UGA Football: Smart, Bulldogs Preview Fall Practice
ATHENS, Ga. — University of Georgia head football coach Kirby Smart, along with several student-athletes, previewed fall camp Sunday afternoon. They offered the following comments.
Head coach Kirby Smart
Opening comments …
“Welcome back. It is good to see everybody. I know we are super excited to be back and be here working at the office. What a crazy time it has been the last five months. First, I want to tell our administration here how much they have supported us, how much they have meant to us, how much they have meant to the players. President [Jere W.] Morehead, Greg McGarity — Ron Courson and his staff have been incredible. I have never spent as much time with a staff as I have Ron. We have almost moved in together between the number of meetings we have had together down in his office and also up in my office. We have spent a lot of time together, and I feel very blessed to have someone like Ron that the players trust, the parents trust — they have an open line of communication. It just goes to show you how important it is to have a good athletic trainer who is present during recruiting, because a lot of the relationships that are developed with our players starts with Ron Courson and our staff members. That has been a big part of our support and our process.
“I am going to open it up with updates on some injuries, and I am sure you guys have a million questions about everything going on. I do not want to hinder your questions, but I do want to kind of update some guys on some people. I’ll start with Dom [Dominck Blaylock]. He is not completely cleared to practice or play. He is going to have a black shirt on. He is working out. He is coming off his ACL that occurred in the SEC Championship game, so he is not completely cleared yet, but he has worked really hard. He has been able to do some straight-line running and some workout stuff.
“The next guy we will talk about is DJ Daniel. He has missed some time due to an ankle injury. He is almost back, but this small summer access window we have had where we were able to have a little more time than we normally do — he was not able to do much during that time. So, I would not say he is behind, because he is a kid who played a lot of snaps last year, but he will be back with us kind of full time starting tomorrow.
“JT Daniels is not cleared yet. JT Daniels is coming off an ACL surgery as well. He has been able to take some reps, he has been able to throw the ball and do some things, but he is not completely cleared from the knee yet. He will still be in a brace for that. Broderick Jones had an injury — non-football injury — he has recovered from that and he’s back out taking snaps, taking reps, and has been with us working. Jamie Newman had a mid-foot sprain and was out for a little bit of our summer access period, we are calling it a mini-camp, whatever OTAs, whatever you want to reference it as. He missed probably half of that, not able to work out and do some things, but he was mentally there and able to do a lot of things with the team. He is back now and able to do everything.
“Monty [Rice] has been out a little bit with a little foot injury, but he has taken a lot of reps and played a bunch. Darnell Washington had a small scope in his knee. It was from an injury in high school that he is back out there and recovered from and practicing, doing everything. Rian Davis had a small torn meniscus. He should be back soon, but he is not able to practice right now. Kelee Ringo, as a lot of you were aware, he had an old injury from high school that we were trying to see if he could go with. The injury did not occur here, but he’s had a shoulder repair, and he is going to be out for a while. Then, Arian Smith had a meniscus repair and should be back sometime during the season but not sure exactly what date yet.
“So, if there is somebody else I am missing, feel free to ask. With that, I will open it up for questions from you guys.”
On where he is with the 85 scholarships and if any players have opted out …
“As far as 85 goes, I never talk about the 85. The 85 traditionally takes care of itself. We will have some guys with the opportunity to possibly go on scholarships or come off scholarships with things that transpire over the next couple of weeks and days, so we are looking forward to that.
“As far as opting out — no, we have not had anybody come forward to talk about that or really present that option just yet. Our guys have been very open and transparent. We have had a lot of meetings and talks to make sure they are comfortable with the information they are receiving.”
On his reaction to other conferences not having their seasons…
“I don’t get emotionally tied to the decisions of other conferences. I put faith, trust, and confidence in Greg Sankey, who has done a tremendous job. The first thing that Sankey did was form a medical committee and a medical group to represent our 14 universities. They started dealing with a lot of these issues that you guys as media are just coming to even know about, and they were dealing with them on April 1st. They have talked about a lot of these issues. They have a plan for these issues. They’ve had a plan for everything that’s come up and they’ve done a really good job of being able to adjust on the run. There is not a call that I don’t get an update from one of these meetings from Ron [Courson], or a concern of a parent about something out there. They do a great job of addressing these things. They’re the experts. My faith, trust, and confidence goes into those medical groups, goes into cardiologists, goes into doctors. We gather the information, I know that I’ve become a lot more educated on a lot of this stuff than I ever have been and our job has been to relay those messages to our players so they feel comfortable with the information we have out there.”
