Kirby Smart: ‘You’re not just getting checks at our place, we’re hitting people’

ATHENS — Being a physically tough team matters deeply to Kirby Smart.

That showed up on Saturday, when the Bulldogs pounded Texas in a 35-10 drubbing.

Georgia outscored Texas 21-0 in the fourth quarter. After the game, Smart spoke about the physicality with which Georgia always seems to play with.

While also calling out the check-cashing culture that now seems to run rampant in college football.

“I don’t know that a lot of these kids nowadays, they want the check," Smart said. “They don’t want physicality. When you have the check and no physicality, you end up with nothing. So, you’re not just getting checks at our place, we’re hitting people.”

Physcality and paychecks were not the only things to come up in Smart’s postgame news conference.

Below is a full transcript of what Smart had to say after Georgia’s 35-10 win over Texas.

Kirby Smart recaps Georgia football win over Texas

Opening statement...

“Yeah, what a great atmosphere for college football, I love it. Fans were impactful in the game, and I thought the whole game management crew, it was an early atmosphere. Like we got there for warmups and it was really good. They impacted the game. We started fast on offense. That was a big key to the success of the game, to play with a lead and try to play from ahead. I’m really proud of our Texas kids, it’s really important to them. Got four or five of those guys, and then thought Gunner, resiliency. He bounced back from the pick, and that’s going to happen. He played really well, and Mike continues to put things, and the offensive staff, put things on his plate, he handles them. Proud of the defensive performance we had tonight, the third down, the pass rush, we controlled the run game. It was a total team effort, so really proud of the guys, happy for them.”

On what he saw from Texas to run from the onside kick...

“Well, we worked that a lot, and we practiced a lot. A little walk-on kid from Texas, Cash Jones, I bet you he’s taken 250 reps of that in his time being here. He kept asking me, when are we ever going to call it? Coach, I’d love to do it, I’d love to do it. It just felt like it was there. They’ve got the best returner in the country, and I’d already seen him enough. One time, about burst through a hole that an 18-wheeler could have gone through. We got a holding call that prevented it, but I wasn’t kicking it to him again. I’d just as soon kick it to one of those front guys.”

On what the onside kick did for the game’s momentum...

“It’s heartbreaking when that happens, because you just gave up a touchdown, and the defense is over there drinking water, and they all of a sudden got to go back out. So I don’t know what the continuous time was they were on the field. Our offense, it’s like a big strong anaconda just squeezing you. You get squeezed, and you finally catch a little air, and then they’re back trying to suffocate you. So it was a big momentum play, and it would have been, every one of y’all would have thought I was an idiot if it didn’t work. So that’s okay too, that’s part of football.”

On the decision making on the fourth-down plays on the first second half TD drive...

“Yeah, we felt like we could get the first. I talked to Mike about what he would call, if I was willing to go for it. I was not going to go for it, and they reviewed it, and backed it up further, which that wasn’t great. He had a play that I liked, and I’d seen him run it, and felt like it would work, and it did. A lot of credit goes to the offensive and defensive staff in this game, guys. They put a lot of things in, they put a lot of hard work involved. That was a play off of another play, and you always want to stay a step ahead. A lot of credit goes to Mike and then Gunner for executing the play. Then the other one, we weren’t going for it, but it worked.”

On Quintavius Johnson’s development...

“Well he’s had opportunities, right? You guys are so consumed by the rush, and I’m just consumed by stopping the run to get opportunities to rush. Best rush teams in the country are the ones that get you in third and long. We had a really good third down performance tonight. Two of 12 they were on third down, so our guys played hard, and like I said, had a good plan. If you can stop the run, then you make it really hard to play quarterback when you can’t, when you struggle to run the ball. That’s what helps Gunner. We have a consistent commitment to the run game.”

On how his team achieved a 7-1 SEC record...

“Proud of them, man. They’ve gotten better. A lot of teams in the country, it’s hard to keep getting better this time of year. You start questioning what I’m doing. I mean, let’s be honest, we’re two months from the portal opening. I mean, there’s kids that are like, I don’t know if I really want to go out here and get better. I’m not talking about Texas now, I’m talking about just in college football. That has not been the approach of our team. They continue to get better. They continue to grow, work hard, believe in each other. It’s a good football team, guys, but you’re a week away from humility.”

On the receiver room and how they’ve stepped up since Colbie Young went down...

“Yeah, they work hard. I mean, I can’t wait to see CJ Wiley and Landon Roldan and Thomas Blackshear and Talyn Taylor when we’re able to get him back and Tyler Williams. We got some good young receivers who are getting a lot of reps during the week. It didn’t hit for them tonight, but they’re going to be good players. The guys that made plays, Noah stepped up big. Zach continues to be a return threat and make plays with the ball in his hand. Then Gunner’s getting more and more confidence getting them the ball.”

On a CJ Allen injury update….

“Yeah, I don’t know. Something to do with his knee. I don’t know, they’re taking him to get an MRI. I don’t know the results, but he said he was good at the game, so we’ll see.”

On how hard it is to gameplan for Georgia when they spread the ball out to so many receivers….

“I don’t know, we’ve been doing that for years. Every time I come in here, they’re like, nine, ten, twelve, eight. I don’t look at game planning about one wide out or a bunch of wide outs. I think that’s just, you take what the defense gives you. We haven’t had a truly dominant wide receiver, so we spread the ball around and give a lot of touches to many players. I think what makes us hard to defend is the package of run and pass.

