- 11 hours ago
DawgNation and AJC.com's Connor RIley joins Abe Gordon and Mike Bell to talk about all the things Kirby Smart had to say when he spoke at SEC Media Days. Plus, they break down other happenings in the conference and the future of college football.
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00:00yeah man our buddy connor riley from dog nation and ajc.com joins us here and uh kirby starting
00:05off i guess the first thing we talked about connor today is uh sort of doubling down on what
00:09greg sankey said about hey man we have to start our own thing and uh breaking away from the ncaa
00:15it seems like a hollow threat you'd have to i think expand and pilfer some teams from the ncc
00:21but uh kirby really believes that when he says those things again to this point mike i think
00:27it's just more of a threat of hey the sec sort of wants to get their way they want things
00:32to go
00:32a certain way for them for the league in terms of figuring out what comes next but i would like
00:38to
00:38see the sec i think lead a little bit more in terms of taking a step forward in terms of
00:44you know
00:45reshaping what college football they think should be i think back to the covet 2020 season where we
00:50know the big 10 didn't want to have a season that year and the pack 12 didn't either and the
00:55sec
00:55stepped forward and said hey we're gonna play and we're gonna have a season and that ultimately i
00:59think proved to be the right thing to do so i think for georgia and the sec at large you
01:05know
01:05i think a lot of this to your point is hollow right now but i i would like to see
01:09a world where maybe
01:10they actually do follow through with it if they believe that the way things are going isn't what's
01:14right for them as a conference a lot of interesting comments from kirby earlier today but i want to latch
01:19on to one that you just quote tweeted and shared your thoughts of and and that is a comparison
01:24of the georgia bulldogs to the oklahoma city thunder and and why it's maybe not as idyllic as
01:30uh as some at least you maybe think it's not as idyllic as others yeah so i understand why georgia
01:37would do that oklahoma city won the title in 2025 in spite of their use because they were a very
01:43physical team both on offense and defense there was a selflessness that they displayed throughout
01:47that season that i think really attracted kirby smart to them but you look at sort of the way
01:52things have unwinded for oklahoma city where even in the year they won the championship they were
01:56not an inherently popular team uh they were not well liked and this year in particular you know
02:01they didn't have the breaks go their way jalen williams got hurt late in the season for them
02:05that was a big reason why despite having the depth that they had they couldn't overcome um
02:11or san antonio excuse me in the western conference finals and let's remember the year before for as much
02:16as we talk about and glorify oklahoma city because they did win the title they got a major break in
02:21game
02:21seven of those finals when tyree caliverton tore his achilles so maybe that illustrates the point
02:25that kirby is even further trying to make that sometimes you just need breaks to go your way but
02:30i personally don't love the comparison to the oklahoma city thunder if i was going to pick from
02:35a recent championship team to compare my program to talking about the the selflessness and how we
02:41know when sga wins the mvp so but hey man get my guys in here this is not an individual
02:45award so i mean
02:46i can i can understand that aspect of it from like a coaching standpoint but i'm with you there on
02:50the
02:50the other side you just brought up connor connor riley with us talking about sec media days want
02:53to play a soundbite for you we talk about mike bobo every week practically here's kirby defending
02:58mike bobo earlier today in tampa take a listen uh you know i don't think that's my decision i i
03:03look at
03:04things through facts and i look at things through what i see with my own two eyes i was blessed
03:09to work
03:09for the greatest college football coach in the history of all of college football and i don't think
03:14it's arguable arguable i don't think you can even debate it uh but i learned from him that you
03:20evaluate things from inside out and i do think football intuition is one of my strengths and
03:27knowing that i know we got the right offensive coordinator what you guys want to write and talk
03:31about is completely up to you because i look at the production he's had the success he's had
03:35the team success where he doesn't worry about stats he worries about winning football games
03:40and the way he coaches our players day to day is unmatched in this country now todd munkin won the
03:46national championships with a defense that was arguably one for the record books uh what do
03:50you make of uh something we talk about all the time you uh you surprised because i've i've asked you
03:55about the sugar bowl specifically you know how they probably got too aggressive two years ago against
04:00notre dame with a young gunner stockton and then conversely with the nine-point lead sat on it is
04:04that kirby telling bobo to do that or does he give bobo the autonomy i think he gives bobo the
