News and Notes: Kirby Smart breaks down Georgia's first scrimmage

Overall, Kirby Smart saw Georgia's first scrimmage as a success.

The Bulldogs left Saturday relatively healthy. The first scrimmage of the fall also allowed Smart to get an idea of the mindset of some of his players.

"It was good to find out, OK, who really wants to be part of this," Smart said. "Who really wants to go out here and compete and get better. So that part, I think we were able to identify some guys who are maybe ready to play versus some guys who want no part of it because they can't sustain and keep their level of focus up during the scrimmage. So, I was glad that we got the conditions that we got."

Smart also addressed multiple areas of this year's team. Here's how Georgia's coach broke down the first fall scrimmage.

Smart didn't give much away when it comes to the quarterback competition between Carson Beck, Brock Vandagriff, and Gunner Stockton.

He noted that he'd like to see all three players play better. But then again, the players around the quarterbacks need to play up to the challenge as well.

"They know and can execute the offense," Smart said. "The players around them have to make plays, and they have to avoid catastrophe situations. Because, you know, we have a defense that causes havoc. We have a defense that can be disruptive and disguise, and there's going to be a play every now and then that you've got to get us to the next play. You don't have to make a Superman play—you've just got to get us to the next play."

Moving forward, Smart listed consistency, accuracy, and decision-making in special situations as the factors his staring quarterback will feature.

"If you are accurate in our offense you are going to have some easy, free throws," Smart said. "Decision-making, third down, because we’re going to get put in some third-and-10, third-and-6, third-and-8. What you do on first and second down, it’s either a shot it’s there or it’s not. It’s either a boot or naked, it’s there or it’s not. It’s a run play, and that’s not a lot of the control of the quarterback. It’s going to come down to who is accurate and makes good decisions on third down, and who can be explosive."

Smart said the offensive line started slow, but picked it up later in the day. Third-down and two-minute challenges were won by the offense, while the red zone periods were more of a toss-up.

On the offensive side, Smart felt the line didn't have its best day.

"I feel like we've got seven or eight guys that can play winning football that I don't know that we got their best effort," Smart said. "Like, if you just said, I'm going to grade our O-line on their practices so far, and then I'm going to grade them on this practice, I would've argued the practices up to this point have been a little better and a little more dominant than they maybe were today—at least in the run game, maybe not in the pass game."

The fiercest competition is at left tackle, where Earnest Greene and Austin Blaske have been battling for the starting job. Smart said Blaske has done a good job when he's out there, but Greene has gotten more overall reps with the ones due to Blaske battling an illness. Other names such as Xavier Truss, Dylan Fairchild, Micah Morris, Chad Lindberg, and Monroe Freeling have gotten reps on the edge as well.

On the flip side, Smart is pleased with the "really tough, hard workers" on the defensive line. There might not be the one dominant force like Jalen Carter last year, but he likes what the group is showing nonetheless.

"We have some guys who believe in the core values of our defensive program, which is to strike blockers, knock the hell out of them, knock them back," Smart said. "I think Jordan Hall is coming along. He had a tough day. He's got to grow up and be able to help us and play and be disruptive. We have very good experience there and very good toughness there when you count Naz [Nazir Stackhouse], Z-Lo [Zion Logue], Warren [Brinson], and Jonathan Jefferson, those guys have really pushed hard and give us four quality SEC players in there to help us."

Smart said the secondary gave up some big plays in the passing game on Saturday. But he also noted that not all of those were strictly on the corners, who were playing without incumbent starter Kamari Lassiter.

"People didn’t get behind us," Smart said. "There was a couple of plays they were behind us that were overthrows that I thought that maybe we should hit. We did hit a couple big plays, but those weren’t necessarily on the corners. Our corners don’t play man every down. They have downs where they’re in the flat and you might get behind a safety."

Smart also noted that Lassiter will need to earn his spot, saying there's "no assumption that just because you played last year that you'll come in and be ready to play."

At safety, Smart listed Javon Bullard, Malaki Starks, David Daniel-Sisavanh, and Dan Jackson as the quartet getting the most reps. Smart noted that Jackson has been limited a bit by a hamstring pull from earlier in camp.

Tykee Smith has worked some at safety. Two younger players also caught Smart's eye during the scrimmage.

"I think JaCorey [Thomas] and Justyn Rhett are the guys that are really battling to get in that rotation and play winning football," Smart said. "I thought both of them made some plays today. JaCorey made a really nice play, and Justyn Rhett made some really nice plays, but they both have a long way to go too."

Discuss this article with our community on our premium message boards

Not a subscriber to UGASports? Sign up today to gain access to all the latest Georgia scoop UGASports has to offer.

Follow our staff on Twitter: @AnthonyDasher1, @RadiNabulsi, @JedMay_, @dayneyoung, @patrickgarbin, @BrentRollinsPHD, @SmallwoodTrent, @pmaharry, and Dave_mcmahon_stats.

Subscribe to our podcasts: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify

Check out UGASports' video content on YouTube

Follow UGASports on social media: Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram