UGASports LIVE

0:00Hello everybody, welcome to UGA Sports Live. My name is Rodin and I'm joined by Rusty Mansell, the senior insider at UGA Sports.com, which is not a title fair enough to see. Do I get a discounted like a discounted like Waffle House because of that or get extra coffee? Yeah, well, like yeah, the discounted I get it being called publishers, I get the travel bills. We're sending all our guys to Arkansas and I'm like, it's a huge amount to get to Arkansas. Oh, it is. We're flying guys into Tulsa. I know. I know. I told Jake last time I flew into Tulsa, I went in to do that Jermaine Johnson story and I didn't realize it was an hour and a half north of Tulsa into the middle of them nowhere. Dude, I thought it was like, it was like showing off the corn.

1:00I was like, where in the hell am I going? And I'm not pulling over on the side of the road anywhere. So we got NCC kicks off and what our show is going to be today is Rust me peppered with Rusty with questions and I'll answer a few right off the bat though. So you had an interesting note that our group chat that George didn't go quite as long yesterday as they might have. And you would mention much earlier. And this is folks, this is why you have to be a member of UGS Force dot com because Rusty had something like a week into fall camp. Well, not after it. Well, midway through fall camp when they got out of the Georgia center. He's there. It was kind of three on one off type thing. It was a difference. So Rusty, it builds different with Kirby smart. Now he's mid season irritated with the media. Yes. But it feels like he's early season or bowl season focused on expanding the or not turning

2:03things down a little bit on his day so that they're not worked out. Because normally you first day, we're going to practice five times and you've got a lift in the middle of it. And then for team run, you know, old school Kirby smart, just pound these guys, make them go through the cruise. Well, he wants it to be high. And now it's almost like mellow Kirby and got a philosophy theory there. But I want your take on it because you're the one that broke news on both of these. I think he's playing the long game. I think he's playing. You got to win three physical ass games in January and what changes that Kirby's been through two buys. And he said himself. They prepared two different ways. They did inner squad games. They backed off. But I also understand that Kirby's thinking about how do we win the national championship. And you look at the gauntlet, the Indiana Ole Miss and Miami and those teams that went through that last year, those were three physical ass games. So you know, George has been beat up SEC championship.

3:05And you know, you get a little bit of rest and those types of things, but you still didn't get some key players back. I don't know this 100% but I think you and I on the same page. I think Kirby's playing the long game. And one of the things that kind of, you know, tipped me off a little bit was hey, a couple more days off here, you know, and practice has been, you know, we have guys, we know they go to practice and we're like, hey, you know, how did you go? And the like, man, that was fast. And I was like, what do you mean fast? And they're like, that was under two hours. I was like, what? So then I, you know, I've kind of been keeping tabs and things. So I asked around yesterday, I said, hey, what was practice like? They were like, man, it went a little over an hour yesterday, you know, and they had after pretty good, but it wasn't a, it's not an hour or 45 minute to our Monday practice. And I personally think that Kirby is playing the long game, man. I think that, I think he understands we need our best. And the goal that Georgia is to obviously win every game, win an SEC championship. But the goal is to win three in January.

4:06You got to get there. When you get there, you keep me beaked the hell. So I think some of the things that they're changing up, physicality is always going to be important. And they're always going to have bloody tears. They're going to have that today. But I think some of the things you see and Kirby is a huge analyzer, analytics guy. He's showed me proof. And I think Kirby looked back and saw how physical those teams, what they were having to go through in January. And you want to be one of those teams is healthy. You want to, one of your teams to have the best opportunity to win this thing. No, I'm with you. I want to look at that was my theory is he's dialing back. He dialed back in camp, not me. Yes. Not a December break. He dialed back in camp. And now we're seeing a little bit of a dial back. Not as much. Hey, maybe yesterday was just a different day. Over a year, over a whole season, it's less and less and less. Yeah. Yeah, not every day they're cutting it. But yeah, I think over the season. I remember talking to one of the first time I got taught to Drew Bolo just for example,

5:11like his red shirt freshman year and drew that, hey, you know, Cedric Van Prenn had like 1600 and 150 practice reps. I had 1500 and 80. So everybody's getting reps. It's just get it down to people are getting 1100 reps. You know, it's the dude psycho, man. He follow stuff like that. I'm telling you. Well, that that's the other thing I was going to say is when people want to argue about Lane Kiffin and Davo and Davo won't adapt and Lane Kiffin's adapting too much and all this. And say, look, the guy that's got it right. And it's not me, you know, Kirby and I don't talk. We're not friends. We're not buddies. Come on, man. Come on, man. I just say it to I say this as objectively as possible, not just because you know, I run you James boards, but I get Kirby all the credit in the world for not overreacting, not underreacting. I reported years ago about him pre-planning when they were going to replace the sod on the practice field so that because he knew they were going to make the playoffs and he, you

6:13know, takes just a certain number of days for that stuff to log in and he had it timed out. They measure the grass height. They measure the, hey, they were one of the first ones to be doing the GPS. They were the first ones to put the sensor plates, you know, and the helmets and stuff like that. They're always cutting edge. They had the cooldown technology, you know, to get these guys cooled down. They did stuff ahead of the curb. He's always been about roster management. And at one point, Kirby smart says, hey, what we need to do is create more havoc plays. I'm looking at the teams that win the most. They on defense, they create havoc. They don't always have to be a sack. It can be something else. And then it was the teams with the turnover ratio was almost, I don't say the number one priority, but that was one of the biggest ones. Now it's explosive plays. He looks at the teams that give up the explosive plays and the teams that create them and he's like, look, your winners are the guys who are winning on the explosive play charts. And I'm like, okay, so my point is the man adapts. Like you say, he looks deep into it. The number of snaps, the number reps, the GPS tracking, the, you know, we used to be able

7:19to ask guys, hey, what's the max out on bench? Because we don't do bench matches anymore. It's not, it doesn't help us. You know, it's better for us to do 85%. You know, three sets of 85% that it is to do one max. So you know, and I last got off camera, you know, I was like, yeah, what, what do you lift? I don't know. I had max since I got here. So the philosophy, the Kirby's, you know, he's always tinkering and I will never be able to accuse him of being stuck. And a lot of people accuse him of being stuck in the past because he had Mike Bobo on the staff and Stacey Cyril on the staff, you know, they're like, oh, these are taught partly, you know, bringing back John Lillie. I'm like, hey, that's not, these are good coaches. That doesn't mean Kirby's in the past. He's always looking forward. So don't just because he's, it's a familiar name to you. Doesn't mean that it's a Kirby isn't looking forward the best out there. If he feels he can replace any of those coaches or any practice thing, he can do his heart. I'll give you a psycho nugget on that.

8:22They build this indoor and you don't have any data until that thing is built. Well, guess what blocks the sun on that field that they practice on the indoor. So somebody comes in, it gets less sun on that practice field. You think about that practice field is there through Vince Doley, everybody. All of a sudden you build this massive building beside it, it gets less sun. Well, the theory is the grass wasn't as strong. You bring somebody in to test that, test a soil. Guess where Kirby's mortars building two new practice fields? Over where the track used to be. Guess what? Get blocked by the sun. Those two fields. So when I tell you what I tell you, you're right on analytics and psycho stuff like that. Yeah, they probably, they'll practice on another in a lot and there's a lot to that. But let's not know if it's right or wrong, but it makes sense. You think about it. The strength of that gets less sun and what does it do the soil? But well, regardless, they're getting two new practice fields is not blocked by anything.