On if he’s upset with the uncertainty of the start of the season and how he deals with that…
“I’m definitely not upset with the uncertainty. That’s the day and age that we live in. Adaptability is going to be one of the most important factors of this team, and the teams that handle it best will probably be at an advantage. We always talk about our camp being about mental and physical toughness. One of the most important things about this team is how they are going to be able to mentally handle change — and fast change — because we’ve seen in the last five months things change, especially when you are dealing with COVID. We’ve seen updates that were one way one day and the next day they were another and they’ve changed. The kids have really had to have a change in way of life, outside of our building and inside of our building, both. I think I’m very comfortable with the fact that it’s not going to go perfect as planned. Who can handle those adjustments? Whose team cannot get lost in worrying and concerning themselves with things they can’t control and really worrying about things they can. Like, do I wash my hands enough, do I wear my mask enough, do I social distance when I have an opportunity to? Those are the things that are going to determine the outcome of our team and of our guys’ ability to play. It’s not going to be when is the first game, because inevitably we feel like we’re going to have a game, so whenever that is, we’re comfortable with it.”
On where the offense is at and how it comes to fruition…
“We are much closer now to being able to have a vision and understanding. You know, without spring practice that’s really hard to sit here and say what it’s going to look like because you have nothing to base it on. Not only that, but you don’t have a lot of your freshmen that are going to make up some of that offense. We had some guys that probably would have missed parts of spring with injury that were able to get healthy during this time, and who can help us. The time we had in mini-camp, which really all we were allowed to do is walk-through, at least we were able to see formations. Guys go out and do some position work, meaning they can go out and work with their position coach and do conditioning by position. Those things have been good for us. We have been able to teach and learn and do things in walk-through and go against a defense that picked things up. I’m excited about that. We haven’t put a pad on. We haven’t put a helmet on. To not do those things and find out really who we are, I think, we’re going to find that out from an offensive perspective. I’m excited about what the guys have been able to pick up on and do. Talking to our offensive staff, those guys have given me good updates, and I’ve been able to see it first-hand when you go out on the field and see some good, young, talented players that have been able to go out and pick things up. That’s going to be the key to us. Who is the quarterback, who is able to lead the team, and what gives us the best chance to get the ball to the playmakers out in space.”
On how the team has responded regarding how to go about life away from the facility during the pandemic and the impact of students returning to campus…
“They’ve responded well so far. We have instances where we get a report on a guy not wearing a mask or not doing what he’s supposed to be doing away from our place and we address it. We confront him and we let the leadership, the older players, the guys that the season might mean a little more to, like a junior or senior than maybe a true freshman. Sometimes they need to hear that from a junior or senior, and that message is much better delivered from one of those kids than just from a coach. We have done a lot of peer intervention and try to encourage them that way. We’re not perfect either. We have guys that probably don’t respect it as well as they should and that’s our job as coaches to get that point across.
“With students coming back, obviously whenever you have a large group of people coming back to campus you’re concerned about a spike. What we control is what we do outside of our building, outside of our bubble. We’ve told our guys that regardless of what the student population does, and by all means, I want you to understand, we are encouraging our student population to do everything the right way — space, social distance, wear a mask. Whether they do or not, that does not control what you do as one of our players. You can make decisions to not go in the environments that are risky and wear a mask to protect yourself. That’s what we’re driving home.”
On his impressions of Scott Cochran and Todd Monken…
“They haven’t had much chance [to be around the team]. It’s tough. We’ve had walkthroughs, we’ve got to remember, we haven’t had an opportunity to do much more than the walkthrough tempo stuff. You can see when guys get individual drill and an opportunity to go do something, get to be around their players. Scott’s energy has certainly come through. He’s an energetic, very demanding coach, and has done a very good job in front of the team and the units. I think he’s very comfortable doing that because he was always in front of the team in his past jobs being a strength coach. He’s done a good job with that and the players respect him and a lot of them know him through recruiting.
