Georgia Football News and Notes for Wednesday
With Smael Mondon ready to return to the field, head coach Kirby Smart said Wednesday he’s excited about that prospect for a couple of reasons.
“Special teams, the conditioning level of the other players,” Smart said during the weekly SEC teleconference.
Mondon has missed the past two games following an ankle injury he suffered against Missouri.
Although he dressed out in the two games that followed (Auburn and Vanderbilt), Mondon was deemed not ready to go. Fortunately, Georgia’s bye week has him in a good place.
Per Smart, Mondon has practiced all week and appears ready to get back in the lineup. Whether he immediately regains his starting role opposite Jamon Dumas-Johnson remains unclear. But just having him back will be a benefit to the Bulldogs for Saturday’s game against Florida (3:30 p.m., CBS).
“I think he’s still going through getting back to normal in terms of striking things, hitting people,” Smart said. “The conditioning is different when you’re live than it is when you’re out there running and tackling and doing the things that tax you, endurance-wise. That will be the biggest adjustment for him."
Smart pleased with Beck
Hopefully, nothing happens to quarterback Stetson Bennett.
But should the unfortunate occur, Smart said he’d have confidence in Carson Beck should Beck have to step in.
“Carson’s done a nice job. He studies and, as is always the case with the backup quarterback, they’ve got to be prepared for every game,” Smart said. “They don’t know if things will happen and if they’ve got to go in. He does a really good job doing that, and I think we do a really good job of managing his reps and getting him the looks he needs to prepare and develop.”
Beck has performed very well when afforded the opportunity. In five games, he has completed 23 of 30 passes for 276 yards and four touchdowns. He has yet to throw an interception.
“He certainly has not been in a lot of critical moments, but he’s done everything we’ve asked him to do,” Smart said.
Injury update
Smart did not have any new updates regarding wide receiver AD Mitchell or defensive tackle Jalen Carter.
However, he did have some positive words to say about backup linebacker and special teams player Chaz Chambliss, who has missed the past three games due to a hamstring injury.
“He’s been good. We’re expecting him to be able to go,” Smart said. “It bothered him some yesterday, and he’s trying to get where he can help us in a role on special teams, covering kicks, and doing some other things for us.”
More from Kirby Smart
… On the offensive line: “It’s a deep group that’s worked hard. They have great unity within their group. They’ve got a lot of great leaders in there. (Sedrick) Van Pran, (Warren) McClendon, Broderick (Jones), Warren Ericson—they do a really good job for our offense in terms of setting the standard in practice. And the expectation of how to practice is really important,” Smart said. “Most offensive lines take on their personality, and they’ve done a nice job of doing that. They’ve protected Stetson well, and we’ve had different strengths at different times. They’ve helped us do that.”
… On a question about his team’s running game, Smart said he wants his team to continue being as balanced as it can: "I don’t want to see just running. I want to see a complete offense that can have competitive balance and take what the defense gives you,” Smart said. “It’s misleading these days, because so many football plays have the option to throw the ball off the run game. And a lot of that is not predicated on how you’re blocking; it’s predicated on how the defense plays you. That’s true about Florida’s offense, that’s true about Georgia’s offense, that’s true about everybody’s offense that we face.
"So, it’s hard to pinpoint that. We could call 25 runs, and 15 could be passes depending on what the defense does.”