”On how the defense played after CJ Allen went out...

“Yeah, I was concerned, because he is the leader, the centerpiece of that group. He’s the heart and soul. Raylen stepped up, did some good things. Young Zayden got in, got to rush, got to do some things. Justin and Chris, they practice really hard every day, and they stepped up and made big plays.”

On what they do to prepare for these big games...

“Work. I mean, we believe in being physical. I mean, we get after it. We believe in what we do, we have a process. I don’t know that we’re doing anything different than anybody else. Other people say that their practices are similar to ours, but our kids believe in it. Our kids believe in down and dirty. They believe in the Seal mantra of, let’s take them to the water. Let’s see who can survive in the water, see who’s going to tap out first, ring the bell, and run from the contact contest. They believe in that. They believe in the physical toughness that it takes to win games. That has prevailed in a lot of our games, a lot of our tight ball games, that has prevailed.”

On the Navy Seal mantra...

“It just fit this game. Drew Brannon, our sports mental guy, we had a long talk on Friday. And we talked about what’s not for some people is for others. And the hardest part of SEAL training is when they go after the hype phase. Everybody’s hyped up, and everybody’s hyped up to kick off. But when they go to that water phase, and they go down and do the water torture, surf torture, not everybody wants it. It’s not for everybody. And people start ringing the bell, and we wanted our guys to take it to the water, and see who wanted to ring the bell, and be the most physical team. They enjoy that, they enjoy that personality.

On third and long issues...

“I don’t know, they were two of 12, they won two, and we won 10.”

On giving up long conversions...

“I don’t know, we just gotta get better, I don’t know specifically what you’re asking about.”

On Brett Thorson...

“I don’t think that had anything to do with the returner. I mean, he just didn’t hit it as good. Two times he was into the wind, he tried to hit it high, I think he was overthinking it. He’s a great punter, and he’ll continue to play great.”

On Noah Thomas...

“Yeah, he works, man. He busts his tail. That route he ran today on the red area, the whip route was great. The over route, Gunner made a great throw on it. Noah works his butt off, I have a lot of appreciation for him. The way Noah, Zach, Dillon, London, go about the business, man. I mean, Zach has some really big blocks in there, London does too. But proud for the Texas guys. Cash, especially. Dillon Bell, Noah, Justin, Joseph. Some big-time guys from Texas that stepped up.”

On Gunner Stockton’s confidence...

“Man, he just leads, he does a great job. I mean, the run to me, to ice the game, I think it was second long, I don’t know what it was, they ran the sweep, quarterback sweep. I thought he was gonna get three or four. And he just stuck his foot in the ground and just ran through people and got a first down. That was a huge play in the game. His decision-making’s been good. And look, I mean, he is a great player. He is a great competitor. But he also benefits from a really good offensive line. And Mike and the offensive staff, I mean, people don’t give our offensive staff enough credit. I mean, they do a tremendous job, and we’re hard to defend. There’s three touchdowns on a quarterback run, and then all of a sudden, he’s running the quarterback run. And there’s a guy wide open in the back of the end zone that ran right by you that didn’t block you, and I mean, it’s a great play. And you can’t do them unless you’ve got a quarterback like Gunner that can execute with the words and the language and command the huddle and manage the clock. He’s playing at a high level and a high clip right now. And we gotta keep getting him better and getting more tools to work with around him.”

On playing its best against Texas...

“I don’t know that we brought out our best today. I mean we had spurts where we didn’t play. And I mean, we played well, we played well. And it’s hard to play on the road, trust me. That went last year at their place, and the atmosphere was just electric. It’s hard to play on the road in this league. And a lot of respect for Texas. Think they’ve got a good football team, and Sark and them will keep getting better.”

On the fourth quarter...

“Yeah, it’s the approach we take. We’re gonna validate in the fourth quarter, which is what we do in practice. It’s what we do in the offseason. It’s what we build our core culture around is being a more physical team. You have to recruit physical players, and they have to buy into that process. I don’t know that a lot of these kids nowadays, they want the check. They don’t want physicality. When you have the check and no physicality, you end up with nothing. So you’re not just getting checks at our place, we’re hitting people.”

On the down and dirty mantra...

“Our kids loved it, because that’s our team. That’s our persona, that’s who we are. So if you’re willing to get down and dirty, and you wanna get down in the weeds, and you wanna go in there and hit people, stop people, crack people. If you’re willing to get down and dirty, then we’re gonna take you down there. We’re gonna see how long you wanna stay down there with us, and how long you wanna do it. The message came from Drew, and I talk about it every Monday. But we felt like it would be that kind of game. And that kind of game favors us when we make it in that kind of game. We’re not a track meet team, we’re a physical team.

On having a mantra...

“Yeah we don’t do it all the time. We don’t do it all the time. We do it sometimes. The mantra didn’t win the game for us, guys, the players did. That’s the most important thing.”

On Demello Jones...

“Man, he’s a competitor. Kid came back, probably could have played last week. I thought he played, tackled well, instinctive. He’s getting better, he’s getting more confidence. Proud of Melo, and all he’s been through, some work. And there’s another in-state kid, highly recruited, highly talented. People asked him why he wasn’t playing last year, and he was just getting better. Nobody applies it in life, but process over results.