“Todd has brought a lot of energy on the offensive side of the ball. He’s very demanding, he has an expectation of what it should look like in his job, and what he loves doing is trying to do each individual job better than the next guy. Can we do one thing, can we run a curl better than the other team can run a curl? Can we run a dig route better than the other team can run a dig route? Can we coach those things better than the other team? If we can do that, then we’ll have success.”
On finding a “better way” to navigate the pandemic from a team standpoint…
“I don’t know that we’ve found better ways to do them because I don’t think a lot of the situations we’re in are better, for example, we don’t go into a team meeting room environment with a 110 or 85 or 130 players. Our team meeting room doesn’t allow that, so there’s not finding a better way to do that, there’s finding a possible way to do it because you have a choice whether you want to do it by Zoom or do you want to go in [Stegeman] Coliseum, or do you want to go in the indoor and have a hundred seats and space everybody out. So that’s just an example of you have to find other ways to do things that are not necessarily better because I do think it’s better when you have the ability to deliver a message face-to-face just like I would rather be face-to-face with [media], but this is the alternative method you have to use and you certainly get comfortable being uncomfortable because there’s a lot of parts to this I’m not comfortable with. I’m not comfortable not having control over what’s next — the regular schedule, a normal camp schedule. This is just so much different, but we’re constantly looking and talking to other people. I talked to five or six other schools in the country as well as other NFL organizations to say ‘How are you doing this? What is the best way to do this and get your point across during this COVID era?’ It’s been unique, and I think a lot of them will carry over because I don’t think there’s a best way of doing it, they’re the social distancing way to do things.”
On responding to critics of the decision to play …
“First of all, that would never be the case for me because I’ve got an 8-year old son that’s playing tackle football, and he’s playing it every day and he’s out there performing it. I wouldn’t want him out there if it wasn’t safe. Economically, that has not come into the realm of decision, nor all the meetings I’ve been in or the medical group has that been imparted as part of the decision-making process. You opened up with “a lot of the [conference] medical advisory boards not agreeing there’s not been sharing of information between those medical advisory groups. The one that was formed in the SEC is the only one I can speak to because Ron’s been part of every meeting and been privy to it. They’ve been very consistent with their messaging, very consistent with their plan, they’ve been right on top of everything that’s come up, and they’ve had a really good plan and they’ve had a protocol for everything that’s been implemented. I think they’ve done a tremendous job of that. It’s really all been about the health and safety the players, not about the economics, I can assure you of that.”
On having 40 days in this year’s preseason camp…
“Well, it will be unique because what you’re not accounting for in that is that we have less days without school, so it’s give-and-take. It is more spread out, and the medical group advised us on spreading those days out; and I think there’s going to be a lot of benefit because when you track concussions, and healthcare, and the injury rate, soft tissue injuries, head injuries, [they] typically happen in camp because it’s the first time kids have gone back to having contact. So, spreading it out over a number of days, you’re giving guys more time for recovery—it’s not as intense with repeated practices. There’s some benefit there. The loss of benefit is that there’s a lot of programming that goes into these camps prior to school starting when you have speakers come in that speak on a lot of different subjects that don’t involve football, they involve life. These life skills, those kids have missed them because we’ll be transitioning to school pretty quick here this week.”
On being able to be aggressive in practices…
“There’s nothing that’s talking about the aggressiveness of our practices. They’ve not dialed back the type of practices or the number of practices, and COVID’s not based on the aggressiveness of your practices. It’s making sure that you have a safe number of student-athletes out there, that you’re controlling the transmissions of COVID to each player, and making sure that doesn’t happen. We’re trying to keep that outside, and we’re doing a lot of testing to keep that away. That’s the most important thing. It’s not how the practices go or the work the kids do—if anything, they’re going to have more time off between days with the thing David just mentioned with off days and what ends up being 20, 25 practices. There’s going to be ample time to get the work done to get ready.”