9:27Well, I'll put you this way. I remember when the friends of five points blocked every coach is everyone to put a practice field over there. And it was, and again, I don't know who the friends of five points are. Maybe there are some wonderful people. I love the five points folks. I love that area. I wish I was having a money to buy a house there. It's lovely. It's a great little community. And a lot of those people like to go down and walk in the track. Every coach has said, you know, because you remember, they were, when they were building that, the indoor facility, remember, we used to get on the bus. Yes. Practice builds on millage, you know, great. The way out. Great facility is way out. Right. So he had to bus his team away from the locker rooms to a practice field, then bus them back. It's always a big pain in the butt because they didn't have extra practice fields while they were building the whole thing. My point is Kirby is like, yeah. And I don't know if he had anything to do with the friends of five points, but he was the only one that ever got it done. Inspec Towns Track is a facility that's been there forever, named after one of the greatest

10:28George athletes of all times. And they moved it. Now, there's a fantastic facility. I give them. Oh my god. Yes. I give Josh Brooks all the credit in the world for building a first facility out there on millage. It is phenomenal. Complete dedication to the track program. So, and I remember they lost a track coach. Yeah. They lost track coach because he wouldn't build a facility fast enough and he left. And then Josh hired a young woman who is one him multiple national titles. So shout out to the track field and Kirby getting it done. That's going to be that's going to be a fantastic and that is some stuff. One of the questions we had right off the bat was asking about how much will we see the Georgia playing Arkansas. Arkansas is not a good team right now. Yeah. How much will we will and people are in the comments and will we see the first team play the whole game. And I think with him kind of dialing back a little bit, he's going to take what 70 guys 75. I think it takes 75 to think.

11:2875. The results of that game was a little earlier. Well, the results of that game would dictate it. Let's be honest now. They they have not played great and they got their butts beat. They went out west coast and strange things happen. You're out there at night, you're out to an altitude. You know, you got 50 new players. You don't know what the hell you've got. I expect Arkansas. You know, I made the comment. Yes, on the Georgia show made the comment on the dog vent. And we talked about it the last four times that Kirby smart has been on the road. And at first time SEC game every year, it's been a damn. It's been a nail-batter and they have played teams that weren't very good. I mean, that Kentucky game, you know, you go back to that game. It's 13 to 12. And I had no business being like, strange things happen. Do I think Georgia is going to win this game? Yes. But I think if you think it's going to be 50 to seven, I don't think it's going to happen that way.

12:28I think what's going to dictate that is and Kirby doesn't want to lose this game, but at some point it might be good to be some beat down 10 to 7. And face a little bit of adversity. You know what I mean? Like in the first quarter, you have an easy three point or something and face a little bit because, you know, what's coming next week defensively might be the best team they play next week. It probably, in my opinion, will be the best defense. They're going to play all year offensively. Oklahoma's got issues, but defense, they are, they're nasty. And that's going to be another whole discussion next week. But, you know, it's just how it's going to be dictated. It'd be great for Kirby to have to make a decision to set his guys down in the third quarter. They're not going to participate in it. This is a nasty team. And these teams get, these guys get paid a lot of money. There's a lot of Arkansas out there, but they are literally playing with house money. They will, they're going to throw every single play they got at Georgia, every single trick play they got at Georgia. He's going to do everything he can. They are out manned. They're expected to get beat.

13:29They're under a little under a four touchdown underdog. So be interested in how this plays out. But Georgia's clearly the better team, but I think that the pace of this will be dictated on the results about who plays the sake of half of being determined on how this game unfolds. I agree. And I think in the past, and Kirby's older philosophy, if Georgia was up, you know, 34, 17, start staying in a way. Choke it down. Choke it down too. Yeah. Yeah. We're going to go in a condo. You know, they also need, they also need reps. Like the first team needs reps. Those guys need, they need volume too. So yeah, it would take a lot. It would take a belt to, you know what? Probably for me to see a lot of those guys pulled out in this game. Yeah, I'm with you there. I don't think his philosophy is going to change that much. But if it's an absolute blow up, then maybe, but at the same time, I mean, the first question we got was from Jason Burrow saying, you know, will we see that team play the whole

14:30way through? We'll see the starters. And I'm like, don't know. But yeah. That's why I got into this whole tangent about them changing the philosophy is because he's thinking nine games. He's thinking Kirby thinks to win the championship, not just to win the SEC, not just to win September, not just to win this week. He looks at the whole thing. And then this past weekend, he was looking at 20, 28, 20, 29 with the recruits he had in stock. So yeah, that's pretty cool. Here's a question from Richard Reed for you, Rusty. He says, can the D line get pressure on the QB against an SEC offensive line? We've not seen two great offensive lines in the last two weeks. Arkansas is going to have some hogs up there. Do you expect to see Georgia's D line gets some pressure on the quarterback? Well, I've been great news. And that's a question we're all going to get answered. I think I think when Tavius Johnson is not getting talked about enough, I think Gabe Harris, you know, when you look at those things, and that comes down to, can you win a one-on-one?

