Georgia news and notes for Wednesday
By: Anthony Dasher - UGASports.comKirby Smart has one big question about his team heading into Saturday’s opener at Mercedes-Benz Stadium against Clemson (Noon, ABC).
“How will we respond to something really good happening? How will we respond to something not so good happening?” Smart said during Wednesday’s SEC teleconference. “Because both are going to happen.”
The top-ranked Bulldogs enter the game a two-touchdown favorite, but Smart pays no attention to that.
Especially since the game is against a traditional rival like Clemson.
“It's a non-conference, traditional rivalry that the fan bases love. The passion, the energy, and pageantry have always been there,” Smart said. “But these two schools certainly have a great history, independent of each other, but they have a great history against each other.”
It’s because of the rivalry that Smart said his Bulldogs have to expect the unexpected and respond accordingly.
“I hadn't played in a game yet where, you know, something you didn't expect happened,” he said. “The response time to that is probably the most, the biggest unknown.”
• Smart responded to a question asking to evaluate his running back room for Saturday with a one-word response: “Excited,” said Smart. “The game. That’s how I would describe our tailback room. They’re excited about the game, just like every position group.”
• Smart was asked to give his take on Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik and what he feels will be the three keys to the game.
“The scouting report is, No. 1, is he’s very experienced and has played in a lot of football games,” Smart said. “And when you have a quarterback that's played in a lot of football games, it's an advantage. I mean, we both have kids that have experience, so the quarterback is such a key part of every game because he has to make a decision every play, and touches the ball every play. I think the guy's done a tremendous job. He's going to be even better with a year's belt underneath him of this offense. So, the deciding factor of the game.”
• Regarding three keys, drink if you’ve heard this before.
“I mean, you would think explosive plays, turnovers, and line of scrimmage,” Smart said. “Those are the three that I have to feel like are going to be the deciding factor.”
• Much has been made about quarterbacks being able to use headsets on the offense. The defense, not so much.
There’s a reason.
Per Smart, there’s no advantage to be had.
“Well, not a lot. You have to communicate with 11 people. They don't give you 11 headsets, so they give you one. The one guy can't really communicate to the other 10 players on defense, not as well as you can from a sideline standpoint,” Smart said. “Sometimes the signal caller is not the guy that needs that voice. So strategically, you may find some teams that put it on a player that maybe you're trying to help out more because the signal-caller is probably still going to have to get the signal because unless you huddle on defense, that piece of equipment does not help you tremendously.”
• Oklahoma State’s football program announced recently that its players will be wearing QR codes on the back of their helmets as part of an NIL initiative.
However, don’t look for that to happen at Georgia. At least not yet.
“We haven't discussed and aren't to the point of wanting to do that in terms of commercializing that part of our game. Certainly, our players have an opportunity and many of our players do capitalize on NIL and soon-to-be revenue share. But would argue that people are trying to also keep our game as pure as they can. I'm probably more of a traditionalist, but we'll see where it goes.”