On the safety of a spring season…
“First thing, it’s not my place to determine that because I refer everything to the medical people. I would certainly think, as a football coach, knowing what contact and the reason you have an offseason, is to not have as much contact. We have 15 days of practice in the spring, in which three of those is in shorts and a helmet. So, you really have 12 days of contact in the spring. You’re looking at a spring season and the potential of a fall season back-to-back. I wouldn’t be speculating to say it’s not completely realistic that you would have those two back-to-back, and plus, you’re going to be dealing with kids who aren’t playing. They’re going to be getting ready for the NFL and all kinds of other issues. I’m not saying it isn’t possible. I certainly think it is possible, but I don’t think it’s optimistic.”
On the current quarterback situation…
“We’re excited about all five of those guys, to be honest with you. Those guys have done a good job in their Zoom meetings, paying attention. With Jamie [Newman] missing with the foot issue, we’re talking about walkthroughs. It’s not like we’re out there…there’s a misnomer that we’ve been able to practice. They haven’t been able to practice. We’ve been able to walk through. He does a really good job of standing behind the huddle, standing behind the play, imaginary taking the snap, getting the mental reps, but until you get out there and do it, it’s not as easy. He was able to do that around the 9th or 10th, he was able to go out there and do some things with us. D’Wan [Mathis] was doing a great job. Carson Beck is doing a great job. Stetson [Bennett] is doing a great job. All of those guys are really competing, as well as JT [Daniels]. I think each one has come in—they all have individual strengths. It’s going to be important that we find out what each one of those individual strengths are, and weaknesses, and what we can improve over the next four or five weeks to figure out who the best guy for the job is.”
On the transfer of JT Daniels…
“We didn’t actively recruit him coming out. I can’t say we didn’t have—I didn’t have active contact with him, but sometimes the position coach is recruiting a greater pool than I am, and he committed pretty quick to USC and didn’t go through the recruiting process as long. We didn’t have a deep relationship there of any kind. When he became available, he went in the portal and we reached out, and he returned the favor and said he would be interested. We communicated for a while, for a long time, not knowing which direction we were headed. Once COVID started, we didn’t know what was going on. So, it’s one of those deals where we didn’t know what we would have in our quarterback room. We didn’t know if we would have two guys remain and be here, or if somebody was going to leave. I’m a big believer in getting the best people on the team you can get, and have competition, and iron sharpens iron. But that room is going to be very competitive, and we’re excited to see where it goes.”
On the importance of depth this season…
“I would certainly say it could rear its head faster this year than years past, based on what we’re seeing in other sports, and the unknown that we don’t know. Depth is going to be key. We’ve preached that to our coaches. Every practice, every walkthrough, everything we’re doing, we’re doing coaching for four groups of people. Now, is our fourth team as good as our first team, absolutely not. But we’re trying to coach like we’re going to have to play a game against an SEC rival with possibly our third or fourth guy. You’ve got to approach it that way and build depth on your team and coach the young guys on your roster. When you go to the NFL or you go out of college football, you don’t get developed. You either make the team or you don’t, there’s no development in the NFL. We have an opportunity to develop our roster and get players better. That’s what we try to do, we try to improve players and get them better all throughout, and that’s what we’ll continue to do. If it shows up this season in our depth, maybe guys have been quarantined, hopefully, we’ll be ready.”
On the effect of new offensive coordinator Todd Monken…
“I believe in doing whatever you have to do to win. I’m going to let you define it how you feel comfortable defining it, and then I’m going to define it the way that gives us the best chance of success. We want to get the best football players we can on the field. We want to be able to score points. We think it takes that to win games. That’s never been any issue with me. I’ve never got on an offensive coordinator’s headphones and said, ‘Please run the ball here. Please run the ball right here.’ That’s never been the case. Unfortunately, some people might believe that, but my goal is to score points and I’ve never said, ‘Please don’t score more points. Please don’t score.’ I’ve never done that, so we’re going to do all that we can to score points. I think the reason Monken was hired is that he’s a really good football coach, and we’re going to use his experiences and his strengths, and the players’ strengths, which is much more important, and we’re going to put those at the forefront and hopefully have more success.”