04:09autonomy
04:11maybe it just speaks to the fact that you know georgia's not a super interesting team right now
04:15from a national perspective texas and lsu are going to dominate the headlines here in tampa when they
04:20speak on thursday and so the fact that the national media has just decided to hone in on hey let's
04:25go
04:25after mike bobo he's an easy talking point i personally was a little surprised by that i think
04:30when you look at the whole of last season i think we all probably agree that mike bobo did a
04:34very good
04:35job for georgia as the offensive coordinator especially relative to where expectations were
04:40i just think again and you're fair to bring this up like the georgia offense i don't think was good
04:45enough in that college football playoff lost all miss but the defense in that game also gave up 34
04:50points and so i think for me when it comes to mike bobo like ultimately these questions are going to
04:57exist they're going to keep happening until georgia wins a national championship i don't believe mike
05:01bobo was the reason georgia didn't win a national championship last season but also at the same
05:06point in time as long as he is on staff he's just so clearly going to give critics a reason
05:10to point
05:11to as to why georgia won't win a national championship connor we also saw kirby talk about gutter stockton
05:17and the type of leader that he is and he kind of i wouldn't say went out of his way
05:21but made sure to
05:22mention he wasn't necessarily the vocal leader that every team's quarterback happens to be is there any
05:28concern about that style of leadership uh in today's collegiate game no because so the way that
05:37i think gunner stockton leads and he's not a very vocal outwardly spoken guy it's very different from
05:43the way that say like a carson beck goes about leading when he was here at georgia because he
05:48similarly was not for not being a vocal leader where because the way gunner plays because of i think
05:53the interpersonal dynamics that are at play with this georgia team guys on this team will run
05:58through a wall for georgia in a way that i don't think they would have for carson back in that
06:022024
06:03season and i think that's carried over into this team where gunner is the guy who's going out there
06:08willing to put his body on the line you've seen all the big hits that he's taken there and i
06:13think
06:13his willingness to accept punishment shows that maybe he is not this pretty boy front phrase
06:18quarterback that becomes easy to imagine and there is a toughness to gunner stockton that i think
06:22resonates really well with the rest of the team not dissimilar to say like a stetson bennett who was not
06:27the
06:27most vocal guy but the defense really embraced that on that 2021 team and essentially said hey
06:33we think this is the guy who's going to be our quarterback and we respect him the most and that
06:37made a big difference for that team if they want a national championship and i do think that toughness
06:41aspect is in gunner stockton on this team gunner's got to have some playmakers to throw it to last
06:45year we we talked about the usage rate of zachariah branch and maybe get a little too cute sometimes with
06:49the play calling but i know you've brought up you know they got more transfers but you got guys in
06:54camp
06:54they got to step up and guys that were recruited to play at georgia talking about skilled position
06:57here's uh senator soundbite connor kirby today at uh the sec media he's talking about the wide receivers
07:02wanted to ask about the wide receiver room in particular one of the bigger question marks at
07:07least that i have how do how would you assess the wide receiver room uh heading into fall camp i'm
07:13just
07:13very thankful for people like you steve that keep questioning them because the more you question
07:17them the more it helps me motivate them so uh everybody says that we don't listen to you guys
07:22well the wide receivers are listening so they'll have a new challenge issued based on your question
07:27so a little bit yeah a little bit of dabbo there but uh all right well you got look you
07:31got it
07:31you got a quarterback that you just laid out you know hopefully you'll be making those throws over
07:36the middle he's got to be better if they're going to win you brought that up two weeks ago but
07:39what
07:39about the guys he's throwing to why is kirby getting defensive uh i think he acknowledges that this
07:44is an area that they're going to have to be better in uh this is a georgia team that they
07:48need to be
07:48more explosive and i think specifically that comes in the passing game where last year and yes it
07:52worked they were very reliant on zachariah branch in the underneath game and him creating big plays
07:58through sort of run after catch there they're going to have to change that way this year because they
08:02don't have a guy on the team that can replicate zachariah branch's skill set now they've got some
08:07really talented former recruits on their roster you know talent taylor was a five-star recruit cj wiley and
08:13and craig dandridge were top 100 recruits those guys have all the athletic gifts to go out there and make