15:31Can you win a one-on-one? It's not. I might tell him about bringing an extra guy. I might tell him about that cross-dog blitz with Chris Cole and Justin Williams. I'm talking about Gabe Harris lining up in front of an SEC tackle and making a move. If you want to see the opposite of that, go watch a Marius Mims and what he did to Rubin Bain for four quarters in an F.L. game. And that's another whole subject for another game. But you talk about putting somebody in a coffin and going night night. That's what he did to Rubin Bain. You want somebody to be able to win some of those one-on-ones. Create those pressures. To me, Glenn Schuman has done a hell of a job the last couple of years. He's done a hell of a job now in creating, I say, manufacture pressures. So you're having to bring extra guys to get there. They got Chris Cole who's super freaky athletic. And that's an advantage to you. Listen, they knew they had a problem. And they went out and they paid for a solution. They went and got a Marius Williams. The guy they wanted.

16:31Unfortunately, he got hurt. So again, you got to find ways to do it with your young guys. I still don't know the PJD and Kamari Brooks and those guys aren't there. But I'm interested in that this weekend, Arkansas. Let me tell you right now, the offensive line is not very good. That is where, if I'm Arkansas, I'm scared to death because the offensive line is not very good and they have a starter problem. And another guy that's probably out, that's where they got whipped up front against Utah. And George is a lot better in Utah, a front. So that would scare me to death if I'm them. I'm with you, 100% there. Also, when I think about this, you know, can they get to the quarterback? Because that was a question. I mean, when I opened it up for questions, there were a ton of them. I thought as George II, there's a lot better this year. You have to cover up the secondary as much. It protects them. Just saying, you know, you don't have to protect them much. That lets the guys pin their ears back a little bit more.

17:31That lets them bring Pete on second down where they didn't do that as much last year. So that's also a question that David Mark El Edens senior had. He was asking about the past rush. His question was, are the Whiteouts legit against better competition? The George's Whiteouts had a hell of a week last week. May more of the tight ends in week one are George's Whiteouts legit against when they start going up against SEC corners. SEC safes, SEC stars and Nichols. What do you think? They look more twitchy to me. And I said this other night, I thought Georgia was so dependent on Kobe Young and Zach Branch last year. They were just so dependent there. And when Kobe Young went down, you know, it really became Zach Branch. You were searching for other areas there. I think London Humphries a year better. I think the tight end room is deeper. I think you got better route runners this year as a whole.

18:33You add a last weaves in there at six foot seven. He's ready to play now where he wasn't ready to play last year. You insert Craig Danridge who I think is man. He's athletic is, you know what, man. And I really like SEC freshmen team. I think, yeah, I think that he creates separation. I think the emergence of talent Taylor. I think it was very, very, whatever Mike Bobo did to get him involved early on last week in Tennessee State. Did a lot to him last week and then Gunner throws that out to him. That play reminded me of Stetson hitting a D Mitchell in the corner of the end zone against Florida. State. It's the same route. You know, I mean, like just a simple outrouted can you separate just enough and Gunner throws it on the damn money and talent Taylor touches his toe there and gets a touchdown. So I'm excited again. Those are questions we're about to get answered. But I do feel better about these younger guys after seen them in person, boy, they're athletic, man.