On having multiple quarterbacks in the room…
“I think it’s the same way you do all positions. Look, guys, this is a competitive room. Those guys, each one of them, has been in a competitive room before. Jamie [Newman] competed at Wake Forest. JT [Daniels] had to compete where he was. Carson [Beck] is going to be in one of the most competitive rooms he’s ever been in before. D’Wan [Mathis] was in the room last year. Stetson [Bennett] has been a part of that. Competition is part of the process. But for a quarterback more than anything, you want to be coached the right way, and you want to be developed. Part of development is taking reps, making practice. Fortunately, we have really good depth at the University of Georgia. We’re able to practice in a way that I think you guys think there’s only one quarterback and there’s only one guy that gets to throw the ball. Those guys are going to be judged and evaluated every day on how they command the huddle, how do they respond to an interception, what do they do when they make a bust. Are they making the right check? Are they making the right decisions? Can they use their feet to extend plays? All of those things are going to be used to judge and to make the best decision for who gives us the best chance to win. That hasn’t changed since any time we’ve had to make quarterback decisions. I’m excited to go see those guys compete, and I’m glad we have the guys we have in the room so we can pick the best one and let them go out and play.”
[Georgia Player Quotes Begin Now]#69 Jamaree Salyer | Junior | OL
On his weight loss …
“For me, I just knew the weight thing was going to be a huge contributor to where I could go. It would raise my potential. My goal going into quarantine was to kind of raise my potential, to raise the bar for myself. Knowing that I could play guard, knowing I could play tackle, knowing I could play anything; I knew I could play all those positions at a much higher level if I lost the weight. My goal, originally, was 315. That turned into 309, and I’m sitting at right about 315 right now. I lost about 20 pounds by going into quarantine, so losing that weight helped me out a lot for sure.”
On how much he has had to learn to get to know Todd Monken‘s offense…
“I’m kind of all over the place right now, just being wherever the team needs me. I’ve gotten reps at left tackle and really all over the place. I’m just trying to help the team. That’s my biggest goal, is always to help the team. As for as Coach Monken, he’s a great guy. He makes it simple for us, and we just try to go out there and execute it the best we can every day.”
On the young guys …
“We’ve got a lot of good talent. If they weren’t good, they wouldn’t be at UGA. A lot of those guys have a lot of athleticism. Tate Ratledge is a really good player. He’s got flashes of athleticism when you see him running, and it’s like, ‘Wow, this kid can really move.’ A lot of those guys are really great players who are picking up the playbook really well. I’m excited to see them practice more than anything. We have a really young group, and I’m really excited to see them go. They’re all good players, and they can all help us. It’s up to them, and it’s up to the coaches to get them ready. I’m excited to see them roll.”
On what his first impressions are of JT Daniels, both on and off the field…
“He strikes me as a guy who’s really confident. I feel like he knows what he can do, is really confident in his arm and how he can control the offense. He carries himself a certain way, and I can appreciate that as an offensive guy, for sure.”
On whether the helmet shield may take some taking used to…
“It’s for our protection. I just try to go out there and control what I can control. I can’t control the fact that we wear that shield. It’s for our safety. It’s good for me. It’s good for everybody. It helps protect me as a player, so I don’t really try to take that as something that I’d go out there and worry about on a day to day basis or even on Saturday. I just go out there and control what I can. I can make sure my conditioning level is to a point where I can control that and do fine with the mask or without it.”
On the foods he gave up to lose weight…
“I had to cut a lot of sweets out for sure. I tried to cut out a whole lot of fried food— that was one of my big things— and a lot of fast food, as well. If I did eat fast food, it was mostly a salad from Chick-Fil-A. I pretty much lived off those for a long time, those grill salads. I would do a fried salad every once in a while, but just trying to stay on that salad regimen and then just going to a water diet and just trying to stick with it was really tough. Definitely [giving up] the fried food was the hardest part.”
