Tuesday News and Notes

Kirby Smart confirmed that cornerback Tyson Campbell has been back at practice following last Saturday’s foot injury against Arkansas State.

But will he play Saturday against Notre Dame?

“He’s pushing through,” Smart told reporters after practice Tuesday. “He was out there today, trying to work and help us out. But he’s mentally getting prepared and he’s not able to take a lot of reps.”

If Campbell – who came out of the game against Arkansas State in the second quarter -can’t go, either junior college transfer D.J. Daniel or freshman Tyrique Stevenson will get the start opposite Eric Stokes.

“I think all four of those guys have played well. Tyrique Stevenson has played well out there, too. We want to play all those guys,” Smart said. “We’ll assess who has the best week of practices and play those guys. I’ve been very pleased with all four of them.”

In other injury news:

…Smart said he does not believe Tyler Simmons’ shoulder injury will keep him from returning punts.

“It shouldn’t. Tyler’s been practicing. We expect Tyler to be able to go. If he can’t, then Dom will be back there.”

…Right tackle Isaiah Wilson (ankle) practiced for the second straight day, but didn’t have any immediate news for reporters on Tuesday.

“I didn’t get to see him today. He practiced yesterday,” Smart said. “I thought he did well. I didn’t notice him today because I was focused on the defense. I’ll see when I go in there how he held up.”

…Smart did not have an update on wide receiver Demetris Robertson, who was seen during practice Monday afternoon. Tuesday’s practice was closed to the media.

With 500 seats being added for Saturday night’s game, Sanford Stadium could set a record for attendance against Notre Dame (8 p.m., CBS).

Smart knows it’s going to be loud, and has his fingers crossed that’s a factor which will play in Georgia’s favor.

“I don’t know that. I don’t know how much they’ve prepared for that,” Smart said. “I know this, when you have an experienced quarterback (senior Ian Book), which they do, it’s less of an impact than it is with an inexperienced quarterback.”

Nevertheless, Smart believes the crowd can impact the game for his Bulldogs in a positive way.

“I do know the crowd will have an impact, whether it’s on alignment, communication of a receiver or tight end, knows,” Smart said. “They’ll have an impact on the game and we need them to because that’s the advantage of playing at home.”

Temperatures reached 97 degrees Tuesday, but Smart was pleased with what he saw.

“I thought the kids pushed through it well, had a lot of energy, enthusiasm,” he said. “We did kind of a split practice like we usually do - inside and out - on Tuesday.”

However, as you might suspect, there’s still plenty of work to do.

“We don’t have 50 percent of the game plan in, when it comes to what we’re doing. I like the enthusiasm, but that’s to be expected,” Smart said. “They’ve had a couple weeks they’ve been pushing through practice, and this one they’re obviously more excited for. That’s going both ways.”

Defensively, Smart said the Irish are better than what the stats might indicate.

Notre Dame is ranked 120th (230.5 per game) when it comes to rush defense, but Georgia’s coach said those numbers are a big misleading.

“Stats are overrated. I thought especially the first game there was some different type runs. I don’t know if they had seen those before, if they had been exposed to before,” Smart said. “But you’re talking about a guy in (Louisville’s) Jawon Pass who I recruited who is an elite athlete and a really good runner. We’re different from that. So different kind of run game stuff. I think people just look at rushing stats. They don’t look behind it, and there’s a lot more to the story sometimes than just what meets the eye.”

Offensively, Notre Dame has no shortage of weapons.

Not only has quarterback Ian Book has completed 29 of 47 passes for 553 yards and six touchdowns, but he’s also tied for the team lead in rushing with 23 carries for 127 yards.

Irish receivers are averaging 20.2 yards per catch (31 catches for 627 yards).

“They have multiple formations, they have tempo, they have the ability to do a lot of things. They have a lot of offense. You start looking at all the things they do, it’s hard to prepare for all of it in a week, in a week’s time. Then you throw in the fact they have the quarterback that he can make you right every play,” Smart said. “The coach, he could call a bad call, the kid will bail him out and go scramble for it. He could call the perfect call and he’ll bail him out of that too. It’s nice when you’ve got a guy that can make somebody miss, whether it’s a pressure, whether it’s a three-man rush, whether it’s a four-man rush. I mean he can make you right. That’s the thing, you’ve got to be patient, because they accumulate yards, they’ve got a vertical passing game that’s explosive. They’ve got good runners. And they use their personnel very well.”

On Georgia’s new LED lights and the fourth-quarter tradition:

“No, I haven’t had any involvement in the new lights. I think we’ve used them. If you’re referencing the stuff in the stadium, the different colors,” Smart said. “We used them in recruiting. I didn’t know that they were put for this night. We hope to have a lot of night games. That’s it. “The phones and all, I think that’s great. Our fans have carried that on wherever they’ve been.”

On the late 8 p.m. start:

“I really doesn’t matter. I like an early game because it allows to spend time with our families and enjoy other games. But I also like not to play in the super-duper heat because that’s not desirable for the players,” Smart said. “The night games, you get better temperatures and it seems that they’re cooler longer, and they can play at higher speeds longer, so I enjoy that part of it, too. You take what you get; you don’t fuss a bit. That’s what they used to say.”

Smart on managing the large number of recruits expected Saturday:

"It doesn't change for us, guys. I'm going to be honest with you. I think that y'all like. We're going to recruit that kids that come, the great group of prospects that come and we're going to entertain them,” Smart said. “We're going to do a good job spending time with them because we've got more of the day to do that. I'm very thankful that we've got this opportunity because we've got a lot of national attention and it's an attractive game that people want to come to. So, we're looking forward to that, but we're going to do what we do."

Smart on if the Notre Dame came in 2017 factored into his decision to schedule more marquee games:

“I really don’t know that it factored into it. We wanted those games anyway, we were wanting that for a long time, we wanted it since I got here, and we got the opportunity to start scheduling so we started scheduling the, and it seemed like a lot of them came, really more recently to me, not really sine the Notre Dame win, but more recently, in the last year,” Smart said. “What factored in it for me, you need to play on the national stage, you need to play good opponents, you need to have strength of schedule, and you don’t need to be afraid of that, of having one loss or two losses, because I think that’s the way it’s going. I’ve said repeatedly that, eventually some team with two losses is probably going to get in because they have a better strength of schedule than maybe a team with one loss. I think it’s better to go out and play the best games, and if you’re good enough, then you should be in there.”