Kirby Smart is on yet another run to the playoffs this year and will fight to retain the SEC Championship against Alabama this weekend. Playing for the fifth consecutive year, the Bulldogs this time will be playing to protect the first-round playoff bye that comes with a top-four finish. They would love to take revenge for the regular-season close loss to Alabama, 21-24, on September 27.

Speaking about the rivalry, the SEC championship game, the Georgia HC addressed the press on December 1, ahead of the key game. Here’s everything that he discussed.

On the upcoming SEC Championship game

“Awesome opportunity for our guys. I told them last night, you know, you earned the opportunity to play in this game. This was not given; this was earned. This was not picked by a committee. It was on the field and two teams that already played once. Both played really daunting SEC schedules and get a chance to battle it out, see who the SEC champion is, which is a lot at stake, and always is. But you’re playing a really good football team.”

On Kalen DeBoer’s leadership so far

“Coach DeBoer’s done a great job with them, playing at a high level. When you look at both sides of the ball, they complement each other, playing really well offensively and defensively. I think that’s important to be successful in our conference. And they’ve got a good group of players, and their staff’s done a great job to put them in this position.”

On the atmosphere set for the SEC Championship game

“This will be our guys’ opportunity to go out and play in a place that we’ve played a lot of games in. And I’m excited for the opportunity. It’s always a great atmosphere and crowd. And then the viewership, the people that watch it across the country, is always really high. So I’m excited for our guys.”

On Alabama’s offense so far

“I got to watch the games in between our game and theirs. I don’t think you change a whole lot during the year. You play to the skill set of your playmakers. They’ve got playmakers. They play to the skill sets of those guys.

“Ty (Simpson) is still playing really well. He’s extremely athletic, he can extend plays, he knows where to go with the ball, he knows defenses. He’s played a lot of football, and he’s played with a lot of confidence. I don’t think there’s a lot of change. I mean, they’re really good at what you do. They do a great job with shift, motion, keeping you off balance with tempo, vertical plays, horizontal plays. They do a great job.”

When the two teams met during the regular season, Bama QB Simpson threw for 276 yards for 2 touchdowns and also had  1 rushing TD.

On how Georgia’s offense has fared this season

“I’m very pleased with what our offense has done this year. I’m very pleased with the total package of how they’ve utilized the skill set and the strengths of the team, considering two to three freshman linemen have been in there. The ability and commitment to run complements what Gunnar (Stockton) does well. And I’m pleased with where those guys have been.”

On how experience has affected the defense

“I would say it’s more the experience has been bigger for young linebackers, outside linebackers, and secondary, maybe the defensive line. I mean, outside of EG (Elijah Griffin), a lot of those guys have played football. And EG is a guy who’s gotten better with time and gotten more comfortable. But a lot of those guys were experienced coming into the year.

“I don’t think any of our early struggles were a testament to anything about the defensive line. It was just more a matter of growth and getting more experience and executing at a higher level at all positions.”

On Glenn Schumann’s growth as DC

“He’s grown over the course of 10 years being here. But specifically this year, I don’t think he’s had to grow. I think he’s had to do a great job of deciding what this group does best and trying to utilize and improve the skill sets.

“We don’t have a dynamic, clear-cut, dominant rusher. We’ve had some of those in the past with Jalen and Mikel both coming out early, and Ty, those guys not being there, it was a little bit of an adjustment to get the younger players groomed faster, but I can’t say that Shuman’s had to grow. He’s had to utilize what we have.”

On changing and improving the defense this season

“We’re improving. We played better, but some of the offenses we played have been really explosive. I mean, Ole Miss is a really explosive offense. Tennessee is a high-octane offense, and they get a lot of snaps. They go with tempo. They score points. Alabama’s done that, so some of it is how you play.

“Some of it’s who you play, and some of it’s how you change and adapt. and I think we’re always trying to change and adapt.”

On the Early Signing Period being so close to the SEC Title game

“They made the decision a long time ago to move this in front of your roster changes and additions to your own team, so that you would have one thing squared away. You got to remember, as little as 2-3 years ago, we had a portal going on and a signing date going on. So, I mean, I was in the decision-making process when it went to signing on the week of the SEC championship.

“I didn’t like it then. I don’t like it now, but I don’t have a better answer. There’s a calendar timeline, there’s an academic calendar to universities and also high school kids. There’s no opportune time to have it. And so, you do what’s best for the most and not necessarily the least of the teams that are playing. It makes for some tough challenges this week, for sure, but people understand that. They respect teams that are still playing.”

On any changes in preparation for the Championship games

“It doesn’t change game to game. I mean, a championship game is no different than the game that gets you to the championship game, right? We’ve been playing championship games every week, in my opinion, so what wins football games doesn’t change.