On why this is the season he has been waiting for…
“For me, personally, I just put a lot of work into this quarantine. Learning from guys who’ve done it before— I worked out with Andrew [Thomas], I worked out with Kynan Forney. Just working out every day, trying to get little tools and tricks and just working really hard trying to lose weight, trying to get stronger, trying to get more flexible. I put a lot into this season. I feel like you guys and everybody deserves to see the work that I put in because I feel like I know what I can do. I’m excited for the season. It’s an opportunity I’ve been waiting for, being a guy who was here two years and sat behind two great players— two first-rounders—and I feel like this is the season for me to try to go out and prove myself and do a lot of things that people say I can’t do. I’m really excited for the opportunity.”
On how he got involved with Kynan Forney and how he helped him…
“Basically, I just kind of met him when I was working out in Gwinnett at DASH and kind of just met him along the way. He was training Andrew [Thomas]. We started working out, and it was a really great opportunity for me. He and of just worked on little small things That I didn’t even realize I was doing, as far as my pass sets and small things with my run games— just little tips and tricks. It took me to a whole other level, honestly, and I was really excited for the opportunity to work with him for the time I got to work with him. It definitely helped me become a better player.”
On the leadership of the younger guys he has seen…
“We have a lot of hard workers in this class, for sure. That’s one things I would say about this class. They don’t strike me as knuckleheads. They all go out and give their best every day. We’ve got some vocal young guys like MJ Sherman. He’s a really good player and goes hard every day. Sometimes you have to kind of tell MJ to slow down during the walkthrough, but he goes harder. I kind of like his interviews in high school. He seemed like a really genuine kid, really straight-up kid. That’s one guy I really look forward to seeing compete at that level. I like him as a person, and I like her personality.”
On his decision to play this season…
“It was a pretty straightforward decision because I trust Ron Courson and Coach Smart. They both have always been transparent with me. I try to control what I can; I wear my mask when I go out. I try not to let too many people in the house— things like that. It has always been a matter of keeping my family members safe. We have young children and my grandmother in my house, so it’s things like that that’s always a necessity. As far as Courson and Coach Smart keeping us safe, that’s all I can ask for. I’m really blessed to have them and for always being transparent. I feel really good about the season, and I’m excited.”
On what Coach Scott Cochran adds to the team/on the practice field…
“Energy, I’m telling you. It’s every day. Forget the practice field— in the hall way, he’s energetic. You hear that voice and it just cracks me up. He does everything full go. He brings a whole other level of spirit to the team. Where you can find something wrong with a situation, he is gong to find a way to get that extra one percent from you. I’m really excited to go through the season with him, because you can see the impact he had at Alabama. I’m excited to see his impact on our special teams unit. It’s going to be really exciting to have him on the field.”
#2 Richard LeCounte | Senior | DB
On what kind of work the defense has gotten in during the minicamp…
“The minicamp was definitely very helpful. A lot of the young guys who were coming in they were able to get a jump start on a lot. Learning the defense, being able to get hands on coaching and also able to get a lot of coaching from the older players; me, [Eric] Stokes, Tyson Campbell. A lot of the defensive backs came in not really knowing too much about the defense, and during that minicamp, coaches were able to dumb it down a little bit, slow it down — let guys know that they have time to learn the defense and time for them to adjust also.”
On how having a lot of experience coming back on defense will help this season…
“It’s definitely been a good thing with everybody coming back. Like I said, you’re able to teach more. Guys are more comfortable, playing faster. Guys are just out there flying around making plays. That’s something you have to be pleased with as an older player to know that everyone you’re playing with on defense knows the system good and are able to grasp the concepts and are able to play at a high level.”
On his initial impressions of JT Daniels…
“JT is a very talented guy. I haven’t really seen him sling it like that, only a little bit. I’m ready for him, just like everyone else to go out there and show what they got. This camp is to prove who you are, what kind of player you are. It’s going to be a lot of competition, a lot of guys going out there to make a name for themselves and this is the place to do it, camp.”