08:18an impact but they've got to have some guys step up and take that to the field and until i
08:22think we
08:23see that there is going to be a healthy skepticism about what this wide receiver room can do
08:28connor i think every year is different obviously for georgia and there have been some years where
08:33i think we've heard kirby and the players really vocal about feeling that they're the best team in
08:38the conference the best team in the country and i didn't really hear that this year but i also
08:43believe that they do feel that way is there a feeling of like a quiet calmer confidence than
08:50than some of the boisterous comments we've seen previous uh scc media days and i think the big
08:56change abe is that they know it is about the end game now more so than being able to make
09:01your case
09:01over the course of a season they have to be the best team at the end of the season and
09:05they just
09:05haven't been that in recent years and it's something they were sort of asked about a couple times
09:09today what do you have to do to play your best football at the end of the season i do
09:13think
09:13this is something that georgia is going to think about all season long now they're going to do
09:16their best to to stay focused on the task at hand but this is a georgia team especially with these
09:21guys in particular raylon wilson drew bobo gunner stockton you know drew and gunner were on that 2022
09:27team that won a national championship but they obviously weren't playing large roles as they were
09:30true freshmen so nobody on this team can really fall back on that championship experience so
09:35i think with georgia this year they need to go out there and show that they can get it done
09:39and specifically play their best football at the end of the season because they haven't done that
09:43in the last two seasons so our man connor riley guys from sec media days down in tampa their guy
09:48asks us every day why is it in tampa because you know they get university of florida's down there
09:52and they move it around some say she just be in nashville or atlanta whatever hey man hopefully
09:56you're working on your tan connor what about uh shane beamer he spoke today uh you know lenora sellers is
10:02back we talked about it with rusty mansell yesterday is he gonna be able to keep his job up there
10:06in
10:06columbia it's a huge year for shane beamer where i think he likes the talent that he's assembled
10:12they've done a good job of filling out the roster there in south carolina but at a certain point you
10:19know you are who you are and with shane beamer there have just been a lot of ups and downs
10:23and
10:23last year they entered the season with top 25 expectations and i'm not even making a bowl game so
10:29i think they've got to do a better job of capitalizing where they were two years ago where they probably
10:34snuck up
10:34on some teams and took advantage of that and had a really talented roster a lot of key pieces from
10:38that 24 south carolina team are still there led by lenora sellers on offense and dylan stewart on
10:43defense but the thing with south carolina that's always going to exist because they play clemson
10:47every year and because of where they are and their geography aspect they're always going to play a
10:52really difficult schedule and they're not going to be able to be the most talented team on the field
10:56so even though from a roster standpoint south carolina is probably one of the top 25 teams in the
11:00country they're not going to have the record in season and ranking of a top 25 team unless they
11:05play probably above what their potential is because their schedule is so difficult and this is a follow
11:10up i think alex golish spoke today with auburn what is an expect what's a realistic expectation
11:15for auburn because even though it used to take three or four years you don't get that any longer
11:18to build a program with the portal what's happening on the plains yeah so alex golish sort of following
11:24the kurt signetti model of importing his prior team to his new you know power conference spot where he brings
11:29a
11:29lot of guys with him from south florida to auburn you know with auburn and they can talk a good
11:35game
11:36and we know this as well as anyone but when they start losing games that fan base gets mad so
11:40i think
11:41given how just catastrophically things went for hugh freeze there i do think that they're going to want
11:46to give alex golish maybe a little bit of grace but obviously at the same point in time not the
11:51same
11:51least as the hugh freeze where they put everything into being good in year three and then year three comes
11:56and it's a disaster the game has clearly passed hugh freeze by so you know year one i think they
12:00want to see progress they want to see winning football and the right characteristics there
12:05that they have a guy who's committed to being a head coach for the long term as opposed to hugh
12:09freeze great stuff as always connor we'll check in with you later in the week man thanks for coming
12:12on yep as always a pleasure that's our man with dog nation again more from what kirby had to say
12:17we got more sound we'll play later in the show as well abes in for carl today here in the
12:20four o'clock
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