Georgia football head coach Kirby Smart and two players, defensive lineman Joseph Jonah-Ajonye and wide receiver Noah Thomas, spoke with the media on Monday about their upcoming SEC road game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs.
5th-ranked Georgia and Mississippi State will square off on Saturday, Nov. 8 at Davis-Wade Stadium in Starkville, Miss. The game will be televised by ESPN at noon ET (Buy Tickets).
Dave Pasch will call the play-by-play, Dusty Dvoracek will provide analysis, while Taylor McGregor will report from the sidelines.
Below is a transcript of the Mississippi State press conference which was provided by UGA.
HEAD COACH KIRBY SMART
Opening Statement
“It’s another week in the SEC, as we all know, a really good opponent, Mississippi State. I know Jeff [Lebby] well, he’s a good guy and done a great job with their program, the energy, enthusiasm coming out of that program. You can see it the way their kids play. They’ve got no quit in them, these guys have competed. They have been in every game they’ve played. They have upgraded the talent level since he’s been there. You look at the group he’s put together defensively, offensively, and on special teams. They got really good players all over the field. Our guys are going to be up for a great challenge this week. We’re going to their place and when you play on the road in the SEC, trust me, I played a lot of years and coached a lot of games at this place. It’s a tough place to play. They have a great fan base and Jeff [Lebby] and his staff have done an incredible job. We’re looking to start getting ready for these guys.”
On DL Jordan Hall, ILB Chris Cole and DB Demello Jones injuries…
“Jordan [Hall] will be out for some time, we are not sure how long, but he’ll be out for some time. Chris Cole, we have a chance to get back this week. I think he’s going to be able to play and be ready to go. He might be a little limited today, but he’ll be able to practice tomorrow. Demello [Jones], surprisingly, is better than we originally thought. He’s got some soreness in the elbow, but he may be able to play so we’re excited that the news wasn’t as significant as we thought. Jordan [Hall] is a tough one because that kids been through a lot injury-wise. He fought to get back last year towards the end of the year. He wasn’t even 100% healthy then, and then he had a good offseason and was really leading and competing and playing well for us. It’s a tough injury for him to sustain, and we’ll see what the timeline is once we know more later today and tomorrow.”
On Mississippi State’s QB Blake Shapen…
“He’s a good fit. He’s got great arm talent, great vision, quick release, which is critical in their offense. He can spin it. He understands their system, and he knows where to go with the ball, all the decisions he makes in terms of running, throwing, box counts. He’s a very experienced, talented player, and he’s got great legs and they’ve got another quarterback that is a really good player as well.”
On WR Anthony Evans and Brenen Thompson’s performance since transferring…
“Anthony [Evans] has played awesome. It was great watching him in the last 24 hours, I’d seen highlights throughout the year, watching Anthony [Evans] play really well just in games and passing and things that overlapped, but then yesterday, I got to sit and watch four or five games in a row. He’s played really well. He’s explosive, fast, a vertical threat, a quick game threat, and blocking well. He’s always been a good returner and he’s everything that we thought he was. He’s a really good football player that has grown, gotten better, and as you grow up and get better, you improve and he’s done that, and he’s playing at a really high level. Brenen Thompson is a force to be reckoned with, he is the fastest guy I’ve seen on tape probably in multiple years. I can’t remember the last time I saw somebody this explosively fast and dynamic as this guy is. The package of those two guys together is really good.”
On Mississippi State’s confidence coming into this weekend after their first conference win since 2023…
“Well, number one, it shows hard work pays off. They’ve continued to work hard. They’ve stayed true to themselves. All you’ve got to do is watch the tape. They’ve been in every game. They’ve had several games they should have won, they could have won, but they didn’t. Obviously it didn’t slow them down because, you know, even Arkansas. Arkansas every game they’ve been in, they score tons of points. They’re a hard team to beat. A lot of respect for their coaching staff and their team shows you what kind of competitive character they’ve got that they have sustained that in every game, regardless of the outcome of the games.”
On whether there are elements of Josh Huepel’s offensive scheme in Mississippi State’s offense…
“It’s the same, but different.”
