Tuesday news and notes

Kirby Smart cleared up one mystery after practice Tuesday afternoon.

Yes, that was sophomore Adam Anderson wearing No. 25, along with Quay Walker and going through drills with the inside linebackers. But no, Anderson has not changed positions.

“He’s a space player. What we do is a lot of his third-down package, he had a play the other night where he was out in the flat, and he re-routed a guy on a third down,” Smart said. “That’s more inside backer than outside backer. But he works both. He has to be able to pass rush; he trains as an outside backer. He’s really been what we call a DPR - designated pass rusher.”

Anderson figures to get more opportunities in the days and weeks to come.

Against Vanderbilt and its quick, short passing game, there weren’t a lot of opportunities for Anderson and the rest of the Bulldog defense to take their respective shots.

“He (Anderson) plays a lot of third downs in space,” Smart said. “Sometimes the outside backers don’t get their practice in space. The inside backers do,” Smart said. “So just rotate who he practices with. He doesn’t play inside backer; he doesn’t take any reps there. He just plays in space a lot.”

Smart confirmed that neither freshman offensive lineman Clay Webb nor sophomore Tramel Walthour were at practice Tuesday.

“Clay Webb is not out there; he’s sick right now,” Smart said of Webb, who did not travel with the team to Vanderbilt.

As for Walthour, the former Liberty County star was seen on crutches Monday, but apparently the injury is not a serious one.

“Tramel is not out there right now, he’s dinged up a little bit, and hasn’t been able to practice for a couple of days,” Smart said. “I think we’ll get him back shortly.”

On Monday, Smart told reporters they wouldn’t understand all the ins and outs of quarterback Jake Fromm, when it comes to the little things he does under center to help make Georgia’s offense go.

Tuesday, when asked to expound on some of those options on the line of scrimmage, Smart clammed up a second time.

"If I said that, every defensive coordinator in our conference would ask that and say, ‘Oh, well that's what they do.' So, I don't really think that's fair, because I would be giving out information that might help them, if you know what I'm saying,” Smart said. “So, I would prefer not to answer that, because every team has their methodology at which they give their quarterback the freedom to do things and we have ours. I don't really want to share it out there."

No shock there.

If you’ve listened to Smart at all, then you’ve no doubt heard his thoughts on insisting that his Bulldogs play to a certain standard.

It doesn’t matter if it’s against teams like Notre Dame, Florida, Auburn, or Saturday’s opponent, Murray State.

“We talk about being relentless competitors, having toughness, effort, never watching the scoreboard. You play to that standard, and the rest takes care of itself,” Smart said. “I think when you worry about results, like so many people in our society, it makes it tough to ever be happy, so we don’t concern ourselves with the results, we try to focus on exactly what it is we want to achieve, which is unbelievable effort, toughness, resiliency, and relentless effort. We keep saying the same words over and over, so the kids understand it. If you do that, you usually get good results.”

Although the FCS Racers (1-0) don’t figure to come close to equaling the Bulldogs from an athletic standpoint, Smart warned that Murray State can’t and won’t be taken lightly.

Coached by Mitch Stewart—who Smart helped recruit as a quarterback during his tenure at Valdosta State—the Racers run the same kind of spread passing offense made famous by mentor Chris Hatcher.

“They’re an air raid type; they throw the ball around. You know, Mitch (head coach Mitch Stewart) has a history with Coach (Chris) Hatcher. They spread the ball around, throw a lot of screens, intermediate passes, and get the ball out quick. They run the ball really well for what you'd think they would do,” Smart said. “Everyone thinks they throw the ball every snap, but they’ve got large splits, making it tough to play the gaps. They make you defend the entire field. They do a really good job defensively, too.

DJ Daniel and Tyson Campbell split time at cornerback against Vanderbilt, but as far as giving an evaluation of their respective performances, Smart said it was difficult to say.

"Neither one of them got tested much. They didn't get a lot of balls thrown their way. They didn't get a lot of opportunities,” Smart said. “They executed, tackled well. DJ had one good tackle. Tyson had one good tackle and one poor one. Same thing with (Eric) Stokes. That battle's going to go on. Tyrique Stevenson is in that battle. That's never over."

As for playing multiple cornerbacks, Smart said time will tell how that ultimately plays out.

Right now, there’s still much to be learned.

"I want the best guys to play. That's not a position, historically, you roll in and out because usually you have different level of talent or making plays. That's not somewhere you want to be messing around, unless you think they're all even, which we've done that at inside backer before,” Smart said. “We didn't have that last year. We felt like we had two and Eric took over for Tyson and played well and Baker held his spot down. I don't know how it'll go. We get tested every day in practice, probably more than we got in the game last week. We're going to find out more this week, and more the next week, and more the next week."

With Kearis Jackson out with broken bones in his hand, freshman Dominick Blaylock is expected to start having more opportunities at slot receiver.

Blaylock traveled to Vanderbilt last weekend, but did not play.

“Dom’s been awesome. That was unfortunate he didn’t get to play the other night, because he’s really earned the right to play. We didn’t get an opportunity to put him in. We kept trying to put the game away and score, and it really just never played itself into a position to put him in there,” Smart said. “He’s going to be thrust into it now. I thought he had a really good practice today. He caught some balls. He catches contested catches. He finds ways to get open. He’s really smart, he’s tough, he’s physical. He and Kearis are similar. Kearis probably has got a little more experience than him, but Kearis is a little stronger. They’re both really good players.”

Jackson, who is expected to miss three to four weeks, suffered the injury on his fourth-quarter fumble deep in Commodore territory.

Smart suggested he didn’t have a ton of issues with the way center Trey Hill played Saturday, but acknowledged the sophomore still has work to do.

“Trey did some good things. He had a couple of missed assignments. The short yardage deal, the guy got up under him and beat him, but he beat that guy earlier in the game,” Smart said. “Trey has to be motivated. He has to stay hungry, because it’s easy for him sometimes. He’s so athletic and so big. He has to push himself.”

However, Smart doesn’t see that as a huge concern.

After all, motivating players is an area coaches deal with every day.

“Some guys don’t require motivation, They’re self-starters. It’s just human nature in my opinion. They need a little spark, a little fire,” Smart said. “They need to grow and get better, otherwise they might be comfortable where they are, and I don’t think we should ever be comfortable.”

…Smart said he’s been pleased with practice both Monday and Tuesday.

“I thought practice was good today. It was a little hot, but they pushed through, and today was much better. The guys practiced a lot better today, and had good energy,” hes said. “We did a lot of good on good periods, worked against each other about 50 percent of the practice, and against Murray State the other 50 percent. Good tempo.”

…On freshman offensive lineman Warren McClendon: "He's doing well. He came in early, you know. He got to practice with us. He's been over on the scout team with us. He competes every day,” Smart said. “He gets to match up on Jermaine (Johnson) and Nolan (Smith) and Azeez (Ojulari), and I think you go against those guys every day, you can certainly improve. He's been a great kid to be around, and he's getting better by the minute."

…Sophomore offensive lineman Jamaree Salyer is back at practice, and according to Smart appears to be making a fast recovery.

“I saw him practice, and I thought the same thing. I thought he was like, ‘Where was that last week?’” Smart said. “He jumped into being in shape pretty quick, or not being injured as bad. He had Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday off. So, he got a lot of recovery time. I haven’t seen the tape today, so I’ll have to see the tape on that. But I thought he looked better yesterday.”