Georgia Football: Head Coach Kirby Smart Clemson Postgame Press Conference

yeah I always open with um thanking our fans but I also want to thank um afflac um as a title sponsor for this event what an incredible venue atmosphere um anytime you play in Atlanta in this facility and it's part of a title sponsor game where you're playing another you know top 15 top 20 matchup to me it it feels like a playoff game and it's a a great way to um try to assess where you are as a team um no longer do you have to win every game but you do have to find out when you're going to be playing your best and you want to be playing your best towards the end of the year and one of the best barometers is to get uh quality wins and I got a lot of respect for Clemson dbo um the way they play the way they coach but uh this event special to me and every chance we get to play in it we want to play in it so Gary stoken and his staff do a tremendous job and so has afflac go ahead we got Mike on okay your hands please anding with the Atlanta Voice coach malkey Stars a few years ago as a freshman in this game he made a big catch I mean interception made another huge interception this game today and then freshman KJ Balden he's a freshman had a pretty good game what do you attest the credit to a to starts growth in this game and being able to put freshman in games like this and they have a great performance yeah I think coach Schuman and his defensive staff have done a tremendous job of making our defense uh adjustable um complex without being complex and you can play more players that way so uh you know we we we we we freshman all the time we had Malachi playing this game two years ago KJ played the game today Michael played in the game two years ago you know if you're a talented freshman and you can learn then you can play and Malachi's growth is a credit to his humbleness his humility and he is a great kid from a great family and um that's that's what makes Malachi special coach uh tell to how that first half looked a lot like that game in Charlotte a few years ago uh just what kind of adjustments or was there anything you saw at halftime or what would you owe that the offense getting a loose in the second half I think that Mike and his staff did a good job at halftime um looking at pictures seeing what was there um capitalizing on some explosive plays um we blocked well on the perimeter and that that drive of the second half kind of opened things up I think it loosened them up uh it allowed us to be more explosive and um we Ed some Tempo to help us and uh we think we're a really well-conditioned team and I thought that juice between you know Nate's quickness brought some energy and Aran and Dylan making some plays on the perimeter yeah Mel goes down in the third quarter and it looks like Jaylen Walker comes in at outside linebacker he gets back-to-back tackles for loss on one drive next Drive gets backto back sacks what sort of allows him to come in and play both inside and outside and make an impact like that like he did today yeah he wasn't really playing for Michel he he was playing outside linebacker before Michael went down that's I mean they both they don't really play the same position there's there's packages there where Jaylen plays inside there's packages where jayen plays outside um we've had to get uncomfortable as coaches to uh use his skill set and I think you know Schuman and the defensive staff have done a great job of um finding ways that he can be successful so Michael and him both are really good football players and they both need to be on the field they don't need to to share time coach I think during the game bu tweeted that Malachi is the best DB in the country um do you think you twet Javon Bullard during the game do you feel that way about Malachi do you think he's the best DB in the country I don't know I canot judge I hadn't seen him it's easier for bull to say that because he seen the things that Malachi's done in practice I do think the the play I saw him make today may be one of the best defensive football plays I've ever seen live in person seen a lot of them on TV but that one you know he twisted and contorted his body and and and how he could find the ability to go find that ball and get it is um it's pretty special hey coach over here um obviously the first half it was a little bit difficult to get the running game going uh how did Nate Fraser help you you guys open up the offense a little bit and get um the offense going I don't know that Nate opened up that I mean we we we we hit some perimeter runs to start the game you know and you try to uh mix and mingle and and and U try to catch people off balance um we thought that we could run it a little better inside than we did they have some uh some big defensive linemen they're big on their edges they're big up the middle they're they're going to give people you know problems defensively I have a lot of respect for them um I think Nate brought a little juice and a little energy there as C did too and and Branson Branson hasn't played football in a year so Branson's going to be fine he's he's he's a really good back and we're going to continue to get better and uh look forward to using all those guys skill sets we we've got a really good dynamic in that running back room in terms of the players we have Coach uh on that note Nate Frasier had a an excellent debut and um I was just wondering how how would you assess his uh place on the de dep chart after today we don't we don't we don't do dep charts said running back I mean cash Jones had a great day too and uh I was really proud of all those guys stepping up but there's no depth chart I mean we we play the guys that have the best week can practice Kirby two your transfer receivers today you know made some big plays I mean Kobe down around a goal line made a great catch in London show how fast he is when he get the ball his hand in space yeah London I thought really stepped up I thought the play of the game was the play he caught over the middle um Dylan had gone down with some cramping London had to step up and go play he made a great catch I think it was a third down conversion I'm not sure but once we converted that it kind of was a springboard to being explosive and scoring and I thought that was a clutch catch you know he he London is is a great kid he's very levelheaded nothing really affects him uh it didn't surprise me in the moment that he didn't the moment wasn't too big for him because he's played in a lot of these SC matchups Kirby you mentioned Michael earlier what was the injury for him and for Warren Branson as well both uh one's a ankle and Warren's was more of a contusion of some kind I'm not sure I don't want to say high ankle but it was above the ankle it was more calf uh in there where he got stepped on he felt like and and Michel's x-rays they looked good but I've seen that before so we we we we got to go check it when we get home and and see coach obviously etn didn't play was that was that a suspension and will is it over now will it will it carry into next you know we don't talk about those things chip it's a good try though I'm focused on I'm focused on how our guys played today and that's the focus and energy I'm putting it towards I appreciate your question uh we all know that Carson is calm cool and Collective we've heard you say that you want him to show a little bit more passion get his teammates fired up did you see that from him today yeah I thought he got a little passion and energy too there you know we struggled a little bit early and didn't have the third down conversions we know in the first half and I thought he responded well to that uh he came in sat down on the iPad and he told me when we came out the second half he said we're going to go score coach and sure enough uh we did and um I thought he he really handled that that well and look that's was a good defense guys y'all can say what you want that's a that's a really high quality defense hey that kick from Payton 55 y uh I mean pretty late in the half there how how big was that for y'all yeah it was big at the time but it just you know you can't play these games in three three three three you got to score touchdowns and uh that probably was a little out of my comfort zone but it looked to me like he had uh some room to spare on it you know and uh what was it was it 50 what 55 yeah I didn't even realize I knew when we went to kick it it was out of the zone that I really wanted to but I didn't have a lot of options there and uh we were playing field position and I've seen him make them so indoors I think it makes it more significant yeah coach I believe Carson Beck extended some plays with his legs there a couple down conversions just talk to that growth in the area of his game using his legs yeah tremendous I mean the first conversion was that it it didn't end up in points but what it did flip the field position it made them play behind the the bad field position most of the game um he has the ability to do that and I tell people all the time they don't know the athlete he is and it's not the speed it's the body control um decision making uh he can hurt you when you go out there and match everything and then he takes off on you he's got really good pocket presence and um he he he made some plays with his feet yeah with Warren going out Jordan Hall Xavier McLoud out there not out there what you see out of Christian Miller and Xavier and N stack house today in the middle of your defensive line just tough guys man I I can't say how they played you know I can't like I didn't watch it specifically but to play the plays they play the number of snaps the volume they've taken they have been extremely durable and uh extremely tough Trey's done a great job of bringing the young players along in that room you know we're getting a uh a blessing in some ways of getting all these young guys ready while we're trying to get healthy and uh that could really pay dividends uh late in the year um if if we get everybody back hi coach um some of the talks surrounding Clemson has been that they have not been utilizing the transfer portal um as much as some other teams have can you talk about how the trans uh transfer portal guys have affected your roster and how they've um affected the way that you guys play this year yeah I that's that's you know that's hard for me to to speak on I'm not Judgment of someone else I guess you're not asking me to judge their program you're saying how the transfer guys have helped our program we're very selective in in in the transfer department you know we take a tight end out of Stanford who's played in a similar offense two tight end sets uh we take a wide out who we play against and and and can run and we need wide outs cuz we lost guys at WI out uh we take Kobe who's a high quality kid I mean we talk to these kids we visit with these kids and you know if I if I I want my team to stay my team I've always said that if you could give me every kid I sign they stay at my program for four years and they can't leave I would take that every day of the week but if we're going to lose kids we've got to replace them with high quality kids that are that are um character kids that are looking to to to have an opportunity to win a championship they want to go somewhere and play because otherwise you don't you can't survive in the SEC without the depth you need so it's a it's it's a it's a forced situation you have to use it so we use it selectively because we actually like signing high school players that can develop and the guys that you see in our program most of the time are that yeah coach I think I saw you guys play seven offensive linemen today Micah and Monroe getting in the mix what what does that say about the depth of your program and what kind of a benefit I guess does that provide to you well we we want to play a lot of lineman all the time I mean Carson works with those guys all the time we we we like to play eight and nine I think it's to get through the year you're going to have to do that we're we're thinner than we've ever been you know we've played seven eight guys we've always played three tackles and um we'll continue to do that if they're playing winning football coming out of Hal time um you guys score on the opening drive clinson comes back down they're threatening to score your defense holds them to a field goal um what did you like from that series from your defense and how big was that in the moment uh I thought we responded I'm trying to remember that one I think they got to a short yardage situation we were able to stop him knock him back gave him a negative play I thought uh the defense executed well in the red area which is something we work on situationally a lot um coach Schuman called some really good calls and and and and Jaylen and those guys on defense executed them Kirby obviously you guys have new faces every year but I know you guys have some traits characteristics that you like to instill in your team did you see that when it's six nothing and and you guys take control in the second half like that I didn't understand what you asked in terms of of some of the you know the resiliency not looking at the scoreboard being able to you know do what you guys practice to do I was proud the way a team played both halves I mean I really was I mean foot I think the narrative is out there you're going to roll the ball