- 15 minutes ago
Catch the full interview as Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart calls "The Steakhouse" Friday. Steak Shapiro and Rusty Mansell dig into Nick Chubb’s retirement, Gunner Stockton's development, NCAA rule shifts, and Braves baseball with the top coach in college football.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Joining us right now, head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs,
00:03Kirby Smart, joining us on Sports Radio 92.9.
00:05Good morning, Coach.
00:06Thanks for being with us.
00:08Good morning, State.
00:09Doing all right, bud?
00:10You know we are.
00:12I should say, how's Mary Beth doing?
00:14We lost a couple.
00:15You're not an empty nester yet, but you sent two off, right?
00:18So what's the vibe at home?
00:20What's the vibe at home?
00:21Day by day.
00:22It's day by day, man.
00:24It's an emotional state around there.
00:25You got to check in more often.
00:27We get those wet eyes.
00:30I know, been through it.
00:32First one I left in Athens.
00:35But you got one at least nearby and one not too far down the road, right?
00:40That's right.
00:40They got one relatively both close considering where they could end up.
00:45They didn't go all the way across the country.
00:47So we got one within a little four or five hour radius,
00:50and then we got one right in the backyard.
00:51So it's good.
00:53Yeah, I didn't see you carrying them.
00:55Mattress is up in the dorm there in Athens.
00:58I guess you're busy getting the season going, right?
01:02I got a picture.
01:04I got a picture.
01:05I'm sorry.
01:06They saw me in some workout clothes, and I was heading to practice.
01:09You made it look good anyway.
01:11You made it look good.
01:11That's right.
01:13That's right.
01:13Kirby Smart with us on Sports Radio 929 The Game.
01:16Coach, some news last week.
01:17I actually broke in this typical Nick Chubb.
01:19He broke his retirement news Friday night at like 930.
01:22He probably just dropped it and said, hey, he turned his phone off.
01:25Tell me about Nick Chubb, what he meant to you, and I've heard you talk about the moment he walked
01:29in.
01:30You thought he was about to leave and not come back.
01:32Tell me about what Nick Chubb meant to you, and what was he like as a player?
01:37Yeah, he's special.
01:39It's like those songs the guy sang, I forget Garth Brooks.
01:43You know, you always remember the ones you don't get, and that was one that I tried to sign in
01:49Alabama.
01:50It was probably the best thing that happened to me that I didn't because I inherited him when I came
01:55to Georgia,
01:55and he was coming off that knee injury, and he was just such an incredible leader and person and human
02:00being.
02:01And then he had a, you know, so-so year after the surgery.
02:04It wasn't a great year, but it was incredible that he made it back.
02:07And, you know, there was some consideration that he would come out for the draft that year, and it was
02:13strange.
02:13He waited and waited and waited, and then I was at a recruiting dinner, actually, downtown, official visits,
02:18and we were recruiting kids, and I got a text, they said, I need a visit with you.
02:22And I knew what that meant.
02:23I was like, oh, boy, decision's in.
02:25And it's usually not good when they want to meet with you because usually they'll just tell you they're coming
02:30back.
02:30When they want to meet with you, they're telling you they're leaving.
02:33But he was awesome.
02:35I came in from the dinner and sat down with him, and he said, Coach, you know, I don't talk
02:40much,
02:40and I'm not one to play games, and I'm real serious, and I'm wired kind of different than everybody else.
02:46I'm not motivated by the same things.
02:47He said, I'm staying, and we're going to run this thing back, and we're going to have a great year.
02:52And that was kind of the puzzle piece that led to so many others, Renzo Carter, Sony,
02:57and all those guys ended up coming back, and he's just such a phenomenal person and leader.
03:04I've just been so happy for him.
03:05As you know, Rusty, he cares so much about his hometown and the weight room there.
03:10He lifted there in the offseason.
03:11He was a catalyst, his belief in our staff and program that helped me turn this thing over the hump
03:19to get it back going right.
03:21Kirby Smart with us on Sports Radio, 92.9 The Game.
03:25All of college football world has been talking about, obviously, the SEC and the rules they're laying down
03:32about players, you know, NFL and all that, trying to come back and play college football.
03:36I thought you were tremendous in your comments the other day, and it reminds me of so much
03:42I haven't talked to you over the years of, listen, we have our standard of how we do things,
03:49and we don't really stray from that.
03:51And I don't know if you can repeat that a little bit to the listeners here.