On how the team is handling the COVID-19 protocols set in place…
“As far as the guys being back, the players they take it very serious and it’s been transmitted throughout the locker room and the whole coaching staff that in order for us to have a season we have to go by the protocols and the safety measures that are in place in order to stay safe, so our team can stay safe. Guys have been doing a tremendous job of wearing their mask, staying around, staying away from things that can’t really help themselves or the team, not having groups of people at their houses and things like that. Guys have really been taking this serious, and I think that’s something you can only be happy with because in order for us to have a season we have to have guys be healthy and I’m thinking these guys are taking these protocols very seriously and also helping the others that are on campus. Transmitting that message throughout campus that we all need to be safe so we can have a season.”
On how much J.R. Reed’s decision to declare for the NFL affect his decision to return…
“His decision really didn’t determine mine. It’s just I wanted to come back and play ball again for Georgia. I didn’t think my time here was done and my mission wasn’t completed so I came back to be able to lead the team and go for a National Championship.”
On what kind of emotions he’s had this offseason and how confident he is in there being a season…
“I’m really confident. I haven’t really had that much emotion it’s not like any other camp I’ve had that I’m trying to approach or anything like that. I’m just ready to play football and to go around and have my teammates make plays and pretty much go back to being normal. I don’t really have too many emotions built up about it. I’m here to work. I’m pretty sure my teammates are all here on the same mission. We came here to get the job done and we’re taking every precaution and protocol that we need to stay safe and keep our season going. We’re willing to take it because it takes what it takes. That’s what it is. We’re here to do it.”
On if he’s had a chance to talk to Justin Fields about the Big Ten postponing their season…
“It’s been such busy times that I haven’t had time to reach out to Justin [Fields] and really talk to him and I’m like that because I know he’s really busy also. It’s just an unfortunate situation that they’re going through up there. I wish the best for him. I’m a huge fan of Justin also.”
On what the defense as a whole needs to improve on…
“There’s always something that we are able to improve on. Reducing our scoring. Having less points put up per game. There’s a lot more things that we’re able to capitalize on but when I really sit down and think on it I’ll have a better answer for you but right now I’m just ready to be back with my family and my football team and play ball.”
On getting to know this team more…
“The time that we had doing the minicamps and things like that, these guys have gotten to learn a lot from these coaches and learn what type of guys they are and see what type of personality is on the team because it’s not just full go from January to December any more. A lot of things have slowed down. Guys were here long times and they had to rely on hanging out with the coaches and hanging out with the teammates. That made it even better as a team to slow down a little bit besides football and learn about who these guys are that we’re going to battle with.”
On the receiving corps this year…
“Obviously if they’re here at Georgia they’re very talented. I haven’t really seen those guys get out and play a bit. I definitely know those guys can run. Those guys get out there and doing sprints and conditions and they’re always out front. That’s something that is a positive and I look forward to seeing those guys work during camp.”
#27 Eric Stokes | Junior | DB
On if he is nervous about starting camp tomorrow…
“Not at all, because I know that being here on campus is much safer than being anywhere else. Ron Courson is making sure that we are completely safe. Once we come in they check us, take our temperature and if you have any symptoms you let Ron Courson know. We make sure that we’re six feet apart, we’re spaced out in the team meeting rooms and everywhere you look, everyone is wearing a mask. I know for a fact that we are much safer here than we are anywhere else.”
On his level of concern with students returning to Athens and campus…
“Everybody else has got to do the same thing, wear your mask, wash your hands and follow the safety protocol. We can only control what we can control. I know for a fact that everybody here on our team wants to have a season and play this fall. So we’re doing everything in our power to make sure we can.”
On conversations of uncertainty about the season with the team…
“There’s really no uncertainty here, we all feel confident in all this stuff. We feel safe here. It could be much more dangerous at home than being here.”
On following safety protocols and setting an example on campus…
“We can’t be going around saying, ‘we want a season’ and not follow protocol. I know that we are all wearing a mask and washing our hands, we are doing every little thing so we do not spread it. We are trying to do everything in our power to have a season and that we are all safe here.”
On what football practices are going to look like during a pandemic…
“I think it’s going to be the same, if no one on our team has COVID-19 then we’ll keep going like it’s any other day. If we keep wearing our masks and following protocol we’ll keep playing ball.”
