This will be the scene at Neyland Stadium Saturday afternoon.
photo by UTK Athletics
The 4-0 and No. 7-ranked Georgia Bulldogs spent time with media on Monday to preview Saturday's game against Tennessee. Kickoff for this weekend's contest is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET in Knoxville, Tennessee on CBS.
Head coach Kirby Smart along with several players, offered the following comments during Monday's media session.
Head Coach Kirby Smart
"We're excited for the opportunity to play a good Tennessee football team that's 3-1. We know a lot about them. They know a lot about us. We get to play each year. Of course that was my crossover game where I was before, so I knew a lot about their program and the game last year.
We'll be traveling with probably over half the guys who have never been to Knoxville, never played in that environment with probably over 35 of our 70 guys having never set foot in that stadium before. So any time you go on the road in the SEC it presents a lot of challenges from a crowd noise standpoint, and they always do a tremendous job of being really loud up there. They do a great job. That's a tough place to play.
So our focus is on Tennessee, and trying to get better and improve during the week.
On freshman quarterback Jake Fromm playing in an environment like Neyland Stadium …
"Any quarterback that plays there knows it's tough to play in that crowd noise. Obviously Jacob (Eason) has played in those environments before when he's played all over the SEC. I'd like to think Notre Dame was very loud at times. We didn't have to go on silent a whole lot, but we had to practice it all week, so Fromm has dealt with that from that standpoint."
On if last year's game is any motivation …
"You have to be careful psychologically with that. Our guys, we talk about it every Thursday we go over that play, and every Thursday before that play we always have -- that's what you do on Thursday, every college in America works on Hail Mary and that play. So you try to execute it best you can. But more important than that was the discipline to stay on the sideline and keep your helmet on and execute prior to that so that it doesn't come down to that. But certainly that play is a factor. But there were a lot of plays in that game that were a factor. We don't use that as motivation. Our motivation is about us and trying to get better."
On the possibility of playing sophomore quarterback Jacob Eason …
"Correct, possibly count on Eason. That's the deal. We don't know. Possibility, yeah. We'll bring him out there and see where he is just like we did last week. We think he's closer because last week he improved as the week went on. We expect the same thing.
On Tennessee playing two quarterbacks in Quinten Dormady and Jarrett Guarantano …
"Yeah, he's a good athlete. He played a lot Saturday. He's a good player. I think they can use both of them in similar ways. But he's certainly a good athlete that can mix it up and do some things like (Joshua) Dobbs did."
On the potential of Jake Fromm remaining the starting quarterback…
"I'm going to say it again. The focus for Jacob Eason is to get healthy and be part of this game plan and learn what to do. The focus for Fromm is to focus on improving and getting better. The point for both of them is to have team vision, to have the goal to make the team better. Both are working on that. It's not just about them individually. Jacob Eason has to focus on getting healthy, getting 100%. Jake Fromm has to focus on getting better and improving. While they're both doing that, they both have the team goal and vision in mind."
On Neyland Stadium being such a tough environment…
"It's loud, loud, loud. They're right on top of you, and they've got two people in every one seat. You know that. It's loud. It's tough."
On the depth at running back and the challenge of choosing who plays…
"I think anytime you have the running backs we have, you do have to find ways to get them the ball. Some of them are better in some ways than others, and we leave that to the opponents and you guys to figure out what that is. But each one of our guys is probably a little better at something than the other one. The thing I'm most proud of is the job Coach (Dell) McGee has done of getting those guys to buy into special teams. People don't notice, but D'Andre Swift is on punt. He's on punt return. Sony (Michel) is a starter on punt and he's elite. There was a play the other night, you don't know it, he's standing down there in front of the guy's face, and he does that every day in practice. Nick (Chubb) has always been really involved. He's not as involved this year, but he always has been. I'm really proud of the way they're doing, and Elijah (Holyfield) can help us on special teams in the future.
