It’s getting to that point in the preseason where the best medicine for all is to play the first game.
Kirby Smart doesn’t disagree.
“I'm not eager but I do agree that at some point you have to go play somebody to get better,” Smart said after practice Wednesday. “We need practice, we need to improve, but we need to play somebody else to be able to do that because you get to the point where you see the same guys, do the same thing.”
Georgia will have the opportunity to do so soon enough.
Only 10 days remain before the Bulldogs and Vanderbilt kick off their season in Nashville, a game Smart hopes will start to show exactly what kind of squad he has on his hands.
“You only have a certain number of defenses or so many offensive sets or plays, and it's like, you can't get bored with the basics so you want to go play somebody. To grow and get better, we've got to get some experience in some spots that we don't,” Smart said. “We've got to go out there and experience playing somebody else. So, I'm looking forward to that part. I'm sure they're the same way at Vandy. (Derek Mason's) not worried about us right now, but he's also ready to go play somebody else right now other than himself. Those kids are the same way. That's the hardest management right now. The kids are like, 'We need some games."
Wednesday’s session at the team’s Woodruff Practice Facility was more to Smart’s liking.
That wasn’t the case on Tuesday.
“We finished up practice yesterday, it was warm outside and after two days kind of off, we had a walk-through Monday after an off-day on Sunday, Tuesday was not the caliber of practice that we needed to have,” Smart said. “But the leaders stepped up, challenged them to have a better practice. I thought they had a better practice today.”
It apparently wasn’t a difficult sell.
“Sometimes I’ll talk to them in the leadership group. I didn’t in this case. I talked about it in the team meeting and said we didn’t practice very good yesterday. They saw it, we had clips; we had a lot of busts,” Smart said. “A lot of what happens when you take two days away is it’s like some of the information just evaporates. The young players struggle, nobody wants to hit anybody because they think they’re game-ready and they’re not. So, we went out and had a more physical practice yesterday and today.”
But satisfied? Not on your life.
When asked if he was pleased with the overall progression of his team, Smart wasn’t sure how to respond.
“I’m never satisfied with where we are. I get that question a lot and I never know how to answer it, I really don’t. Are we where we need to be? I don’t know that. Because I think we could’ve done better the practice before that and the practice before that, hell, I want every practice to be good,” Smart said. “If they’re not good I get frustrated with it. But I’m not disappointed with the way the team practiced, or where we are as a team. But we’ve got a lot of work to do, and we’ve still got time to do it. We’re not working on Vandy yet. We as coaches yet. But as a team and players we’re trying to sharpen iron. Iron sharpens iron, and we’re trying to go good on good to get competitively better.”
Smart still pushing Stokes
One can assume Eric Stokes has one of the two starting cornerback spots locked up for the Bulldogs this fall.
But Smart’s not ready to say that quite yet.
“He’s done a nice job developing. He came in last year in kind of a backup role and ended up winning the starting job by the way he played. He made some big plays in some big games. He did a nice job. He’s in competition right now,” Smart said. “There are four guys out there at corner who are competing and he knows that he has top step up and play well every day because you’re only judged based on your last play.
He’s challenging for one of those starting positions.”
Tyson Campbell, DJ Daniel and Tyrique Stevenson are Stokes’ main competition.
“Eric is a very bright, contentious guy, but very different than (Deandre) Baker because they’re two very different players,” Smart said. “But Eric’s been an asset for us and I think the understands our defensive concepts. The best thing he does is lead by communicating.”
Channing Tindall, Quay Walker updates
Smart wasn’t in the mood to consider whether or not Nakobe Dean’s undisclosed injury would impact potential playing time for Channing Tindall and Quay Walker.
“I’m confused by the question. How are they doing? I can tell you how Channing and Quay are doing. But it really has nothing to do with Nakobe’s injury,” Smart said. “Channing’s doing really well, he’s explosive, he’s valuable for us on third down, he’s one of our top special teams players on the whole team.”
Walker has also opened Smart’s eyes.
“Quay has improved immensely. He’s in competition to play or start. He’s very instinctive. He’s a good blitzer,” Smart said. “Quay has improved a lot from last year. But both of those are separate from Nakobe. Because whether Nakobe’s there or not they’re practicing with the same number of reps.”
Jermaine Johnson slowed by ankle
Smart revealed that junior college transfer Jermaine Johnson has been slowed by a sprained ankle.
“You know I don’t know that Jermaine’s been full speed, early in camp you know he sprained his ankle a couple times. He practiced, he did everything. But I don’t think he was 100 percent,” Smart said. “I thought in the scrimmage the other day there were some places where he showed burst, acceleration, kicking situations and some edge situations that he did a really nice job. So, we were really pleased with his jump from scrimmage 1 to scrimmage 2.”
However, as you might suspect, there’s still work to do.
“He’s not where he needs to be. He needs to continue to improve to be able to say ‘this guy is going to help us down in and down out,’” Smart said. “Now, I do think he’s going to help us on special teams. He’s fighting for opportunities to get reps. He’s fighting with Azeez (Ojulari), Walter (Grant), Nolan (Smith), Robert (Beal). I mean there’s some dudes competing over there - and Adam (Anderson).”
Quotable
● "There are some guys I want to get in the game that won't be starting, that can help us. I agree with that... There are some tight battles on the offensive line, and there are some that aren't tight, but there are some guys that deserve to play that we hope to be able to play." – Smart on offensive line competition.
● "We haven't decided any starters yet. Tyler Simmons is a starter for us, assuming he's healthy and ready to go, but outside of him there's battles at every one of those positions: the slot, the receiver opposite him, the two-deep at receiver. Guys rotate positions and play all kinds of positions. Tyler's probably a little bit ahead of the other guys just in terms of experience, but outside of that, it's wide open." – Smart on wide receiver competition.
● "They've (Mark Webb and Divaad Wilson) both done a good job. They're both competitive. Both of those kids probably deserve to play. They're worked really hard, and they're different. They're similar, they're similar in body types, they're physical, but they're different and they've both done a good job. We hope to be able to keep guys fresh and play the best guy. Sometimes you've got to go with the hot hand and sometimes you've got to go with the guy who had the best week of practice, but the good thing is, you can't relax because the guy behind you is just as good as you and he's trying to get a winning job too. Poole's been in that mix too, but Mark and Divaad are a little bit bigger and a little bit more physical." – Smart on the competition at Star.
● “Well, he's played a lot in the last couple of years, especially last year. This year he hasn't played as much STAR for us. We had to get a little bigger and more physical at that position but he's very similar to Aaron Davis. He can go play corner, he can go play STAR, he can go play MONEY, he can go play safety. Now Aaron played a lot for us because we didn't have the depth when Aaron was here and I expect Tyrique to play a lot. But Tyrique is a very dominant special teams’ player who can play strong safety, free safety, STAR, MONEY, and corner, very unique player. A utility guy who can play a little bit of everything and we expect him to do that and he's in competition to get playing time at, really, all positions. He really hasn't played much STAR because we've got those other guys reps." – Smart on Tyrique McGhee.
● "Trey's done a great job. He's had some great scrimmages, man. He's tough, makes the hard catches, one of our best blockers, very consistent. Very consistent.” – Smart on wide receiver Trey Blount.
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