On his individual goals and his confidence in the team…
“There’s a lot of confidence and we’re trying to be the best that we can be. We’re going to compete everyday, because we are a deep unit. I know that any of us could go and start any game and be the superstar. So we’re all out here competing trying to be the best that we can be.”
On what has taken him from being a high school recruit to being among the best in the country…
“Just learning from the people above. When I first got here it was Dom [Dominick Sanders], A.D. [Aaron Davis] and Malkom [Parrish] just by learning their routines. Even when my sophomore year came, I’m still learning from J.R. [Reed], even from Bake [DeAndre Baker]. I’m just learning different techniques, how they help and to be a pro, so just watching them has been the most help I’ve ever had here.”
On his impression of Jamie Newman and JT Daniels…
“It’s really hard to say, I’m in the same boat as everybody else. We find out tomorrow and I really don’t know yet so it will be a shock to all of us tomorrow.”
# 55 Trey Hill | Junior | OL
On being more vocal on and off the field, and how the extra time around teammates has helped make strides in that area…
“Oh yeah, I’ve definitely made strides in that area. I mean, just talking on and off the field and getting to know the players, actually, I mean that is the start of it. Just lead the players and stuff like that. But, I mean once you are on the field you have to talk and get everybody the plays and stuff like that.”
On the many new faces around him, and what it is like with so many young guys lining up next to him…
“I appreciate it a lot. Just being around the young guys and teaching them the ins and outs of all of the plays—just me being a leader. That has been a blessing for me to just teach them everything I know.”
On what he made of Jamaree Salyer’s weight transformation in the off-season and his personal weight loss…
“It was great. It actually drove me a lot—during the off-season. As he was working hard, me and him just going back and forth talking to each other during the whole quarantine—I mean, just basically having a weight loss competition. This off-season, I probably lost like 10-15 pounds. I mean, just to get my weight down—because I know in the future for [me] my weight is going to be a problem.”
On Salyer’s now being the “first man up” and what he is excited for him to show that people have not seen yet…
“Just basically, him being a hard-worker. I mean, him working hard and coming everyday—him just showing a purpose that he wants to be out there. I mean, you can’t say that he is a young guy because he really is an experienced guy. He has just had someone in front of him. Jamaree has worked his tail off to where he is today.”
On his impression of Jamie Newman so far since they did not have a spring and just walk-throughs…
“Just him being confident and learning the plays each and every day. Just him wanting to be there and wanting to learn everything. I mean, he is a pretty good guy to me.”
On how different it is for a center with a new offensive game with the line splits being wider and much more mobile in Todd Monken‘s system…
“No, it’s the same thing. I mean, no matter how tight or how wide the splits is it is basically the same scheme, same thing—nothing too different.”
On the weight-loss competition being centered strictly for on-field/off-field benefit or being overall healthier…
“Oh yeah—you know that plays a part in it too. Me and him, I mean, losing weight—both of us really needed it. For me I think I need to lose weight to play faster, in the games and what not. So, that’s what I told him or what not, and we basically came up a plan and we did it.”
On the SEC continuing to play in the fall and why it is important to him and what challenges could arise playing a spring football season…
“Challenges—I feel like we should keep it in the fall. [There is a] pandemic going on and what not, but we just trying to stay as safe as we can, wear masks and do all of the protocol stuff—the good stuff. Everybody on this team wants to have a season, so that is what we are trying to do.”
On what the weight-loss plan looked like between Salyer and him…
“[We did] a majority of the same thing. Fast food, fried food, not drinking unhealthy sodas and stuff like that. I mean those things they are not good for your body. But I mean, that helped me a lot and obviously helped him a lot.”
On what kinds of healthier food he has started eating…
“Basically a lot of fruit, a lot of water. It’s just nit-picky things like instead of white rice, brown rice. Instead of fried food, grilled food and stuff like that.”
On his opinion of being a football player, does he think it is possible to play football games in the spring and play again in the fall…
“It is basically really up to the NCAA and how they do it. Whatever they pick, I mean, we just are going to have to accomplish that mission.”
On if he thinks he can handle a spring season…
“Oh, most definitely!”