Wednesday UGA News and Notes

Saturday’s game at Williams-Brice Stadium will not be South Carolina coach Mike Bobo’s first experience with Georgia quarterback JT Daniels.

He has seen, and heard, plenty about Daniels before.

During Wednesday’s SEC teleconference, Bobo recalled to UGASports the time he attended a recruiting camp at Southern Cal when Daniels was still a part of the Trojan program.

“I went out and saw a camp, visited with their coaches and he happened to be there. He was working his tail off when no other players were in town. He was throwing on his own up there and meeting the coaches,” Bobo said. “They all talked about how smart this kid was, just light years ahead of guys when they come into college. From talking to people who have worked with this guy, they say his knowledge is very, very impressive. Knowing where to go with the ball, pre- and post-snap, is very, very important and you could tell [he knew] that on the field.”

"Impressed" is what Bobo also said he was after watching Daniels last week against Mississippi State, when the UGA quarterback completed 28 of 38 passes for 401 yards and four touchdowns.

Bobo, who coached the likes of David Greene, D.J. Shockley, and Matt Stafford, said Daniels made it look extremely easy.

“I was very impressed with him. He made throws that seemed effortless. It started out early, throwing some hitch throws off some RPOs, and throwing some swing passes. It looked like they tried to get him comfortable. They were there and he took them, he threw accurate balls, and he moved the chains,” Bobo said. “When they picked up the pressure a little bit, he was able to get the ball downfield and put a nice touch on the deep ball, put enough air under the ball so guys could make it. There were a couple of times he had to slide over in the pocket and find the throwing lane to make a throw.”

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart was asked during Wednesday’s SEC teleconference if he thought there were areas of his team that have out-performed last year’s squad.

“In different areas. If you compare it to last year, in terms of special teams unit, we have outperformed what we did last year. We had our punter come back, which was really helpful, and our kickoff return game has been better,” said Smart.

There was more.

“From the standpoint offensively, being explosive in the passing game, we’ve made some more plays with the receivers downfield,” he said. “We’ve protected the quarterback well, but we did that as well last year.”

But there are issues where the Bulldogs have regressed.

“Defensively, we haven’t probably done some things as well as we did last year; we didn’t do as well, obviously the Florida game, and playing Alabama, so the level of competition we played in a lot of instances,” Smart said. “We’ve probably played some better quarterbacks than we did last year, and also some weather conditions that we played in last year weren’t conducive to the offense at all. But overall, I’m pleased with the effort of the guys, and we’ve had really good leadership.”

The College Football Playoff committee surprised a few experts by placing the Bulldogs ninth in this season’s initial poll.

Although it remains unlikely that the 5-2 Bulldogs will be able to work themselves into one of the four playoff spots, Smart said the fact his team is in the mix is a sign of respect for the program.

“It’s great to be in the conversation all the time, but I don’t really get into those, and we’re going to let our play speak for itself,” said Smart, who issued an unsolicited response to critics from other schools who thought his Bulldogs might be ranked too high.

“I welcome anybody that wants to jump in our conference and play 10 games, they’re more than welcome to,” Smart said. “They can come right in over with us and play 10 games, if they want. I’d be more than happy to let them.”

There's still plenty for the Bulldogs to play for.

Even with a playoff spot likely out of the picture, Georgia remains in an excellent spot for a fourth straight trip to a New Years Six bowl game, with the Peach Bowl in Atlanta thought to be a leading option.

Smart said he doesn't expect any positive update to Georgia’s injury list as it pertains to Saturday’s game.

“I don’t know if anything is different than it was last week for Mississippi State,” said Smart.

Nose tackle Jordan Davis (elbow) is improving, but when asked for the second straight day about his status, Smart remained unsure.

“We’re still trying to get Jordan back,” Smart said. “He’s been able to do more this week, but I’m still not sure if he will be able to go.”

Between opt-outs and other absences, Bobo said the fact his team has been shorthanded has affected the way the Gamecocks have been able to practice.

“We really can’t field a scout team right now,” Bobo said. “When the offense is practicing, we’ve got three GA’s over there playing secondary positions, you’ve got offensive linemen lining up at D-line, you’ve got running backs playing linebacker—so we’re kind of self-servicing ourselves.”

Bobo said the same is true on the defensive side of the football. That's especially an issue in the secondary, where Jaycee Horn, Israel Mukuamu, and RJ Roderick all opted out.

“When they’re replicating Georgia, we’ve got punters and kickers out there pretending to be George Pickens, so when we’ve gone scouts, it’s been more of a jog through tempo, line up in formation, and get your calls,” Bobo said. “So, we’ve done more good on good. We actually had three 10-minute cross-over periods today where our two offense served the one defense. They ran plays the defense needs to see and vice versa. We were able to get 24 plays apiece with the ones going against some faster tempo, so we’ve done more of that.”

Kirby Smart on Mike Bobo’s golf game: “I don’t answer questions like that when guys are above 25-30 handicap. I don’t discuss that—basically he’s terrible.”