19:33Yeah. Taylor had that great route last week where he runs run vertical, fakes inside, runs the out route and there's nobody. Mike that four cornerbacks spun around. He's looking at his pockets trying to find change for the bus man. He has just touched it. I'm like, that's great. Can you do that against Oklahoma? Yeah. Not questioning talent Taylor. You know, I think he's going to be fantastic. But I thought it was a good question from David. It's like tough to say, man. Well, and here's the thing. I don't know that we'll know that much more after this weekend. Yeah. Next week, next week will be, next week, you want to, you won't know about the offense next week, you'll see it because that is a, that team has got about two or three NFL first rounders. It's a defensive at coach. They're going to be desperate. I got questions about Oklahoma offensively, but defensively, I don't, that is, that is an absolute group of studs. I can't wait.

20:33We get to that one. I can't wait to see how Georgia matches up with Oklahoma and San Francisco. It's going to be fun to watch offense versus defense. Yeah. And you're going to be, I don't call it, I hate the term guru, but they got to head coach at Oklahoma that knows defense like nobody's business. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, ask Clemson. He took the words out of my mouth. I don't know that if he's still at Clemson, LSU, WALP, some like they do, but that's what happens. That was a, that was a beat down. A lot of questions about Gunner Stockton. And I thought this one was interesting from Steven Larson. He says, of course, I'd rather keep his eyes down, feel it and throw, but as Gunner has been told not to run, one carry for three yards of two games is pretty uncharacteristic for him. There have been opportunities. Do you think that they want him to not run as much? Or is it just been, hey, he's had 11 drives and 11 touchdowns and didn't need to?

21:33I'm sure that Kirby's like throw the damn thing unless you have to, especially right now. You know, but, but I think everybody knows including Gunner that running is a very important part of his game. A lot of guys watch, obviously a lot of people watch the watch along with you and Coach Don in which his unbelievable watch still say every week is crazy and if people call it to me and say they watch that. But if you go back and some of you guys watch your tapes and your YouTube's and your recordings, go back. You don't want to go along. If you don't know where Gunner Stockton is, go back and watch the early throw to Craig Dandridge. Okay. He throws that ball. No, you're talking about. He throws that ball in between three guys. Okay. And you love to see him take that chance, but that's a layered route. Go back about 10 yards underneath and I don't know who the ride receiver is, but somebody runs a curl route and he's wide open. Gunner looks at him. Okay. I'm going to take that shot and he trusted Craig Dandridge to go into coverage and take

22:38that ball. And to me, I looked at that and I said, he's seeing it because Gunner takes that 10 yard curl instead of that deep crossover, most of the time. And that's a big, big chunk play explosive play. So just little things like that showed me that Gunner is got that, that next mentality. Like I got to take this chance right here. Instead of taking that 10, I'm going to take this shot at that 25 or 30 and Craig Dandridge paid it all for him. And I'm sure when he got to the side like every smart probably yelled at him for not taking the 10. And then I'm on the helmet. Good job getting that 25. Yep. Yep. Just say, yeah, of course in his headset, Mike Bubba was like great job. Yeah. Play the percentages. You know, I bet when I'm a film review, could you go back and look? I mean, this guy's wide open. He took the shot, man. Sometimes, sometimes you got to do that to, you know, sometimes you got to, sometimes you got to piss your coach off, you know, Kirby, Kirby was telling Kila Ringo to go down. He probably never, never, never brought that up again. Yeah. Well, I mean, that's a minute.

23:40I'm just kind of out there doing whatever he wanted. Oh, yeah, they did not control him. Like they did. That's not laughing. Stetten laughed them off. He wouldn't even talk to them up. Those two didn't even talk to each other. They had to have Buster, they had to have Buster Falker and Mike Bubba to even talk to Stetson. A person in between have a monk. So, well, sometimes you shake off your, your catching, you know, shake him off. I want to make sure some of my friends wrote here real quick. Our first and foremost, their friends in Athens, Ford. If you need service on your vehicle, I want you to go out to Athens, Ford mainly because if you go, if you need to schedule something, let's say you need to change your oil, you need to break pads. You hear in a clicking sound or something. And it doesn't matter. They will fix anything. It doesn't have to just be a Ford. You can go in there and hit the schedule service. And the neat thing is you have two options. You can do the in-store service and it calls up the calendar and you just pick your spot and you go. I mean, it's super simple. Or you can do the mobile servicing where they actually come to you.