On WR Noah Thomas…
“I think early on it was the system in terms of spring practice, but he’s grown physically. I think [James] Coley’s done a really good job using his skill set and making sure that he understands his development at the next level becomes more than just being a receiver with a ball in your hands. Whether that’s what you do without it in terms of blocking, what you do in special teams, how you’re an asset to your teammates. He’s been incredible at all those things. He has wanted to start on our special teams units all along, and he really has. Until last week, we took him off because of the number of snaps he was having to play, but he’s been one of our best leaders in terms of enthusiasm and energy on the field.”
On what stands out about Mississippi State’s defense…
“They get after it. They’re very disruptive. They confuse you with different packages. They have some different looks they use. They’ve got some long length. I haven’t seen this kind of length in a long time. That corner and safety in terms of length allows you to tip balls, knock balls down, intercept balls. They are very lengthy and can get balls down and create havoc through what they do. But they’ve done a really good job this year creating those turnovers. They’re plus in the margin and any time you’re plus in the margin, in our league, that’s winning because it’s a really competitive league in terms of turnovers.”
On WR Zachariah Branch and other transfers’ ‘hit’ rate…
“I don’t know that we determine a ‘hit’ rate. I look at these as kids, human beings, student-athletes. I think that our sell to them was, ‘Come be part of our family and our culture and grow and enjoy in the success that you might have, but enjoy in the success of others.’ They’ve all hit on that and it’s a big part of what I believe to be the culture when you go into the portal is – you have to have people that are shaped the right way mentally and strong enough that hopefully they can contribute to your team both on the field and in the locker room.”
On whether RB Chauncey Bowens is limited due to injury…
“No. Chauncey [Bowens]’s healthy. He’s done a great job. When he’s had the opportunity, his number’s been called. That injury was significant whatever game it was. I forget what it was, Auburn maybe or whenever it was. Outside of that, he’s been pretty healthy and done everything we’ve asked and continues to improve.”
On Mississippi State’s backup quarterback Kamario Taylor and whether Georgia has anyone to simulate him…
“No, we don’t have anybody to simulate that. He’s big, talented, athletic. They use a package of him with Blake [Shapen] in the game at the same time, which creates its own issues. They use him in situations and they’ve used him some with – they’ve had backs out and they’ve used him not necessarily as a back, but he is an addition to the run game that throws the ball really well. He’s a very bright talent, and he’s a good football player. So, I don’t know that you can simulate it. You do the best job you can, and you prepare.”
On AD Josh Brooks’ impact on the athletic program…
“Josh [Brooks] does an incredible job for us as a football program, but his benefit goes way beyond football. He’s an athletic administrator that cares about this place. He wants to be great in all athletics. He cares about all the sports. It’s not just football. Every AD wants football to be successful because that funds your athletic department, and he makes no qualms about that. We need to be successful in the major revenue sports, but his job is to support every athletic endeavor we have here at UGA, and he does that every year. He has an incredible staff. Darrice [Griffin], saw her today, and the people that he has on his staff have done a tremendous job. I think Josh knows the support you get here from administration, team effort. It’s a team concept that he wants to be part of that, and I’m glad he does.”
On S Zion Branch stepping up against Florida after DB KJ Bolden targeting ejection…
“I think that depends on this week of practice and every week of practice, right? KJ right now is our starter. KJ is a good football player, and we’re trying to get better play as a whole out of our entire team. That starts with front, linebackers, secondary, receivers, O-line, everyone. We’re going to go out to practice today and continue to get better. I was very pleased with Zion stepping up. We put a lot of pressure on him every day in practice to go out there and execute. He doesn’t take the same number of reps as KJ, but he takes a lot of reps. There’s days that he goes out there and works really hard, and all that hard work he put in paid off and allowed him to go out there, play, and help us be successful.”
