is extremely instinctive and well-coached. You can see the carryover from when Brent (Venables) left. They don't miss things in terms of keys and recognition, and they play really hard on defense.”

… Smart offered praise for running back Branson Robinson and his comeback from a ruptured patellar tendon.

“It's been a process. The kid was down in the dumps because he was having a great camp last year, the injury happened, and he wasn't with the rest of the team for a lot of the time. He had to break away, go about things a different way,” Smart said. “He spent a lot of time in the training room. That is a grueling injury to go through and work all the way back to the point where he didn't get to go through all of spring. He did a lot of things in spring, but he didn't get to go through that in spring.”

With Roderick Robinson (toe) out and Trevor Etienne possibly suspended, Branson Robinson could play a larger role than most imagined on Saturday.

“This fall camp's been big for him in terms of confidence. He's gained confidence through special teams. He's gained confidence through reps,” Smart said. “But he had a good body of work before, so it wasn't like he didn't have that entire freshman year where he took a lot of reps that 2022 season.”