Smart seems to be getting closer to QB decision

No, Kirby Smart did not name a starting quarterback after Saturday’s second scrimmage at a rainy Sanford Stadium.

But in his press conference that followed, it sounded like he’s getting close.

“We’re going to evaluate this tape and make a decision,” said Smart, who was then asked if he plans on going into the opener against North Carolina with a script for two or just one QBs.

“We’ve got a plan in our mind, but that’s not for public opinion, and not to share with North Carolina and everybody else in the world,” Smart said. “So we’ll execute the plan and it will be what it will be.”

Wet conditions and lightning hampered Saturday’s scrimmage, which Smart said was delayed between 30 and 35 minutes.

“Today, I think the goal was to get timing in the passing game, to be able to throw the ball and have timing so we could improve that from the last scrimmage,” he said. “It was a tougher environment to do that in. But those were the conditions that we were confronted with and I thought the offense made the most of those situations.”

However, Smart did not drop any more hints regarding the quarterbacks or their specific performance, though he did acknowledge that freshman Jacob Eason did see more time with the first team.

“Jacob has gone a little less with the threes, he’s more with the ones and twos just to get him more reps, because remember, he didn’t go with the ones at all in the spring,” Smart said. “It was a situation where we’re trying to catch him up, evaluate him and get him more reps and continue to evaluate the other two.”

According to Smart, the rain affected the play-calling more than the actual play.

“I think it affects the play-caller a little bit in those conditions because you’re trying to find what we can do and it’s harder to find out what we can do in those conditions because guys are slipping around; but you find out a lot about a game that we might play in these conditions,” Smart said. “The center-quarterback exchange was good. But we’ll continue to go down this quarterback road until we figure it out. I can’t tell you anything to update you right now because I want to reserve that judgement until I watch the tape like last time.”