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University of Georgia head football coach Kirby Smart, along with several student-athletes, offered the following comments to open up the 2021 fall camp.

Head Coach Kirby Smart
On if he struggles remembering names…
“We have really stressed and emphasized connection. From spring ball, we had 16 midyears. There are not a lot of new additions, when you add in three or four scholarship guys and some new preferred walk-on guys, it is probably the smallest new group that we have ever had. Even though it is new, we have had them all summer. We get a lot of time with them in the summer, so we get to spend more time with them now than we ever have.”

On JT Daniel’s confidence and how he has evolved…
“I have really not seen a lot of difference in his confidence. I think, to play the quarterback position, you have to be a confident person, in and of itself. He probably has more confidence, for good reason, from actual experience in the SEC, having played, than he had prior. He did not lack confidence in his arm, his mind or any of that when he first got here. If anything, he probably lacked some confidence in his knee and trusting that. Confidence has not been something that he lacks in. I think his mental growth and maybe his confidence in his relationships with receivers and tight ends has improved. His relationships with the players, just sheer connection, has improved, which has improved confidence. He feels much more confident that he can demand excellence when he knows somebody personally, rather than having been on zoom with the team for three months this time last year. He did not have that relationship. He is in a much better position to be confident.”

On how ‘back-to-normal’ the team is…
“We are above 90% [vaccinations]. Ron [Courson] and his staff have done a tremendous job making sure that guys feel comfortable getting the vaccination. We feel really comfortable with where we are. My goal is always to be 100%, because I think that it is the safest thing for our players. In terms of ‘back-to-normal,’ I would not say it is back-to-normal, because it is not exactly normal. There are spikes going on across the country, in our state, in our hospitals systems across the Southeastern Conference. It is scary. We are being extremely smart, making good decisions with our players. Where we can adopt things that carry over from last year, we do that. With the vaccination rates that we have, we feel confident that we are able to get a little closer at times in some meeting rooms, but we are trying to be smart about that. I think Ron and the updates that he gives us daily in staff meetings has helped us navigate that, but you are only as good as your last COVID test. For us, we are trying to maintain a healthy status.”

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