Kirby Smart, Bulldogs discuss 2025 fall football camp

UGA football head coach Kirby Smart and two players, offensive lineman Drew Bobo and defensive back Joenel Aguero, spoke to the media on Tuesday about Georgia’s fall 2025 football camp.

Smart touched on the first scrimmage of fall, second-year players, running backs, tight ends, the defense, and more.

Below is a transcript of the fall camp comments that was provided by UGA:

Head Coach Kirby Smart

On takeaways from the first scrimmage…
“The temperature made things not as trying, not as mentally tough. I thought the speeds were good. You look back over the years, and the first term is always a lot of heat. Also they are coming after hot practices, so it’s not just that day, it’s what’s happened the previous three or four days. The totality of practicing 110, 105 heat index a couple of days in a row can take its toll on that scrimmage, and that wasn’t the case this time. I do not think that’s any indication that we’re in any better shape. I think it’s just an indication of the weather. So, really competitive drives, several long drives. I was pleased with the effort for the first scrimmage. We did tackle exactly great, which is the first time we’ve really tackled live. We’ve done a little more live tackling than we have in the past, so we did do some prior to the scrimmage. I was really pleased with the effort on special teams. I think that’s where we set ourselves apart in scrimmages, because we do the special teams within the scrimmage. We have guys competing for spots on those units, and I thought they competed really hard. I was pleased. Some silly procedural penalties both ways, but pleased with the effort of both groups. We’re just not where we need to be yet.”

On improvements made amongst second-year players…
“In some cases, we had some guys that were injured a little bit last year and didn’t get to see them as much, and now they’re getting more reps. The guys who’ve played, they still have a lot of growth. We have freshmen who played last year that are still seeing growth. But I’m very pleased with where that group is.”

On Thomas Blackshear and Rasean Dinkins and their performance in the first days of fall camp…
“They worked out hard all summer. It’s like in the olden days, those guys would have shown up in August. So they show up in the summer, but they’re late. But they show up in the summer, which is really not late, because we’re doing more in the summer than we’ve ever done to get these young guys ready. Because they’ve done so much in the summer, they’re allowed to walk, they’re allowed to eat, they’re allowed to condition, they’re allowed to do all these things. They’re probably like our mid-years were in the spring, where it’s a little bit of a shock to them, the tempo of practice, the volume of practice. Thomas [Blackshear] has been with a groin injury that’s been nagging, so he’s not able to take his rep load. He’s fighting to stay healthy, and camp’s not a good time to be fighting that fight. There are no days off, and it’s like, okay, I’m back out there every day. So he’s flashed and done some things on special teams, and [Rasean] Dinkins is a good football player. He’s young, and he’s still learning, but he’s instinctive, and he understands football.”

On learning the center position…
“All those guys are competing and battling, doing a really good job there. Drew [Bobo] has been a great force, very consistent, understands it, leads it, covers down, great shape, great effort player. There’s a battle there behind them, Malachi [Toliver]’s dealing with an ankle, but those guys are all competing, and really proud of where they are while Waltclaire [Flynn Jr.] had to push through some pain and injury Saturday, and he was able to do that. Cortez Smith is on time, on schedule for a freshman alignment to be as consistent as he is. And then Dontrell [Glover]’s done a good job just going in there and snapping and providing us some backup ability.”

On Josh McCray and the status of the running back room…
“I don’t know that he’s behind. I think the biggest thing is just getting in shape, caught up in speed, reps, volume, pickups, words, all those things. He continues to push to get where he needs to.”

On the status of the running back room…
“I’m pleased with where those guys are. That’s where we just got to tackle live. All those guys continue to compete. The biggest thing is staying healthy so we can develop depth at that position.”

On Chris Cole’s progress…
“Chris does a good job for us. He’s very talented in different facets. He can stack back, play inside and back, or he can play on the edges, he can walk out space and play apex. He’s long, he’s rangy, but the number one thing is he’s a high effort player. He’s a high IQ player. We need him to be a good inside backer. We need him to be a good third down factor. We need him to be a guy that can line up and play on tight ends cuz of his length. And he’s given us that ability.”

On seeing the growth of Nate Frazier…
“The biggest growth from Nate Frazier from where he was last year, another guy who got here this summer, is his knowledge and pickups, third down, pass mode, knowing when I can get in, when I can get out, when I have to stay in and protect, how I protect. The knowledge and understanding of that is not having to rely on the quarterback to tell you and I think that’s big. His confidence in his run and his ability to give effort and conditioning level is much better than he was in the first year.”

On the development of Juan Gaston and Elo Modozie…
“Juan’s got to get in better shape. He’s a talented player, but he plays a lot of snaps. As his volume goes up, he struggles to sustain, which is usually the case with freshmen. They just can’t handle the volume, the practice load that they get. He’s growing at that. He’s lost 25, 30 pounds since being here. But, he continues to work hard and work with the ones and the twos and pickups, pass throw pickups and the different things he has to do. Elo’s still finding his way in the defense in terms of knowledge and understanding leverages. He’s playing a little bit different role than he played at his place. So, he’s adjusted to that. I love his work ethic. I love the way he competes. He’s twitchy and he’s going against two good tacklers every day.”

On the performance of the offensive line in the first scrimmage and expectations…
“Yeah, I want to continue to see an identity, identity of toughness, physical, setting the edges on the run game, denting the defense. And it’s what we have to be and we need to have a great run game to number one, help our quarterback, release third and longs, feature backs, and then utilize play action. So, those guys are working really hard, I’ve been pleased with the group. They continue to work hard and do what we need to do. We’ll be where we need to be.”

