Kirby Smart hypes up Alabama offense, QB Ty Simpson: ‘Hottest QB in all of college football’

He praised wide receivers Ryan Williams and Germie Bernard. He was complimentary of the Alabama rushing attack, which is expected to add running back Jam Miller to the equation.

But his strongest praise was reserved for quarterback Ty Simpson.

“He’s a tremendous athlete,” Smart said. “He played in games last year, and you watch all the snaps he took, and he has 60-, 70-, 80-yard runs that are running down the field, outrunning good defenses. So he’s a talented player. I would say he’s probably the hottest quarterback right now in all of college football. His two last outings, I don’t know that I’ve seen an incompletion — like, the ball does not hit the ground.

“He’s been accurate, he’s been quick with the ball.”

Smart spent 16 minutes previewing the Bulldogs’ game Saturday versus Alabama (7:30 p.m., ABC).

Everything Kirby Smart said as Georgia welcomes Alabama and ‘the hottest QB in the country’ to Athens

Below is a full transcript of everything Smart had to say Monday at his weekly news conference.

Opening statement

“I’ll open it up. Obviously, you guys know who we play, and we are preparing for that game the end of last week and moving forward that way this week. Excited. Big stage, big-time game. For Athens, the economic impact on this city and just what it’s done for the community is going to be huge.

“Got a lot of great home games, but this is one of the feature ones (against) a really good program. Coach (Kalen) DeBoer’s done a great job, to me, trying to fill some mighty big shoes, and he is doing a great job in his own right in the way he approaches things. They got a good football team. Big, physical, fast team just like they’ve always been, and should be an exciting game.”

On how Alabama’s offensive identity has changed if at all...

“Well, I mean, Ty’s different than (Jalen) Milroe, you said it. So there’s a difference in that, but he’s a really good athlete. Like, he’s a tremendous athlete. He played in games last year, and you watch all the snaps he took, and he has 60-, 70-, 80-yard runs that are running down the field, outrunning good defenses. So he’s a talented player. I would say he’s probably the hottest quarterback right now in all of college football. His two last outings, I don’t know that I’ve seen an incompletion — like, the ball does not hit the ground.

“He’s been accurate, he’s been quick with the ball. They’re really hard to defend because of their skill. They’ve got tremendous skill receivers, backs, tight ends, but you’ve got to have a trigger guy that can get those guys the ball, and they do. And he’s seeing the field. I didn’t realize in the Florida State game that it was as messy and sloppy as the weather was at times. Like, we were playing a game during that time, so I had no idea until last week you go watch, and you’re like, oh, okay. It was a rainy, sloppy game. In the other games he’s played, there’s been no sloppiness. I mean, he’s accurate, he’s quick with the ball, he’s a good decision-maker and has made some elite throws. So they’re clicking right now offensively for sure.”

On what kind of difference playing this game at home can be for Georgia...

“Being at home is an advantage. Just as I say, going on the road is hard. Going on the road last year to play the games we played, hard. Going to Tennessee a couple weeks ago was hard. Playing at home, it helps. The atmosphere helps, the crowd noise helps, being familiar with your surroundings, and all that stuff helps.

“But at the end of the day, you’ve got to go play football, and it comes down to matchups, it comes down to who blocks and tackles the best, who executes and does things in the key moments of the game. So certainly glad it’s at home, but we’ve still got to play well.”

“They block, man. They’re physical. They come off, they hit you. You’ve seen them on tape go vertical, make vertical plays. Obviously, the talent Ryan has, but there’s a lot of people that focus on him and try to take him out of the game.

“The Bernard kid, you know, has been incredible. I feel like he’s been there forever, and he’s only been there — this is his second year. He came with those guys. He is the catalyst to that offense because he does so much. He is similar to Dillon Bell. They use him as a back, they use him as a point of attack blocker, reverse guy, gadget guy, vertical guy, deep routes. I mean, he’s a complete player, and he’s really physical. And I have a lot of respect for the way he plays.

“But all their wideouts are playing at a high level right now ‘cause the quarterback is. And when your quarterback’s throwing and catching, throwing the ball well, and they’re catching the ball well, it’s hard because they don’t just do one thing. They have very multiple schemes.”

On Sanford Stadium atmosphere and if it’s a different place to play with how the athletic department has upgraded the gameday experience...

“I don’t know what, it’s hard. To what you referenced there, I mean, the toughest place to play is where the best players are. So when you have really good teams, they’re hard to play against. I don’t know that the atmosphere alone makes it that way. I mean, there’s a point of no return, like A&M, it’s really loud. I played when I coached there, when I coached at Alabama. Auburn, one of the hardest places, Tennessee, one of the hardest places. I mean, they’re all hard, LSU, they’re all really hard to play. And I think ours fits in that same category of hard to play in. But it’s what you’re playing against that makes the difference. I don’t like making it about the athletic department, what kind of atmosphere they create. The fans create the atmosphere, not the athletic department. And our fans have done a great job of giving us a competitive home-field advantage that is equal to other places in the SEC.”

On biggest takeaways on offense against Tennessee...