“You know, good players win football games. Not turning the ball over wins football games. Being explosive wins football games, and that will not change in this game. I mean, the turnover margin of the last game was a factor. Explosive plays of the last game was a factor. There’ll be factors in this one. There’ll be factors in the next one after this one, so that doesn’t change.

“If anything, the experience you learn from playing in this are more about time management, with sign-and-date going on, practice management with the load your players got this extra week in the season. That’s what we try to lean on from an experience standpoint.”

On changing Georgia’s identity in running the ball and other aspects

“I wouldn’t say the identity has changed for us of needing to be able to run the ball to be successful. That can’t change. Not for us.”

“No, the things that are important to our identity, the physical toughness required, the discipline — all the things that we require to be successful have not changed week to week or since the beginning of the season. We might do better out of one week or the other, but they don’t change.”

On the changing leadership in the SEC

“Got a great program, great administration. Great supporting cast here, and it’s allowed us to be successful. I mean, I talk about it all the time. If you have good players, you coach them the right way. Coach them hard, you can be successful, and we’ve been successful.

“It’s hard to sustain anything and stay consistent, especially in this league where it’s really competitive. I don’t think a lot about the tenure, the person that’s been there the longest. I got a lot of respect for Mark [Stoops], and he’s a good friend.”

On what drives consistency at Georgia

“Things like Jonas Jennings being part of our staff since I’ve been here. Scott Sinclair, Glenn Schumann, Trey Scott. They’re pillars in this building. They believe in the core values of the head coach, and they help push those.

“I think reinventing yourself as much as you can every year and trying to be a good teacher creates consistency. I think the player buy-in and the players we select to be part of our program, that’s the only way. [The only way] you’re going to be consistent is not to be afraid to make tough decisions. And we’ve talked about qualities of great leaders require you to make tough decisions.”

On Drew Bobo’s presence

“He’s very knowledgeable of the game. He grows up, grew up around it, in it; he understands football, he knows leverages, he knows a lot about what’s going on.

He and his dad have a great relationship that allows him to know a lot of things, and make a lot of checks, and put us in the right situations a lot of times. So he’s certainly a really good football player.”

On whether there are any changes between this clash with Alabama and the last one

“No. I mean, unless you just beat up and got a lot of players missing, which they’re pretty beat up, we’re pretty beat up.

The gauntlet of the stretch that they played and we’ve played has, you know, impacted both of our seasons. We both had people coming in or coming out of lineups the last time we played. Now, you look at the long spell between games, seven, six, seven, eight games, whatever it is, it’s both teams that are coming out of and coming into injuries.

But in terms of the X’s and O’s and the schemes, in terms of the gap, I don’t think so. I mean, you evolve as a team. You have trends, but good teams do what they do. There’s not going to be a lot of change, and both these teams are good teams.”

Where Gabe Harris and Quintavius Johnson have developed

“Confidence in repetition. I think they both are very knowledgeable, a little more experienced. A lot of practice reps between that game and this one, quite a bit of game reps between this one and that one.

“I mean, Gabe’s a little older. Q, you know, was still kind of coming into his own. He was young then, and he’s grown up a lot. He’s had to grow up because he got forced into playing time at an early age last year and even this year, and he’s accepted that role, and he’s improved.”

On the upcoming changes with new coaching hires in college football

“Most of these guys are descendants, or they come from a tree of coaching, and there’ll be similarities. We have tape of every team we play. We have tape of every team that those guys coached. So, there’ll be some carryover in terms of the new coaches. But it’s a long way away before we start worrying about that.”

On Lane Kiffin’s departure from Ole Miss

“I don’t envy the position he was in; I think it’s a really hard position to be in and to navigate. I think Coach Saban addressed it best. We’re in a time frame where ADs and people are making decisions in a timeline that’s not congruent with the season and the playoffs. So, it makes for really difficult decisions.”

On Dr. Drew Brannon’s help for the tough Alabama game

“He’s helped every Alabama game since 2020. He does a great job.”

On Gunner Stockton and his decision-making skills

“Yeah, he’s had to make them. You get more comfortable doing things the more you’ve done it. It’s called experience, and he’s gained that. So, he’s forced into – Every play, ‘Do I do this, this, or this?’ There are very few plays that are just as simple as ‘You do this.’ And I think that gives you options.

It makes you write more. And I think more teams in the country, everybody in the country is really doing it. It’s putting a lot on the quarterback, and he’s done a great job in terms of making the right decision with two, three options. That puts you at an advantage. It also puts stress on that position, and they got to be able to handle it and make good decisions.”