ATHENS — Whether it was gamesmanship or he was telling the unvarnished truth is uncertain, but Georgia coach Kirby Smart sounded genuinely concerned that his team could be without four offensive starters for the second consecutive game because of injuries.
That the next game happens to be the SEC Championship game and could decide whether the two-time, defending national champion Bulldogs return to the College Football Playoff for a third consecutive year. So, that just adds to the drama.
Smart was asked on the SEC Championship game coaches’ Zoom call Thursday afternoon what the availability was going to be for injured offensive starters Brock Bowers, Ladd McConkey, Tate Ratledge and Rara Thomas.
“Great question because I’m trying to figure that out myself,” Smart said. “I don’t have a lot more answers now than I had on Monday. They have not been able to do a lot. Each one has one has worked kind of independently. Tate has done some drill work, some 11-on-11 stuff. Brock has sprinkled in some of that. The other guys have been able to run and do some things, but we’re going to find out today what there availability is, to be honest. So, it’s tough.”
All four players sat out Saturday’s game against Georgia Tech at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Bowers (ankle) and Ratledge (knee) dressed out and warmed up, while McConkey (ankle) and Thomas (foot) did not dress out.
Bowers is, of course, a tight end and a two-time All-American through which all of Georgia’s offense basically flows. Ratledge is a 26-game starter at right guard before a knee injury in the Tennessee game on Nov. 18 in Knoxville sent him to the sideline.
McConkey was considered an All-American candidate in the preseason before a mysterious back ailment sidelined him for most of preseason camp and the Bulldogs’ first four games of the season. He was eased back into the lineup and receiver rotation before finally getting his first start of the season in Game 10 against Ole Miss. But McConkey played only six snaps against Tennessee and not at all against Tech.
Thomas, a junior transfer from Mississippi State, started eight games in a row and was beginning to assert himself as a deep-ball threat when he aggravated a foot injury against Tennessee. He had one 18-yard catch in that game.
“It bothers me that people have said out there that we sat these guys for the last game. That wasn’t the case at all,” Smart said Thursday. “They couldn’t go, and I don’t know if they’re going to be able to go in this game. It’s just unfortunate to have those kinds of injuries, especially to four starters on offense.”
Georgia also will be playing without starting middle linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson (arm) on Saturday. There are indications that backup cornerback Julian Humphrey (shoulder) could return.
Here are five other notable comments Smart made during his final interview opportunity before the No. 1-ranked Bulldogs play No. 8 Alabama for the SEC championship Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium:
On so many teams still being in the hunt for the CFP semifinals and the prospect of Georgia facing the prospect of elimination should it lose to No. 8 Alabama on Saturday …
“I can’t explain why there are more (teams in contention). I certainly haven’t thought of why that is. I always look at things as everything happens for a reason and you have the years you have. There have been other years there have been close debates. Maybe not as many as there are now. I’d think people with knowledge out there might say it has something with the portal, it has something to do with parity maybe that the portal creates. I don’t know if it’s that as much as it creates haves and have-nots. The biggest different to me I see out there is quarterback play at a high level. A lot of these team, contenders as you call them, they all have really good quarterbacks, for the most part. I don’t know the exact number but, of these teams in the top seven or eight, I can think of three or four, maybe, that have quarterbacks that came by way of an experience somewhere else and moved in and had success. Quarterback play to me is one of the No. 1 indicators of who you are. The teams that have them have a shot in every game.
“As for as your other question (about the prospect of being out of the playoffs with a loss Saturday), I don’t really want to get into it. I’m focused on doing what we have to do to win this game.”
If he thinks the CFP Playoff expanding to 12 teams next year will diminish the significance of the SEC Championship game …
“I’m not sure. The only thing we have to indicate the future is what’s happened in the past. Before all this came about, Greg Sankey and his staff and the minds that lead our conference looked into that and did a lot of research. … Go back to the last 15 or 20 SEC championships and ask yourself how many of those losers, or how many of those two teams, would get into a 12-team playoff. I don’t know what that is, but I’d venture to say that most would. And with now East and West division play, you’re going to have a better chance of getting in the two top teams. Traditionally the top two teams would be among the top 12 (ranked) teams. There have in the past been some teams from the West that didn’t go to the (SEC Championship game) that would have been in that top 12. So I can’t say whether it hurts or helps. I can say there’ve been years that it might’ve been four (SEC) teams that got in out of 12.
“I don’t know whether that means the (SEC) game loses its importance. It would never lose its importance in a program I’m coaching at because you’re trying to win a championship. That becomes the focal point of a conference that’s going to become ever more powerful (when Oklahoma and Texas join next year). I don’t know, people try to demean the value by saying ‘it’s only important if you’re in the playoff and you win the (national) championship, there’s a lot of merit to winning an SEC championship, especially when you add the teams we’re going to add.”
On whether defensive backs coach Fran Brown, who recently was named the new head coach at Syracuse, will remain with the Bulldogs for the College Football Playoff if Georgia makes it?
“We’re really focused on Alabama. That’s all we’re thinking about. Those decisions that you’re talking about, they’re not important. Right? They have no relevance whatsoever to this game, and our focus and energy is on this game. I really don’t have to decide that right now and don’t even look to. I don’t even know why it’s newsworthy. What’s newsworthy is (Brown) got a hell of an opportunity, and he’s done a tremendous job for us, and we’re super happy for his family and for Syracuse to be getting somebody of his character. But we’re not worried about anything past Alabama.”
On the improvement he’s seen with the Alabama offense and quarterback Jalen Milroe from the beginning of the year until now. …
“I think they’ve done an incredible job. What you do is you take your players and you do what your players can do best. They don’t have the same coordinator either. They don’t have the same coaches they’ve had three and four and five years ago. … They’ve taken their players and they’ve made their offense fit their players, and they’ve done a really good job of that. What they ask (Milroe) to do, he’s really good at what he does. It features the biggest, most physical offensive line in the country in terms of size and strength and the quarterback is able to make plays with his feet. Some of his best plays are plays that are off-schedule. So it’s very different than what they’ve had in the past. But (Milroe) also has grown and gotten better as the year has gone on. I think they took some things out because that’s not what he does best and they’ve made it where they do what he does best really well.”
On the transfer portal opening for business Monday and why Georgia doesn’t deal in it as much …
“We utilize the portal. We utilized it last year. We had one year we didn’t. We’ve had a lot of retention. But I think times are changing and everybody adapts with it. You know, it’s unfortunate to me that it’s picking up pace. I thiknk this year will be a record-breaking year because of the attention, the opportunity, the monetary side of it, it’s going to become the norm. Our philosophy for the portal may be different than what some people use it for. We’re trying to make our team better. We want to recruit really good high school players, and I think that’s important to college football and our game, to re4cruit good players and develop them. But the more that go in the more we have to research the portal and take (from it) because otherwise you can’t sustain.”