On DL Nnamdi Ogboko and his recent impact on defense…
“Nnamdi did a good job. He plays. He’s going to probably play a little more of a role now, and he continues to get better. I spend a lot of time with Nnamdi down on the scout D when I run the scout defense. He is a guy that is similar to how Christen [Miller] was his sophomore year. Christen went down there with us. Jordan [Hall] went down there with us. We’ve had a laundry list of guys who have gone down there and what we say, ‘Go against the best of our O-line.’ A lot of time, their growth explodes. They get better, faster than the guys that aren’t doing that, and I’ve seen that with Nnamdi. He’s gotten better and better at striking blocks. There’s a big emphasis for him from a conditioning-level standpoint. He takes a lot of pride in getting that right, so he can be on the field for more snaps. He was a big boost the other night because he’s very good at block recognition. He understands leverage. He strikes and gets off blocks.”
On the team’s comfort level in close games…
“I don’t ever feel uncomfortable in a game based on the score. I’m uncomfortable in how we play sometimes. It’s not about the fourth quarter, the first quarter, the halftime. It’s not about the score because we just really don’t make it about that. If you want to dominate someone, you don’t look and check and see what the score is halfway through. The objective is to dominate them, and there’s no scoreboard when you start talking about dominating somebody. You look at it at the end of the day and see if you did. We haven’t done that very often in terms of dominating the way we want to, but we’ll continue to try to.”
On preparing for the environment at Mississippi State…
“Noise is noise. It’s hard to play in the SEC on the road. I have not been to an SEC venue that it was not hard to play into on the road. It’s just hard. That’s not going to change with them. They’ve got a really vertical stadium. I think the noise gets trapped in their stadium. It’s one of the loudest places that I’ve coached, and I’ve coached there a lot. They’ve got a lot of pride in how they play and how their team plays and the support of their team. As far as the early kickoff, that’s more unique to me than the stadium. We go to the road games, it’s road games and it’s hard. The uniqueness is a change in time, time zone a little bit because you’re changing time zones and then what time the kick is. Unless they don’t have to show up until earlier or later, it’s the same for both. It’s how you manage it, so we approach it differently and take a lot of ideas from other people and the best way to manage it. Sometimes make a bigger deal out of it than it is. Just got to go play.”
On Georgia high school football coach Charlie Winslette…
“Charles Winslette’s a great man. I don’t think there’s a coach in the state of Georgia that doesn’t have a story about Charles Winslette or a classic story. He’s a very, very interesting man. He has done it for a long time. He’s done it successfully at a lot of places. He’s very bright. He’s a Georgia grad, played baseball here and he was a good friend of my father, who everybody knows passed away. I always appreciated their relationship as a young kid in south Georgia. Winslette was coaching there, and they used to trade film and trade stories. So, for me, I go way back with Winslette.”
On the lack of sacks and turnovers on defense…
“We’ve been that way before. We have never been a sack machine, if you look at it statistically. We’ve never been a turnover machine. We have been better defensively than we are right now, but a lot of that has to do with the culture of the league, what we’re playing in, the parity. I’ll take the strengths we have, work with them, try to work on the weaknesses and worry about the process and not the results. That’s what we’re worried about right now.”
On DL Joseph Jonah-Ajonye…
“He’s really been beat up this year. He’s been dealing with several injuries this year, and I think he’s pushed through really hard. I’m excited that he gets to speak with you guys because he’s such a high-character, high-caring individual who has such a great story. His mom is one of the sweetest, nicest ladies I’ve ever met, who basically has brought her children to this country and raised her children here. She has worked her way to success and now he’s working his way to success. He’s one of the toughest kids we got. He pushes through injuries. I thought he had one of the big plays in the game the other night. He was a main part of the fourth-and-one stop in terms of his effort and his get-off, and we need him to keep improving. We’re not used to having to lean on true sophomores, but he’s a guy that has some natural pass rush ability and natural ability that we need to capitalize on.”
On freshman WR Landon Roldan’s growth…
“I’ll be honest with you. All those young wideouts continue to grow. I thought he and CJ Wiley both had really good off-week practices in build-up to Florida Talyn [Taylor] coming back from his injury, getting better and running now. Tyler Williams is doing a great job. All those guys, [Thomas] Blackshear, you look across the board and that’s a good class. They continue to work. I’m excited today to get to see those guys continue to work, and I’m trying to challenge them that next man up. Somebody’s got to be ready, and you don’t get ready when the injury happens. You get ready while you’re prepping for it, and they’ve done a good job doing that.”