You really didn't think Kirby Smart was going to get on Zoom following Saturday's first scrimmage of fall camp and brag about his offense, did you?

Of course not.

"Overall impressions, we’re behind. I don’t know that I’ve ever come out of a first scrimmage and felt good,” Smart said. “I’m happy we got to scrimmage, to be honest with you. Between the injuries, Covid going on with different teams and different programs, social injustice issues that we’re dealing with in our country and that our players are dealing with—and the thoughts of those things—I’m really proud and happy that we got to go out and scrimmage.”

Smart said it was easy to tell the Bulldogs, like most teams in the country, didn't have a spring practice.

“We’re really sloppy, to be honest with you. I guess the thing I was most proud of is that it was pretty hot, and they pushed really hard.” Smart said. “We've been harping on mental toughness and practice effort, and we really haven’t had good practice effort. And then today I thought: You know what? These guys got tired, they pushed through, we conditioned at the end of practice, and they really pushed through that. So that part made me proud. Our team stuck together and pushed. But the actual execution was poor.”

Smart did reveal that quarterbacks Jamie Newman, JT Daniels (who Smart noted still isn't cleared for contact), D’Wan Mathis, and Carson Beck each received reps at different times with the first-team offense.

“I don’t think Stetson [Bennett] got to go with the ones. Stetson did a good job with the groups he did go with. Jamie operated with the ones, and JT operated with the ones. And then D’Wan got a red area series with the ones as well,” Smart said. “But the reps came out pretty balanced, other than Stetson having a little bit fewer, because we'd seen Stetson a lot more. We know a lot more about Stetson in terms of his time spent with us last year.”

Smart said Daniels and Newman each had the opportunity to work against both the No. 1 and No. 2 defensive units.

Although the first-team defense made it difficult, there were some positive signs against the twos.

“Certainly today, when they went against the twos—the one offense doesn’t always go against the twos—there were a lot of rays of light,” Smart said. “There were guys scoring left and right. I don’t think anybody separated if that’s what you’re asking.”

Don't look for a decision on the starting quarterback anytime soon.

“I don’t have a timetable for that. It has to happen. JT isn't cleared still. I know y’all think he’s cleared, or what you think of as cleared,” Smart said. “Cleared to me is, I can go out and play a full game of tackle football. So, yeah, he gets to scrimmage, but he wasn't cleared to play in a game in terms of contact yet. That factors into the decision, then also the other guys, what they can do with their feet. Sometimes that's a tough measurement at quarterback unless you can go live with those guys. We haven’t had anybody separate yet.”

Smart said wide receiver Dominick Blaylock, who tore his left ACL during a non-contact drill, is determined to make it back.

"His head is in a great space, because he's got the right kind of mindset. We had some players who've really been injured a lot,” Smart said. “Thomas Davis, who Ron (Courson) said has been through three ACLs—I think he said that, throughout his career, he had him reach out and speak to him. Malcolm Mitchell's had some experience with that. It's always good to hear from somebody who's had success after this experience.”

A full recovery is expected.

“Dom’s great. Dom's resilient. He's going to fight,” Smart said. “He's a competitor. He's a great kid to be around, and we want to keep him around the team.”

Jamaree Salyer appears set at left tackle, and Trey Hill seems destined to start at center once again. But otherwise, Smart said he's seeing a lot of competition for the remaining three spots on the offensive line.

That includes both the left and right guard spots, where Justin Shaffer and Ben Cleveland have received their share of reps with the first team.

However . . .

“I wouldn’t say that’s a done deal,” Smart said. “You’ve got Warren Ericson, Clay Webb; you’ve got some good competition. Netori (Johnson) has shown some promise there, working. Guys are really competing at the guard spots.”

Catching Smart’s eye at right tackle is someone we mentioned earlier this week on UGASports LIVE: Owen Condon.

“Owen Condon has stepped up. Owen hasn’t been healthy since he’s been here, and he’s been a pleasant surprise from the standpoint of competitiveness, intelligence, and toughness,” Smart said. “We’d like him to play with a little more power to be able to move people.”

He's not the only one. Redshirt freshman Warren McClendon has also been getting a long look at right tackle, along with true freshman Tate Ratledge.

“Tate has come along. Since the pads came on, Tate Ratledge has come on and played well. We’re trying to find the best mix. As you always know, it’s not three guys trying to get one spot; it’s, can one of those guys go in and play guard better than our guards?” Smart said. “We’ve got a little bit of musical chairs going on there, but Matt (Luke) is handling it well. Those guys are competing. We have good, quality depth there. We don’t have the elite players that we did last year.”

Smart confirmed our insider note that freshman defensive back Daran Branch is back with the team and was at the scrimmage today.

"He's back with the team. He was with us today. He got out there and he was not allowed to practice. He's not in pads yet,” Smart said. “He’s going through an acclimation period, but he was out there, working out, did individual, did all the drills and things. Excited to have him back. He had some personal things going on he had to go home and take care of. He did that and he came back. I'm glad he's with us and taking another shot at it."

BEHIND THE SCENES INSIDER SCRIMMAGE NOTES