Although Mother Nature put a monkey wrench in Kirby Smart’s original plans, Georgia’s head coach said he was pleased with the work his Bulldogs were able to get in Saturday at the team’s indoor practice facility.

"We were forced to change our scrimmage (to) Thursday last week due to inclement weather projected for today, which was a good decision for us because we were able to get almost the entirety of our scrimmage in. We probably would not have been able to do that today,” Smart said. “We were able to go inside today and have a really highly organized, detailed, energetic practice that I was really excited about. You don't typically get your best practices the day after a scrimmage on a Saturday, but I thought we had a really good practice today. I was pleased with how hard they worked."

"We had more mistakes than I would have liked on both sides of the ball, but offensively administratively we had a lot of false start penalties, alignment issues — two people moving,” said Smart, who added many of his team’s midyear offensive players are still learning to grasp the system.

That’s especially true at wide receiver.

"One of the youngest spots on our team outside of outside linebacker is probably wideout when you include two portal arrives (Dominic Lovett and RaRa Thomas) are basically trying to learn a new language, and it is a new language because they didn't speak that language prior to coming here,” Smart said. “So that's a little bit of the frustration there.”

Otherwise:

"We probably didn't attempt to run the ball, but we didn't run the ball as well as we did the first scrimmage. Why? Maybe a little intentional because we want to evaluate the quarterbacks and we want to throw the ball more with them,” Smart said. “But all around, it was not as good a scrimmage as the first scrimmage, which was probably disappointing. When you change schedules, sometimes young kids don't adjust to that."

In the Smart vernacular, “bonehead” is one of his favorite terms.

That’s typically used when describing his quarterbacks, although Smart said he saw fewer mistakes from Carson Beck, Brock Vandagriff, and Gunner Stockton than he did a week ago.

"Less bone-headedness today than the previous,” Smart said. “There are moments where conceding the down, living for another down, is OK. If that happens to be third down, that's okay. You can punt, and you can kick a field goal. You can go for it on fourth, but not if you have bone-headedness.”

Smart said the more work each QB has received, the fewer mistakes are being made. But there’s still a lot that needs to be done.

“They seem to grasp that better. But they all need to play. They all need to play football. Go out and play football. Not having a drill, no routes on air, not 7-on-7. They need to play. That's what we're trying to do in our practices is to make sure we get enough playing,” Smart said. “Playing is third down. There is no greater pressure on a quarterback than third down. First and second down, play action and handoff, eh not a lot there. It's either there or it's not. Third down is where you make the separation. We're trying to put those guys in that situation so we can improve them."

Kirby Smart will tell you that freshman outside linebackers Damon Wilson, Gabe Harris, and Samuel M’Pemba are as physically gifted as they come.

But when it comes to learning the Bulldogs’ defensive system, there’s a ton of work to do.

“Damon is growing up, but I think all those midyears kind of fit in the same bucket. They sit in a meeting, and I don’t know what they’re actually hearing. Sometimes I think they think they’re hearing but they don’t,” Smart said. ‘Then they go out on the field and they’re oblivious to what was said in the meeting. He’s not exempt from that but he’s not the only one.”

Smart said it’s not terribly unusual for this to be the case.

“All of them, when they walk on the field, the level of intensity and awareness that’s required to play winning football, they don’t even understand it. They don’t even come close to understanding it. (Wilson) fits in that bucket, but he does have the ability. He has some pass-rush ability. He’s going to be a really good football player if he decides he’s going to work at it,” Smart said. “It’s not going to come as easy as maybe it did in high school. You’re rushing against Amarius Mims, you’re rushing against Earnest Greene, Blaske, you know, some really good tackles. He hasn’t faced people like that. So, he’s going to continue to improve. I love the way he works, and he is not sensitive to coaching, which I have a lot of respect for."

With Kendall Milton (hamstring) out for the spring and Daijun Edwards (hamstring) also missing time, sophomore running back Branson Robinson has been getting a long look this spring.

"Well, you see more things he needs to improve on because you get to see more things, period,” Smart said. “You also see flashes of explosiveness, of burst, of improvement. He’s had a couple of runs where he’s really shown flexibility to drop his pads and take on contact and keep going.”

His ball security has also begun to improve.

“Knock on wood: His ball security has been good. His pass-pro could use some improvement, but he’s improved on that. He had a couple of good pick-ups today,” Smart said. “So, I think the opportunities for growth for him have been pretty good. I mean, he got lots of opportunities last year to maybe run the ball that you guys didn’t see. We saw it because he did it in practice. But he didn’t get as much pass protection and routes out of the backfield as he’s getting now. That’s giving him a chance to really be in a position to really have a great fall."

Smart said the extra work freshman tight end Lawson Luckie put in during bowl prep is serving him well.

"Lawson has grown up a lot. I think nobody has benefitted more from bowl practice than Lawson Luckie. He just said ‘You know what, I want to go to bowl practice.' He didn't miss one bowl practice. He was there every day,” Smart said. “He went everywhere with us. Traveled with the team. Blocked people on the scout team, and scout special teams. He jumped on seniors and fought them. He's grown up a lot. He's getting mature quickly.”

Luckie’s workload this spring has also been more than what it ordinarily might have been with fellow freshman Pearce Spurlin on the shelf with a collarbone injury.

“He's not where he needs to be,” Smart said. “I think he'll be the first to tell you he likes to consider himself a tough guy but he's got a ways to go in order to be tough enough to be a physical blocker. He does have some savvy route running. He's got really good hands. He continues to improve but he can't think he's all the way there.”

Smart updated his special teams Saturday, including the performance of kicker Jared Zirkel.

"I think (Brett) Thorson is punting the ball well, consistently and Zirkel actually had two of the better I’ve ever seen any field goal kicker have outside in the wind, against the wind. He’s been really consistent in terms of hitting kicks and he’s going to be in competition, obviously, this fall. But I’ve been really pleased with how hard he’s worked at it."

Smart also gave the latest on the competition at kickoff and punt returner.

"We have a big battle coming up at kickoff returner and punt returner with Kearis (Jackson) being gone. So who is that going to be? Dom (Dominic Lovett) has worked there, Ladd (McConkey) has worked there, Dillon Bell has worked there, Daijun Edwards has been out and in. We have a lot of guys battling for those spots, but I’m pleased with our units," Smart said. "Usually we have three-deep units, we’ve got four-deep units on most of those now because of all the influx of mid-years.”