03:54But you don't seem to get caught up, like everybody else has, about what might be happening somewhere else
04:00with kids trying to go to the NFL and come back and all that stuff around it.
04:05Well, I mean, it's not that I don't, I mean, I won't great players as much as the next guy.
04:11I mean, you know, everybody wants to get the best team they can, and that's a competitive market to do
04:17that.
04:18But there's just certain lines that everybody has to make a decision that they want to cross
04:22if they feel comfortable with it.
04:24And, you know, I'm an enthusiast of traditional college football and it being college football players.
04:32And you can make a case for a lot of these guys in that 2022 class, you know, hey,
04:37they wouldn't have gone if they had known this.
04:40And that's why I went through those circumstances of so many changes in college football
04:45over the last 10 to 15 years, whether it was, you know, one play you're redshirted,
04:50four games you're redshirted, extra games or the games postseason, you know, not counting.
04:56It's just it changes and everybody's affected by it, and each group has been impacted differently.
05:02So I don't have any qualms about, you know, teams that are trying to have acquisitions
05:07and get players from the NFL if they think it's the right thing for their team.
05:11I just don't think it's the right thing for ours.
05:13Coach, I asked you, we had a thing at the Atlanta Touchdown Club in July,
05:16and I said before this camp starts, what do you know about your team?
05:19What are you most confident in?
05:20As you enter late August, you're about to turn the corner of the season.
05:25After three or four weeks of fall camp and practices, what do you know more about this team?
05:31A great competitive character.
05:34They respond when challenged.
05:38They're enthusiastic at practice.
05:40I mean, I've really enjoyed this team, and the leadership on it is high quality.
05:47Not a lot of negative attitudes or negative energy towards practicing.
05:51We've had a really, you know, fun camp.
05:53We take a little different approach to this one, but we've had a good, physical,
05:58been really hot camp.
06:00But I just, I got a lot of faith and trust in the competitive character of this group.
06:05Coach, I want to go back to the rule that's being laid out.
06:09It was fascinating to listen to you say, like, you had to make a decision.
06:14I think even in a bowl game, if you played one play, or certainly one play meant you lost
06:18your whole red shirt year, which is staggering to think about where we were and what we got
06:23to.
06:23But you mentioned, obviously, the fact that five years from when you're out of high school
06:29is just the number.
06:31It's a number, whether you're injured, whether it's too.
06:33So, is that a great place to have landed, regardless, is to get out and have five years
06:38to go?
06:44We'll see where he is.
06:46Did we go completely off there?
06:48I don't know.
06:49I like the way he talked.
06:50We'll get back to him here.
06:51I like the way he talked about the competitiveness of this team and his character of this team.
06:58And, yep.
06:59Call or drop.
06:59We'll get him back.
07:00We'll get him back in just a second.
07:01I like the way he talked about this team.
07:02This is such an upperclassman, senior-like type team.
07:06Well, they bring 16 returning starters.
07:08Bringing back 16 returning starters in this day and age of college football is a luxury
07:16that I don't think he's ever had to that number, right?
07:19He's had some of those.
07:20I just don't know in this day and age that you'll ever have this type of thing again.
07:24Like, so many transfer portal.
07:26They only have so many portal kids.
07:27You've got Khalil Barnes coming over from Clemson.
07:29Then you've got Isaiah Canyon from Georgia Tech.
07:32You know, they went and got what they thought they needed to go around the pieces of puzzle
07:38of these guys.
07:39So, you know, when you look at this team and people ask, is there not a lot of buzz around
07:44Georgia?
07:44I go, there's not really neat.
07:46You know what you're about to get with Georgia.
07:48Can you play these games?
07:49Well, also, last year you had those three home games, Ole Miss, Texas, Alabama.
07:53We've got Coach back right here.
07:54Yeah, we've got Coach back.
07:55So, Coach, the five years right after school and you kind of laid out how different it was.
08:01Is that the rule you like regardless, injuries, everything else you get your five years after
08:06you get out of high school?
08:08Oh, yeah.
08:08I think that's the best rule in the climate we're in.
08:12But this is another one of those cause and effects.
08:14When they made the portal and kids could transfer as many times as they wanted to, they didn't
08:19anticipate.
08:20I didn't anticipate.
08:21Nobody anticipated the value of a year.
08:24And what you had is kids saying, well, I can play in four games, but I'm not playing
08:28in one more.
08:29And so then coaches were short numbers.
08:31We didn't have enough players.