“Yeah, we’re trying to get better at everything. I can’t sit here and tell you there’s one area, OK, we gotta do this, gotta do this, we gotta score touchdowns in the red area. We gotta be able to run the ball efficiently, we gotta be able to play action, gotta be able to drop back, gotta be able to perimeter block. I mean, there’s nothing that didn’t need work coming out of the Tennessee game. We didn’t go back and say, man, we’re really good at this, let’s put this on the back burner, and let’s go work on these other areas. We work on everything every day, because we need everything every day. So the days we worked last week, three or four days we worked, we targeted different areas and tried to get better at them.”

On how you prepare for Kalen DeBoer’s iteration of Alabama...

“I don’t know where that question’s going. I mean, how do you prepare for anything? We prepare for every team the same. We don’t go, OK, we gotta prepare for Tennessee differently than we prepare for Alabama. We prepare by doing what they do and trying to do it better than they do it, in terms of the look we give our guys, which is really hard to simulate. But I don’t see it like, OK, coach DeBoer’s there, we gotta prepare this kind of way. They’re a really good football team with really good players. They’ve changed. Yeah, they’ve changed defensively, and they’ve changed offensively. And you know what? They’ll change every year as their personnel changes. Milroe’s different than Ty, but they’re both tremendous athletes, and our preparation is what we’re trying to remain consistent.”

On bye week getting Georgia healthy...

“Yeah, I mean, it’s equal, right? Because in this case, we both have bye weeks, so I don’t see it really different in terms of preparation. We work on other opponents, we work on ourselves. We got a lot of young guys reps, got some time off to get away, which the players got this weekend. So I don’t see the prep being different than most weeks for us, just a little more time.”

On Ryan Williams....

“Yeah, he’s a dynamic receiver. When you got a guy that’s a 100-meter champ, and explosive, and got the ball skills he has, I mean, he possesses all the traits of elite wideouts. Make you miss, vertical threat, quickness, toughness. I mean, he’s an all-around great player, and he’s proven to be an explosive play waiting to happen.”

On Alabama’s running backs and Jam Miller...

“Well, he’s extremely physical, but they’ve kind of done it by committee. I mean, when I look at them through the first games, it reminds me sometimes of us. I mean, they’ve got big, they’ve got small, they’ve got fast, they’ve got athletic, they’ve got it all covered. And they play them, they play their backs, and keep those guys fresh and healthy. Obviously, Jam has more experience, and he’s really physical, hard to tackle, point of attack, can get after it, really good pass protector.

“I mean, he’s just a veteran. It’s like looking at our group and saying, okay, is there one guy that’s played more than the other guys? They got a lot of guys that have played.”

On the right side of the offensive line...

“No clue, I mean, how much further along? They got to grow up, we got to play better across the offensive line. It’s not just one side or the other. I think when you look across college football, that’s an area that everybody, you tune in and watch games Saturday. There’s nobody, I’m going, man, that’s a dominant offensive line right there. They’re just running up and down the field on this SEC defense. It doesn’t happen. I mean, you don’t see scores that are really high scoring. You see really good defensive personnel, you see tough road games. It’s not gonna be any different in ours. I mean, both, every team in the SEC is trying to get their offensive line better or as close to right as you can get it. And we’ll be trying to do the same, trying to create depth and competition and grow guys in those areas.”

On receiver Zachariah Branch and the perimeter blocking...

“Zach’s been great, he’s a hard worker. He practices every day, regardless of ... the touches he gets. He’s never been a me guy, he just wants to win. And he’s willing to do whatever it takes to win. If that’s go deep, go short, do whatever you gotta do to be successful. Protect the ball, get positive yardage, run behind the blocking you got, and do a great job of it.

“The tight ends and receivers have been physical. We’re gonna always demand that guys do that first, because there’s much easier yards through blocking than there are just throwing the ball vertically in our league. You gotta be able to do both, but you gotta be able to protect the perimeter and do things with blocking and be physical, and that’s one of the traits we wanna have.”

On the difference of it being a night game...

“Yeah, I would agree with that statement, that it’s louder at night than day. I think, depending on the day, the time of the year, the temperature, it can take its toll on the fan base, just like it does the players. I mean, we’re not as fast, our GPS numbers say 12 o’clock, 3 o’clock games. They’re not as fast when it’s 85, 90 degrees with a humidity factor like we have around here, you end up who can survive, not who can be the fastest. And at night, you don’t run into those things. I think the crowd has a little longer to get prepared for it, and they’re louder. I mean, they’re not as taxed, not as much heat. So the games I’ve coached in, played in, and a part of night games are a little more rowdy.”

On what stands out about Alabama’s defense...

“Multiple. They do multiple things. They’ve got a lot of moving parts, a lot to prepare for. They move their (linebackers around, they have different looks they give you. They disguise in the secondary, they move players around, they have different coverages, they mix man and zone well. But they’re physical is the biggest thing. At the point of attack, they’re really physical and they play really hard. They’ve got a really good defense and they’re well-coached.”

On improving the pass rush specifically against Alabama...

“Finish on the quarterback. We had multiple opportunities. Their guy was better than the guy that had him, but we had guys back there. But you’ve got to finish on the quarterback.”

On the next steps for (offensive linemen) Juan Gaston and Dontrell Glover...

“Just improve, just go out today. They’re going to get SEC action today. They’re going to get it tomorrow, the next day, and they’re going to get it next week. The idea is to continue to get better, and to execute at a high level, and do things that they can be successful at. People around them have to play well. It’s not just them. So we want to play well around those guys and give them a great opportunity to play well.”

On what he’s seen from Kalen DeBoer building the Alabama program...