Kirby Smart, Bulldogs preview 2026 Tennessee State football game

Georgia football head coach Kirby Smart and two players, Nate Frazier and Justin Williams, spoke with the media on Monday about their upcoming game against the Tennessee State Tigers.

Third-ranked Georgia and Tennessee State will square off on Saturday, September 5 at Dooley Field at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Ga. The game will be a streaming-only event on SEC Network+ and ESPN+ and it will kickoff at 3:00pm ET (Buy Tickets).

Clay Matvick will call the play-by-play, Rocky Boiman will provide analysis, while Laura Stickells will report from the sidelines.

Below is a transcript of the Tennessee State press conference which was provided by UGA.

Head Coach Kirby Smart

Opening Statement…
I’m excited about game week. I know our players are ready to play someone other than each other, so the guys are excited. I know the fans are excited. I’m excited to see this team go out and play their first game. We have to play somebody else to get better, and that’s the stage we’re in. Our guys have had a really good camp. We’ve had 20, maybe 21 practices, and we’re in a good spot to get better. We worked hard Friday and Saturday; the players had Sunday off. Tennessee State plays a really tight, exciting ball game. They had a tough loss on Saturday night, but played really well against Jackson State, so we’ll begin to prepare for these guys today.

On what differs a game from a scrimmage…
Coaches aren’t on the field. They have to go out and react to an opponent – somebody that you don’t always know exactly what they’re going to do – so you get to see a reaction from the players. You get to see growth, confidence and exposure to playing in front of fans. In my coaching history, there are guys that go out and do something phenomenal we haven’t seen in practice. We see those things in games, like the reaction to a play they gave up when they get beat and how they respond to it is what I’m looking for. I’m looking at the response more than the actual event.

On Bo Walker…
Bo has really good vision. He’s low to the ground, which makes him hard to tackle.
He runs and protects physically, and he’s a good football player. What he may lack in speed, he makes up for in vision and quickness, and he has had a good camp.

On Drew Bobo and Gabe Harris…
They’re great. They’re taking every single rep. I don’t know what else to say other than they’re good to go.

On Nate Frazier’s biggest steps in his career…
Leadership in the room has been a big step. I think he takes personal ownership. Chauncey [Bowens], Dwight [Phillips] and Nate all came in together, and he takes a lot of pride in having positive energy to affect them. He has the stamina to carry the ball further downfield. Pass pro and pass receiving has helped him in becoming a weapon. Catching the ball out of the backfield has been a big focus for him, but all in all, he’s worked really hard this game.

On preparing for the weather conditions…
We’ve been in the heat more than we have been in years past. It’s been one of the hottest camps we’ve measured in terms of practices. We’ve practiced outside and inside. We measure all the outside ones against previous camps, and it stood out as one of the hottest camps we’ve had. I always worry about our players being acclimated to a game-type atmosphere and that heat because you don’t ever play games a lot of times in it. We practice in it, and we get to scrimmage in it. I’ll be interested to see how our players as well as our fans handle it.

On Chase Linton…
Chase is a great kid. He comes from a great family. He’s tough and works hard. He’s gotten better with every opportunity that he’s had, and I’m excited to see him continue to grow.

On Tennessee State’s offense…
Their quarterback does a great job. He’s very smooth, hard to tackle and gets out of trouble. He’s a great, efficient passer. I thought he played with a lot of moxie and confidence on Saturday night. You can just see that he understands what they’re trying to do offensively and executes well. He’s a transfer guy that has gotten that opportunity and played well, and he gets an opportunity to come out and play against us.

On the team’s competitive character…
I think the competitive character is yet to be completely shown. We’ve seen it and we’ve been privy to watch the guys compete against each other. Some handle that better than others. They’re going against a formidable opponent every day they go out there, and I enjoy watching them compete against each other and all the things they’ve done so far. It leaves me no doubt that they will go out and respond in game time situations.

On the interior defensive linemen…
They work hard as a group. They bust their butt every day of practice. They compete and go against a big physical offensive line. We have a few more twitchy guys in there with JJ [Hanne] sliding in, playing a little more time inside. We’ve got the size with Nnamdi [Ogboko] in there, and Nasir Johnson playing there. Both of those guys have been good at run-stopping for us. What we need is the twitch, the athleticism that he brings in some of those guys to make us better pressurers.

On Justin Williams…
He is an extremely high character kid. From the first time we met him, I remember he came to a junior day and he was all in. He was in every competition we had. He was in the front line. He was smiling, laughing, and meeting other recruits. He felt like a ball of energy, and that’s carried over into his play. He plays really hard, with a lot of passion and energy. He leads that way. There’s not anything that we do as a team that he’s not in the front line. He and Chris [Cole] have the same personality, in terms of they find joy in whatever they’re doing, and I appreciate that from Justin. He had a lot of opportunities to play last year, and he’s going to get more opportunities to play. He needs to play well and tackle well. He plays fast, and he plays physical. His biggest thing has been maintaining his weight and being able to keep his weight on.