out and Georgia's just going to win they're going to win because they have a g and they're just going to roll over these teams and football's not that way that's a really good football team we just played and the the the fact that we played and pushed through that is indicative of the things you're talking about we build into our program we said we had had to out physical them I thought we did we had to out hustle them I think we did we'll watch the tape and you got to out discipline them um and and those are three areas that we thought we had to win to be Clemson and and our guys prove true in that got another question for Coach Martin raise your hand we'll bring our mic around to you Allison coach Mar I know you said postgame that the interception for Malachi reminded you of Champ Bailey just what was it about it that reminded you of that and just Malachi's performance today yeah when chant was a freshman wearing 42 people don't remember it he would he would play Middlefield safety and he had range that was unheard of I mean he could go from sideline to sideline and he made some diving plays and extended his body and U and Malachi's very similar to that in terms of his ability to play manto man his ability to play play safety he could go out and play Corner if he had to he's just a a tremendous athlete but with all that accolades he's one of the most humble great kids I've ever been around but I saw champ before the game and I I told him that that that malach has a lot of his same traits got a question in the back Kirby the past couple off Seasons there there were some incidents and and from the outside there were questions about the culture of Georgia football on the inside how would you describe the health of the culture of of Georgia football right now awesome I wish you could talk to our players I wish you could live in there and see our guys dayto day and see Thomas settles and Bryant Gant and all the people that that stand up in front of our team and and talk about connection and share their experiences and I mean there's two of them sitting right there you can ask them they'll tell you the what you know in the inside is a lot more than than what people can paint pictures to be outside and people use it in negative recruiting and they throw it out there and it comes back to bite them too coach right here you guys want 40 consecutive games in a regular season that means you got to be a very focused program what what do you think the secret is for you keeping these players focused no matter you know players come and go but that focus seems to be pretty consistent I I think it's a a process like we believe in what we do like the the the the leaders on our team that I meet with they believe in it they sell it they push it to the younger players I think somebody said the other day we had 38 or 42 um my my ADV visor brought to me we had 42 or 38 I can't remember what it was I had to sign something saying they were all eligible and they're all new we had 38 or 42 new people new and when you turn over that much you better have a nucleus around them that can keep them grounded and that's what we've been able to like sustain at Georgia is we're not going to change what we do based on who we play we're going to do what we do we're going to try to out execute you and and and and and just do it the right way and I think a lot of people that's hard to do I think it's hard to do it the hard way all the time because everybody wants to find an easier way and it's just it's no easy way to to to to win these games they're all hard coach over here on that um fade route to Kobe young um it looked like be and young had been playing together for years so how how did how have they been able to build that connection so quickly yeah it's been tough cuz Kobe hasn't actually practiced a full practice week he was very selective we had him you know uh where he was not taking a full load of reps they had a really good connection early in Camp and then when his hamstring occurred they lost some of that Rhythm um and I think you know we we we've got to get uh more out of Kobe Kobe's a really good player and and we need him to step up if we're going to go where we need to go I'm sorry if you were asked this already but what can you say just about your freshman and Nate Frasier and the impact that he's had in this game especially you know it's not all the time that a freshman does make an impact like this it's awesome we we we we the players can tell you that I get on him all the time because he's out of control he is just foot fire moving going to the speed of light doesn't know he might run into a brick wall cutting back and uh he cut back a couple times in practice and I told him I said when you get in a real game you cut back like that they're going to light you up you know I might actually said some things I can't say in here uh but he uh he cut back and went all the way across the field for about 50 and I told him it's okay now he uh he he could do that but he's a great kid he got an opportunity he sees the moment a lot of people blocked in front of him and and like I told you John St Owens is a good back he's going to have an opportunity to grow in play so I'm looking forward to that room cuz I think we got some juice in that room as they get more experience look guys Nate's a long way from a complete package he wasn't here in the spring so he missed 15 practices of intense work that he's trying to play catch up on got time for one more question yeah jonel I think banged up going to this football game you talk a lot about Mal Malachi and you said he's your best corner could your best corner what did it mean I say could play Corner could play Corner uh what did it mean for you to be able to slide him into the nickel today for you guys yeah that was huge that that was probably the thing I and you bringing it up I forgot about that was one of the biggest things that got us in the week when jonell had a pull and it happened on Saturday and we didn't know he didn't go Monday he didn't go Tuesday he walked through Wednesday and we're all messed up because now we're having to not move one person in his spot we're having to move Malachi then Dan then KJ and it's like it was really scary because we we didn't have the volume of reps with that that that makeup so then we tried to go with jakori some but every time jakori was in malach had to play over here and Dan had to play over here and when Malachi went in Dan jumped over here and KJ went over here it was they did a tremendous job of knowing what to do from three different positions and we really need to get jonell healthy and and I thought jakori stepped up and and took advantage of his opportunity