Chaz Chambliss is playing his best football as a Bulldogs and head coach Kirby Smart made sure reporters knew it during Monday’s press conference.

“He's tough, he's physical, and when we had the offensive line injuries, we were forced to find a kind of another fullback of a body type,” Smart said of Chambliss, who served as the upback for Nate Frazier on his game-clinching touchdown run against Tennessee. “I think Chaz's work ethic, his buy-in, his leadership, his film study - Chaz knows what people are running before we do as coordinators sometimes, because he looks at so much tape, and he uses those cues to help him and make plays.”

The statistics prove it.

His 5.5 sacks and 7.5 tackles for loss tie him with Jalon Walker for the top marks on the team.

“He’s the leader of our defense,” cornerback Daylen Everette said of Chambliss, who had two of his sacks against Tennessee.

“He benefited a little bit Saturday, they weren't all sacks, they're not necessarily your play. Somebody else did a really good job and forced the guy to you,” Smart said. “He capitalized on opportunities, and I really love the way he's working and playing with toughness.”

Smart said Monroe Freeling held his own during Saturday’s first career start in place of the injured Earnest Greene III.

“He had some oversets. He had a couple of times that Carson (Beck) did a nice job moving in the pocket and gave up some pressure. He really competed hard, played physically,” Smart said. “But he got better kind of as the game went on. I thought he had some jitters early, but he's very bright and continues to work really hard.”

Greene III continues to recover from a left-arm injury that Smart said hampered his play against Ole Miss.

The Bulldogs are still alive for a spot in the SEC Championship his team’s path to the college football playoffs, but it’s not a conversation Smart cares to have.

Smart’s disdain for “hypothetical questions” is well known and this fell under that category.

“I just think that's a hypothetical, the focus is on UMass. I mean, it really is,” Smart said. “Why would I put energy or time into figuring out the best pathway is, including the SEC Championship, when I'm worried about UMass? I just don't think it's a quality conversation.”

Right guard Tate Ratledge took his turn behind the mic Monday.

Among the questions:

How did his square-dancing routine with Carson Beck after Georgia’s first touchdown Saturday night come about?

You can see the routine here below.

“I don't remember how it came about. We started doing it one day, and we were like, ‘Oh, we're going to do that during a game.’ It was in the practice or something,” Ratledge said. “I think I learned that at Armuchee Middle School, PE classes or something like that.”

…Ratledge said he hopes to see several of Georgia’s freshmen defensive lineman get their shot against UMass.

“I got against these guys every day; Jordan Thomas, Nnamdi Ogboko … they do a tremendous job giving us looks every week,” Ratledge said. “I love seeing the guys on our scout team go out there and play because they truly are what gets us prepared for Saturday. I love seeing our walk-ons play.”

…Ratledge joked that podcast partner Brett Thorson surprised him with his athleticism after making a key tackle on a punt return against Tennessee.

“I didn't think he had that much running in him. But no, that was impressive. He impressed me with that one,” Ratledge said. "He's built like a linebacker … so he could probably tackle. But I thought getting there would be a problem.”

Ratledge was named the SEC Co-Offensive Lineman of the Week, while Thorson was named the SEC Co-Special Teams Player of the Week.

…UMass fired fifth-year head coach Don Brown Monday and replaced him on an interim basis with Shane Montgomery.

“I heard the unfortunate news about Donny Brown just recently,” Smart said. “I know Shane from the past and recruited together on the road. I’ve been around Shane. He's a tremendous coach and I look forward to preparing for this game.”

One quick note on Montgomery, he was Ben Roethlisberger’s head coach at Miami-Ohio.

…Could Carson Beck be asked to run more after rushing three times for 32 yards and a touchdown against Tennessee?

“I look at it as Carson (Beck) making good decisions on when to run. He's done a great job this year. There's no way I could say, ‘Ooh, man, I wish you'd pulled it down and ran’. I could say ‘I wish you'd have thrown it to the check down’. But I can't say that he should have pulled it down and ran. I think he makes good decisions on when to do that,” Smart said. “I think our offensive staff does a tremendous job of utilizing his ability to run on certain plays. That was a design run on one of those plays. People think it was a scramble, but there was a scramble for a touchdown, and there was an empty play where he counted the box and knew what we wanted him to do, and he broke tackles.”

…Smart revealed that wide receivers London Humphreys and Cole Speer did not rep in practice last week.

“London Humphrey's dealing with a very tough injury and doesn't take reps hardly in practice. Cole Speer's dealing with injuries. So, when you start talking about these guys that have injuries that are preventing them from practicing, but they're able to play,” Smart said. “Y’all probably think that London and Cole and these guys are taking the reps. It's been a challenge to be creative in terms of how you practice and how you get guys to the game healthy, but also in shape because of what's happened at wide receiver.”

Humphreys finished with three catches for 63 yards, including a key 32-yard catch in the second half.

…Smart had plenty to say about his team’s resiliency.

“I don't see it necessarily in the week of practice. I see it when things are really adverse. We have adversity in practice, but not the same adversity in maybe stress levels as a game,” Smart said. “This team's been in some tough situations this year, and they've never cowered it down from those opportunities. They've shown resiliency, and they've battled back. I think they do that because of how we practice, but I don't think they get a chance to show resiliency every day in practice.”

…Smart said Mykel Williams had his best week of practice prior to the Tennessee game.

“I thought he had his very best week of practice this entire year last week. When you play Tennessee, it's sometimes hard statistically to get that to show because of the way they play, their passes are really runs. They throw a lot of RPOs. A defensive lineman is not going to affect RPOs because he's playing the run. Mykel had his best practices,” Smart said. “Mykel's evaluation is going to come by people that are out there at our practices because he's playing against an NFL-style offense every day at practice... He was committed to getting back in shape. I thought he had a great week of practice, and I thought he had a really good game too.”