Wednesday News and Notes from UGA

With Saturday’s season-opener at Arkansas (Saturday 4 p.m., SEC Network) just three days away, it's looking more and more as if Southern Cal transfer JT Daniels will not be ready to go against the Razorbacks.

During Wednesday’s SEC Teleconference, Smart told reporters he still hasn't been medically cleared.

“JT has not been medically cleared, but hopefully he will be in the next couple of days,” Smart said. “It’s one of those things that is really beyond our control right now.”

Daniels, who underwent ACL surgery a year ago, is reportedly still feeling some soreness in the knee.

Assuming he's indeed ruled out, redshirt freshman D’Wan Mathis is expected to get the nod, with freshman Carson Beck and Stetson Bennett serving in backup roles.

Smart was asked about the comments levied against him and the University by former player and current Ole Miss defensive back Otis Reese.

Tuesday night, Reese, who is attempting to receive a waiver from the SEC to play immediately for the Rebels, claimed in a tweet that the toxic environment led to his leaving Athens for Oxford.

“I don’t think he leveled comments about racism regarding the program, but I can’t comment on the stuff that’s going on with that, because it's still with the NCAA and the SEC. So I think the statement we released earlier is pretty explanatory,” said Smart.

Earlier Wednesday, the UGA Athletic Association issued a statement regarding the comments and allegations made by Reese.

“We cannot comment on student-athlete eligibility matters due to federal privacy laws, but we would be happy to share our full response to Otis Reese’s waiver request, if he provides a signed release allowing us to do so. UGA disputes any suggestion that it maintains an unsafe, unsupportive, or racially insensitive environment,” the statement read.

Wednesday on radio station WJOX in Birmingham, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey stated that league rules are specific that non-graduate students wishing to transfer within the conference have to sit out a year.

Smart made that point clear.

“In the SEC there are rules in place about going from one school to the other that I'm not really in control of. That’s not my decision. The rules are rules that were voted on by the ADs and Presidents, and the Commissioner has to uphold those. Those are their decisions; those are not decisions that we get to make as coaches,” Smart said. “Anytime a kid gets an opportunity to go play somewhere else, that gives you a better opportunity to play—as many guys we've had whom we've supported to go on and play—that’s just a decision each guy reached on an individual basis. But within conference, that hasn’t been a decision for us to make.”

Smart said he hasn’t spoken with coaches of teams that have already played, but after watching a handful of games so far, he’s noticing a trend that he’s hoping to avoid.

“The first thing that pops out, and it usually does every year, is the special teams. The plays, the first week there always seems like there’s a lot of returned kicks for touchdowns, blocked kicks, a lot of special teams plays that were major factors in games and we’ve tried to highlight that and show it to our players,” Smart said. “It does seem like there are more soft tissue injuries, guys are pulling things. Depth is a factor all the time, but with Covid and the pandemic going on, it is evident that you are going to have to play more players so the conditioning level may not be there.

“Without spring practice, you’ve got more errors, more mistakes that can be exposed if you are not prepared.”

Arkansas coach Sam Pittman once again had nothing but glowing remarks for Georgia and Smart.

“I said it yesterday, without Georgia, without Kirby Smart, I wouldn’t have this opportunity so I’m very, very grateful for that,” said Pittman, who along with Mel Tucker at Michigan State, is one of two former Smart assistants now with head coaching jobs.

“He had more than Mel and myself on his staff that would be outstanding head football coaches, and still does, as well as I do,” Pittman said. “But without that opportunity, without winning and coming from a heavy-winning program, you’re not going to get a head coaching job. I’m very, very honored to have coached at Georgia.”

Pittman said much of what he learned was brought with him from Athens to Fayetteville.

“A lot of it is scheduling. What we did at Georgia scheduling-wise was outstanding and certainly we have taken most of that here to Arkansas,” Pittman said. “We learned that there are expectations in recruiting, that’s probably the biggest thing with Georgia – that’s recruiting on steroids. If you do not, you are not going to get the players, so I learned that from Kirby. I learned a lot of things from Kirby and the staff that they had, and just those things come to my mind.”

Pittman said he only found out he was a candidate for the Arkansas job until a day after the SEC Championship against LSU.

His only regret was that he did not have the chance to tell his former offensive linemen goodbye in person.

“By the time that I had spoken with Kirby, by the time I had met with Arkansas, there was no time to talk to the players,” Pittman said. “They had a gala that evening and I was interviewing for the Arkansas job at the same time, so whenever I accepted the Arkansas job I did not have time to go face to face, I immediately flew to Arkansas that evening. I did not have time to go face to face.”

He did, however, send each a personal message.

“I sent them all a text, talking about how much they mean to me. I’ll be honest with you, I’m a crier,” Pittman said. “If I had to step in front of them and tell them I’m leaving I would have bawled my eyes out. I love those guys to this day so it would have been difficult.”