On the challenges Fromm will face in his second road game…
"Well, the obvious to that would be the crowd noise because it is going to be loud. I understand the multiple defense. Coach Shoop does a great job. He always has, of changing it up and doing some things. They present a lot of challenges with their defense. So he'll be focused on attacking them, not necessarily living in the past. I think Jake (Fromm) does a good job of game planning and aspect of watching film and studying tape."
Senior Tailback #1 Sony Michel
On coming back following sitting out the Samford game …
"It felt good. I was able to go out there and play a little bit of football enough to run the ball a couple of times and help get some good yardage and put the team in good position. Enough to play my part and my role for this team"
On if last year's game against Tennessee motivates the team going into this week…
"You never want to take an "L", but that was last year, it's in the past. What we want to do is build for the future and right now we are just focused on this year and this year's team. They (Tennessee) have a different team from last year. They don't have the same players or different personnel groups so we kind of have to go off of that and move from there."
On recent high scoring games against Tennessee…
"It is an SEC game, it is going to be a fourth-quarter game. I'm sure most of our guys on our team know that and we are going to go into battle focused. We have to have a good week of practice, it is not a week off or just another game, but we just have to really focus on playing Georgia football."
On Kirby Smart's management of hype around team…
"He is just doing a tremendous job on telling us how hard we need to work each week to prepare for a team. We haven't had our team meeting this week yet but i'm sure his message is going to be strong for our team. It is going to be affective and I'm sure everybody on the team will be willing to buy in."
Junior Center #53 Lamont Gaillard
On if his play against Mississippi State was his best yet…
"It could of been my best game, I don't really look at it like that. I just think about doing my job and just doing me. If I do that then we are all going to be on the same page. When I go out there, I just play."
On the offensive line's performance versus Mississippi State…
"I think we did good against Mississippi State in pass protection, but we can do better, a lot better. This week we have to just focus on us, not really them. But they have good defensive players and we'll learn from them. We just have to be ready for this week."
Defensive Back #35 Aaron Davis
On improvements the secondary can make…
"We definitely left a lot of plays out there as far as turnovers. I feel like I dropped two interceptions, J.R. felt like he could have had his hands on a few. We can definitely pull more turnovers, help our team out, help the defense out, create big momentum plays. I feel like that's something we can always do. As far as better discipline on every single snap and communicating with each other will all help us be a better secondary."
On last year's Tennessee game serving as motivation this week…
"Not at all. Last year is last year's team. They have a new team, we have a new team. Last year's not a motivation for us. We're just looking at it as the next game, so it's the most important game for us."
On the physicality of the secondary…
"That's something we pride ourselves on, being physical. We don't want to be known as the secondary who's afraid to tackle or anything like that. So it's something we pride ourselves on, something we practice everyday, so being a tough secondary can only help the team in all areas. That's something that we definitely look to have in us."
On Malkom Parrish…
"That's been Malkom since the day he's been here. He's someone that's going to work hard, bust his tail to do whatever he can to get on the playing field. When he gets on the playing field, he's been playing very well for quite some time. That's the type of guy Malkom is, and we appreciate him. He's tough. We always say he's one of the toughest dudes on the team, so we appreciate everything he does. Anytime he puts himself out there on the field, whether he's completely 100 percent or not, we know we're going to get everything he has from him."
Key to winning for Georgia
Coaches and players all need to stay focused on the goal of this week, and that’s beating Tennessee. After four games in 2017, it’s obvious that Georgia is better than Tennessee. The Volunteers are just six points away from being a 1-3 team with losses to Georgia Tech and Massachusetts.
They are just a mess, plain and simple. Their best player doesn’t get the ball enough, Butch Jones can’t get players to rally around him, and that defense is just terrible. Kirby Smart is a better coach, Jake Fromm is a better quarterback, Mel Tucker leads a better defense. On paper, Georgia should win easily.
But what’s on paper often doesn’t match what’s on the field. If Georgia buys into the hype too much, if they aren’t focused, and if they don’t put the win over Mississippi state behind them, they might set themselves up for failure.