08:32We couldn't finish seasons.
08:34Guys were trying to save their years.
08:36And in the climate we're in, this five for five is really clear.
08:40You can play every snap, you can play one snap, you can play no snaps, but you've got five
08:44years.
08:44So there's no angst for a kid going to a team and saying, well, I have to divide my loyalty
08:50between the team and what's best for me individually.
08:53And it doesn't pit those against each other anymore.
08:56Coach, I know you said you do different things every year, different teams.
08:59I know you talked about publicly how to handle the buys.
09:02You talked to other teams.
09:04You said you made a comment a few minutes ago, you're doing a little different things in
09:07camp.
09:08Do you know some of the things you've kind of done, would you be willing to share some
09:10of those things that y'all have done differently this year, trying different things?
09:14Well, the NCAA gave us a different format.
09:17They're changing it again next year with the week zero implementation.
09:20They're giving you less days in camp and less practices lead up.
09:27And we as coaches voted not to start earlier because they started week zero.
09:31So in anticipation of that and a little bit of change this year, we had a format of three
09:37on, one off, three on, one off.
09:39Instead of, you know, years past, we would go five or six days, six days in a row.
09:44And then we'd take a day off six days in a row.
09:46This year, we put together a camp of three on, one off, then three on, then one off,
09:51then three on with a scrimmage at the end.
09:53And it's a little more, I would like to call it mini-campish because you get the day in
09:57between for recovery.
09:58And there were some lighter, shorter practices in there really due to the heat.
10:02And we looked hard at our temperatures we practiced in last year versus this year.
10:06And it was seven, eight degrees difference in the heat we practiced in last year, this
10:11year.
10:11So just trying to be smart and cognizant of the nine-game part of it and just how long the
10:19season's going to be.
10:19Coach, we have about two minutes here.
10:21Tell me where at Gunner Stockton, second-year quarterback.
10:23He's been in your program a long time.
10:25You know everything about this guy.
10:26But where is he at going into this year?
10:28And what are you most excited about watching him perform for you?
10:33Yeah, he's a lot more confident just day-to-day in practice, the periods we do.
10:37You know, some of it's leading receivers, talking to a line, command of the huddle.
10:42But then some of it is his actions in his throats.
10:46I mean, he's done a really nice job of, in these periods we have, we put the quarterback
10:52in some really tough periods.
10:54I mean, to the point where it's down, the shot clock's down, we've got crowd noise going
10:58on, and it's like pandemonium.
11:00I mean, that's nothing when you've gone to, you know, play at Auburn and you've played
11:04at Knoxville, and he's just got a lot of confidence.
11:06He can get the call in.
11:07He can get people right around him.
11:08He makes more things right.
11:10And we've tried to create more, you know, scramble opportunities, make it where he's
11:14flushed out, because a lot of his explosives came from that.
11:18And, you know, plays are going to break down in our league.
11:20People are hard to block.
11:21So, he has to be hard to tackle and make a miss.
11:24I just feel really good about where he is right now and where this team is.
11:29Are there three or four guys either side of the ball that have the coaches talking?
11:33They're a little bit of a buzz factor.
11:35I know Georgia fans listen and love me.
11:37Absolutely.
11:38There's three or four on each side of the ball.
11:40Give us a couple.
11:41Give us a little kiss.
11:42You just ain't going to get me to name them.
11:44Not going to name them.
11:45Hey, I knew when he was getting to that subject, I said, this is about to be a missed layup
11:49right here.
11:49I was going to say.
11:50Well, you know, you got to say, that's when you don't cover Georgia day-to-day right there,
11:55and you won't run past that one.
11:56I knew he wasn't going to throw a little ball in there.
11:59You knew it when you asked it.
12:00I knew it when you asked it.
12:03Hey, the difference of opening against a Clemson or Oregon, which has happened in the past in
12:07one of those games in the Dome, and, you know, opening with Tennessee State and Western
12:11Kentucky, I'm not going to ask if you have a preference, because you're not going to tell
12:15me that, but is there a different way you would approach the lead-in?
12:19Versus knowing you're out of the gate against a top-ten team right out of the gate, and
12:23how is camp different with either one of those?
12:27Yeah, camp is camp.
12:28I don't philosophically change camp unless we're changing it because the NCAA makes us,
12:33or we want to, you know, have nine more games, nine SEC games.
12:36So we've made changes based on that, but we're not going to change things based on who we
12:40play first.