On Ryan Puglisi’s preparation throughout fall camp…
“He prepares really hard. He studies, he’s smart, picks things up. He makes mistakes, we’ll say I’ll do, and he learns from them. He generally knows when he messed up, he’s walking off the field in the scrimmage and didn’t change the protection on the play that he knew he should have. He knew it messed him up, but he knew it right away, which is different than where he was this time last year. He’s still trying to figure that out. He makes some really good throws and he’s more comfortable in the pocket than he’s been. He understands things much better and he has a confidence about it that has helped. So, his growth is a tribute to Coach Streeter and Coach Bobo working diligently with him and him absorbing that information.”

On Zachariah Branch’s performance on special teams in the first scrimmage…
“Yeah, we didn’t do much in terms of, I mean, it’s not live, they just catch the kick, right? So, I don’t know what you’d be asking or measuring because they’re not tackling them, they’re not live. So it’s a hard measurement to say. He doesn’t play the positions where you’re getting off a block, covering, doing those things. He’s just catching the ball. So that’s something that we don’t do live; it’s a high-injury, high-impact play. So we avoid that.”

On the competition at right guard…
“I feel good about those guys. They have intelligence, they have size, they have mass, they have quickness, they have more experience, but the things you want in guards are size and mass to control the pocket.”

Thoughts on Gunnar Stockton’s Performance during scrimmage…
Pt. 2 Thoughts on tight end performance Jaden Reddell…
“Well, I don’t know what you base that on. I mean, I guess you’re all looking at what somebody reported to you. I really don’t know, but I look at the tight ends as a whole in that room, and each one of them did some really good things in the scrimmage, and then each one of them did some really poor things in the scrimmage. That includes [Jaden] Reddell, and that includes Oscar [Delp], and that includes Lawson [Luckie], and that includes Elyiss [Williams], and that includes Ethan [Barbour]. So they all had some positives and some negatives when it comes to that. I’m hoping they continue to get better and have more positives than negatives. I hope that they contribute on special teams, because we need those guys to be able to help us in special teams. At the end of the day, you get judged at tight end, not on a play action pass where you’re wide open, you didn’t do anything. What did you do? You get judged on, can you break tackles? And I don’t know that we had any tight ends breaking tackles. There’s probably not one tight end who broke a tackle. So when you break tackles, it’s something that great players do. Good players just catch the ball and go down where they get you.”

On Ryan Montgomery’s performance thus far in fall camp..
“Yeah, mentally, he gets it, and he’s very into the mental side of it. He throws a very catchable ball, a very accurate passer. A little overwhelmed at times and probably thinking too much in terms of, we give the quarterback a lot, and we give a freshman quarterback a lot, because it’s a lot greater than what they’re used to, but he’s handled that volume well, and he does a good job processing information and taking coaching to the field, which is a good sign for a quarterback.”

On Ellis Robinson and expectations…
“To be the best version of himself. I don’t know a freshman that we sign anymore that doesn’t come in with high expectations of themselves, and I want that. If they don’t have high expectations of themselves, then we probably got the wrong guy. Honestly, they have to be ready to play because of the volume of players we have; we have 50% of our team that’s year one and two. So if you don’t come in on year one thinking you’re gonna play, then you’re probably at the wrong place. Doesn’t mean they’re all gonna play, but he’s improved, he’s worked really hard, he competes in practice, he can play physical. He doesn’t always do it, he needs to do it more consistently. He is not shy or afraid of contact, and he’s got ball skills. He makes plays on the ball a lot, and that’s a big part of being a corner.

On JJ Hanne’s performance during the first scrimmage…
“He’s growing up, he’s learning technique, he plays hard. Football’s important to him; you always see him out there doing extra work after practice. He’s one of the kids that wasn’t born and raised in the United States. So, he doesn’t take this opportunity for granted, and that’s a key ingredient to success.”

On Adrian Maddox and his development in the program since the spring…
“He’s more comfortable in defense, the checks. The things we put on a safety are probably greater than any position outside of linebacker and quarterback. So, he’s more comfortable in practice than when he had 10 or 11 practices because now, he’s around 25, 26 practices, he’s much more comfortable than he was in the spring. He has some really good redeeming qualities. He’s passionate and he’s instinctive. He runs to the ball hard, he plays hard, he has a knack for getting balls out, but he has to play within the defense and understand leverages in what we call not playing rat trap. He’s got to consistently do that to play winning football, but I’m very excited about what the future holds for him.”

On the leaders in the wide receiver room and what was seen from them in the first scrimmage…
“London [Humphreys] is one of our leaders. He sets the tone on each and every day for work. Branch [Zachariah] does a great job. He’s a passionate guy; he gives you great energy every day. He goes out and works hard. Dillon [Bell], he’s been around here longer than anybody in terms of work ethic and doing things the right way. You can’t really look at that group and say, ‘there’s just one leader’, they lead by committee. There’s a lot of them in there that work hard and do what they’re asked. Even the young guys, they got great examples to follow in those older guys. So, in the scrimmage, some good, some bad, right? We had a couple of explosive plays, a couple of plays I thought the receivers should have made, but I was very pleased with their effort.”

On expectations during practice this afternoon…
“I’m hoping that we get to see them improve on tackling, getting more physical. We’re going to work on some situational things. Excited to see them work, honestly, because we’re kind of midweek right now before scrimmage two. We’re getting near the end of our installs, so we should be nearing the volume of football we have to put in, and then we start working on the rest.”

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The Georgia Bulldogs are set to open the 2025 season at home against the Marshall Thundering Herd on Saturday, Aug. 30. The game will be televised live by ESPN at 3:30pm ET (Buy Tickets).

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