On Tennessee State’s defense…
They’re a group that knows how to play blocks and strike blocks. They gave up a couple of explosive plays early in the game and went back and forth for a couple of quarters with Jackson State. They do a tremendous job. I know some of the defensive guys on their staff. They’re going to play hard and physically. This is an opportunity for their kids to play on a bigger stage. They just got to play at Vanderbilt’s Stadium. They got to play on TV at night, and they are going to have an opportunity to come in here and play at our place.

On how technology has changed evaluations…
We listen to the numbers. We have people assigned that are experts at that, I’m not. They bring the data to me daily, and if you look through it, somebody is losing velocity, or they haven’t hit a max velocity in a while. We have to look into it. We try to hit max velocities one time a week and make sure players are still running fast. Ultimately, to maintain your speed and prevent injury, you have to run fast. We look at the data that comes in each day and try to have a plan for the week, how we’re gonna utilize it, and if guys are struggling, then we cut them back.

On the wide receiver group…
I want to see execution and superior position play. I don’t know why I would want to see anything different out of them than I see out of the quarterbacks or the defensive backs. I want them to be the guy that executes higher than the guy you’re across from, regardless of position. I want all those guys to perform at a high level, and do it regardless of who the opponent is. It doesn’t matter who the opponent is, our opponent is ourselves. That’s pretty much the case for me every week.

On the importance of live game reps…
They’re valuable. I put value on scrimmages, so I don’t know that I can say any game rep is more valuable than the first two scrimmage reps we had. We certainly prepared differently for them because we’re not tapering off going into scrimmages. We will taper off going into this game, but I put value on everything we do. I try to put them in game-like situations because game-like situations matter. I don’t want to devalue what we’ve done, or devalue what we’re going to do in this game, but they just need reps. I’ve come to the conclusion that every freshman needs a certain number, and every freshman is different. One freshman might need three reps, another freshman might need 1,300 reps. I don’t know what that is. I know we’ve got to get to that number to get them in a position where they can be open to it.

On special teams…
Drew [Miller] has punted, so it’s not like it’s his first time going out there to punt. I think people forget that. He’s had a really good camp. He’s had some good matching distance and hangs, which is important to us. He hasn’t been out-kicking his coverage, and he’s been really good at sky kicks. He’s getting pushed by weight, so he’s got a challenge. He’s got competition, and I’ve enjoyed watching those two go at it. Peyton [Woodring] has had a good camp, and Harran [Zureikat] had a good camp. So they have done a good job. I feel it’s in good hands, considering what we’ve lost. We lost some guys in the return game. We’ll find out more details this week about where we go from here.

On undrafted Georgia players making NFL rosters…
I think it happens all over the league. I don’t know the numbers on that. You just might have to tell me how many UFAs made it, but it does happen. It happens a lot because I think they know how to practice. [Dillon] Bell reached out yesterday to thank the staff and myself for how hard we pushed him and how we challenged him. He felt like it came down to his versatility and the things he can do as a wide out, but also his special team’s value. They went after him because we told them that’s what he was. He had great special teams value. He can do everything on special teams because he is built like a running back, runs like a receiver and he has great ball skills. I think anytime you look, as far as the kickers and the specialists themselves, those are not drafted positions here in the last couple of years. A few of them get picked, but as good as our guys have been, not many of them have been picked, but they make teams and make rosters. You’ve got to be one of the best 32 in the world at what you do to make a team. [Brett Thorson] has proven that, so I’m happy for him.

On Ekene Ogboko…
He’s come a long way and continues to get better. He’s added some weight. We’ll find out how long and how many snaps he can play. We hope to be able to get him in there and play some and get better. The only way he’s going to get better at this point is to be able to play some, but he goes against good guys every day. He is an extremely hard worker who takes pride in his performance. Traditionally, the people who are extremely hard workers and take pride in their performance are successful. So if you want a remedy for success, be an extremely hard worker that takes pride in your performance, and he does that.

On bringing back NFL players…
We’re set in what we got.

On the offensive line rotation…
We have a lot of guys that will play in multiple spots. Every offensive lineman plays two spots, some play three, some play five, but every one of them has to play two, otherwise we can’t have enough backups. We’ll probably have nine to ten guys that I hope can play winning football like we do year in and year out. We probably sit on a bubble of seven or eight right now, and it depends on who you’re playing, whether you can play nine or ten. It depends on how you’re playing. Some are better than others at the run game and some are better at the pass game. We’re trying to get the best at both, but there will be multiple guys playing multiple positions Saturday.

On Elyiss Williams…
He’s a really hard worker. He is as physical a blocker as maybe I’ve seen in my career coaching. For a tight end, he strains to block you. He enjoys the physicality of what he does. He’s really improved as a pass catcher and as a run after catch guy. He does what he does without complaint or worry about his individual numbers. He just works, whether it’s in the run game, pass protection game, or the passing game, they’re really pleased with his effort. The tight end room as a whole knows their strength, but it’s their attitude and kind of love for each other that makes it different.

On Ethan Barbour…
He’s tough and physical. To come back from that injury he came back from, and to come back in the same season, was incredible. He fought really hard to make it back. There was no timidness, no ‘I’m scared of contact’ after his injury. He’s proven that again, he and Elyiss [Williams] are physical, not afraid of contact and different in different ways. The other guys in the room compliment them, and they’ve worked really hard. They are an asset to our team, and we’re proud of Ethan’s work ethic and his leadership.

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