12:40Now, the week of the first game or when you start on the opponent, sure, we will change
12:45things based on who that matchup is, and I think you're a lot, I'm a lot more apt to
12:50try new things and experiment with traditions.
12:57I don't know if it's really as much traditions as it is, kind of the rituals we have for a
13:01lead-up to a game.
13:02So, you know, for us, we try different things at practice.
13:06We give twos more reps, threes more reps based on who we play, based on where we are in the
13:10season.
13:11So with it being the openers we have, you know, we've got the luxury of being able to
13:15experiment.
13:16That's part of the word I'm looking for.
13:18So the traditions is saying that, like, we experiment with a different practice format
13:22on a Tuesday or Wednesday in season, and maybe, you know, do less on a Thursday and more
13:27on a Friday.
13:27So I'm always open to listening to how other people do things to try to find a better way.
13:33How aware are you of what's happening with other programs that you're going to be playing
13:39this year, and how much you literally not look at it until it's game time, week time, updating
13:44you on, you know, what kind of season they're having.
13:47Obviously, last year you had all the big boys coming in, Ole Miss, Texas, and Alabama, and
13:52it's a different home schedule.
13:54But how aware are you of those teams before the season and during the season?
14:00Yeah, not really.
14:01I mean, I focus on the game we're playing in the next week, you know, the next week's
14:06prep for the next game, trying to stay kind of too ahead, but I'm not, I mean, I'm a
14:11college football fan.
14:12I'll watch it and see, hey, we've got to play those guys if they're on TV during the
14:15free time.
14:15But I'm not studying those teams by no means.
14:18We have people on staff that are assigned to each team, so they'll be the expert of this
14:22team, they'll know if a kid's in or out, injured, how long he's been out, where he
14:26transferred from, you know, strengths and weaknesses.
14:29So we've done a lot of what we call summer scouting, but that all changes once the season
14:33starts.
14:34Coach, I know you're a big Braves fan.
14:35Get a chance to see Chris Sale do that last night?
14:38Man, I didn't see it, but I woke up to a text from my son this morning that was bragging
14:42about it.
14:43He was sending me texts about what he had done, and I was just blown away.
14:47I mean, the only clip I saw was when he came back out in the ninth, and they showed
14:51his son in the stands, and his son looked pumped up, man.
14:54He was excited to see him come back out, man.
14:57It's great to see a healthy Chris Sale, because a couple times I've been to games, he comes
15:02over, speaks super nice, was showing my son about, you know, how he throws this pitch
15:06and how he grips the ball, and I'm like, golly, this is probably one of the best pitchers
15:09in the major league baseball, and he's down to earth.
15:12It's his first 100-mile-an-hour since 2018 last night.
15:16Oh, my gosh.
15:17First time he was over 100, right?
15:19Yeah.
15:19Last night?
15:19Yeah.
15:20That's an adrenaline rush for you, buddy.
15:22Yeah.
15:23No, that's what he said.
15:24The building was juiced.
15:26Well, you, what is this weekend?
15:28I mean, week zero, are you literally sitting and watching at all?
15:32Like, what's the weekend look like?
15:34Well, I would love to, but our schedule, we practiced.
15:36We gave a day off yesterday, and we got two good practices today and tomorrow, and then
15:42we'll give another day off Sunday, and then we'll start game week.
15:44So, I mean, Saturday for me is going to be kind of like a, not a simulated game, but it's
15:49a full-on practice for us during all those games.
15:52Coach, you're going to end it, but one of these days if I ever write a book, I'll write
15:55it and tell the story about one night when I talked you out of buying a Michael Harris jersey
15:58in Rome and how pissed off you were at me for the next month every time he got a hit,
16:02but today's not that day.
16:05That's right.
16:06I enjoyed watching that guy play, man.
16:08He enjoyed it.
16:08Oh, man.
16:09Thanks for taking the time.
16:11Enjoy the weekend as we get ready for Georgia to ramp up for week one coming up in about
16:16nine days.
16:17Thank you, Coach.
16:18Appreciate it, Coach.
16:18Thank you, guys, and go Dawgs.
16:20Go Dawgs.
16:21There he is, Kirby Smart, talking about just tomorrow getting ready for the season just like
16:27most teams.
16:29Yeah, they're practicing Saturday.
16:30Yeah, they're practicing Saturday.
16:31They're starting game prep now, so camp is over.
16:35They're starting to work on their first two opponents, Tennessee State and West Kentucky.
Comments