24:42So they can change your oil. They can change the battery. They can do stuff in your driveway at your, where you work. It's not, of course, it's not all over the state. It has a limit to the Athens area. But it still goes out a lot further than I thought it would. But the neat thing is you're like, hey, I'm not sure if you guys can fit me in, you call them up and you want to go back and forth. No, go look at their calendar. It's right there. And you just pick your spot and you go in and they take care of it. And while you're getting your service done, it's the, if you wait in the dealership, clean the place you'll ever see great snacks, free snacks, great drinks, coffee, coat, stuff like that, free and super fast. So we've actually done our show from, that's awesome. Yeah, so I like that one a lot. Also want to mention our friends over at Darden's Delights. Now, I, we just had a number of UGS Force dot com that put us number one in the network

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26:43And of course, if you eat too many of those pies like I do, we're going to have some tea issues. So reach out to folks at Atlanta Dental Limp Lants. Dr. Scott, a whole come huge Georgia guy. He would probably be an Arkansas this weekend. And I'm carrying a dent to you. He will be in barking in San Bernard Stadium when Oklahoma comes to town, 330 next Saturday. So we got the game time there. If you need dental implants, reach out to Atlanta Dental Limp Lants. Dr. Scholar, he will get you squared away. The next question, we call it up here real quick. This is from Central Hudson. Is the defensive depth as good as advertised? Things were starting to get a bit muddy when you got past the second stream. Yes, yes, it's just those guys having a play. I mean, this is the first time they've played and look, I wonder, I never. Well, I mean, a lot of, yeah, I mean, it's just 27 true freshmen, man.

27:47I'll tell you it's a long-ass game, man. And I know Kirby is wired like down psycho. And he went absolutely, we talked about, he went berserk on them after the game. And it was, it was out opening for some of those questions. What happened to me at 20? He don't give a damn. And I'm telling you, they went six possessions, I think, without getting a three in now, and that pissed him off. And listen, be saying that, okay, a lot of those guys, this was the first time they played. It was raining, the game was long. They had 63 points where they could blink. I understand how you lose a tad bit of focus and a tad bit of attention there. And you know, Tennessee and then West Kentucky still try to put things on tape. And you know, it is what it is, okay? I understand both sides of that. Does it make me panic? Those are highly recruited guys. They're still learning. It was a great opportunity, Roddy. It was a great opportunity to get those guys into game because we've talked about it. You get into the SEC championship last year and you play a young man that has never played much.

28:50And he had to play center for you against Alabama. He had to turn around playing its Ole Miss and he did it out. He could, but you know, he had gotten two games of reps. Erwin the year, those things helped you a little bit. And you know, I just think it was invaluable for those guys to get on tape. They see what they did wrong. And next time you probably won't do that because I'm pretty sure that the film watching the film to say it half was not fun on Sunday night. Yeah. And again, it's a good question. But you said it gets things to get muddy after the second team. How often do you go to the third team? Yeah, I mean, yeah. Not on this team. But sometimes you're sitting there going, listen, I'm not going to call somebody out. But on the third down against Ole Miss when you had to have it, they had two guys playing that were liabilities. You know what I mean? So you got through two or three different injuries in the secondary.

29:51And then you get a player, Jack, did I believe, an Ole Miss game? They got a situation where Ole Miss knew what they wanted. And they went after some guys in the fourth quarter. And to me, that's where you get into, you don't ever think it's going to happen until it happens. You know what I mean? So it's just invaluable there to get those guys some reps. And to understand, this is a mistake you made. Don't do it again. No, I'm with you there. I think the best thing to get to happen when you win, when you put up a 70 burger. Yeah. It would be easy. And we've seen teams do this. They walk off the field thinking they're damn world beaters. They're like, you bring on 85 players, we got this. And then they become humbled. Hey, get ready for your Saturday night plans. The next thing you know, coach, coach lets you know you about to go through a rail. That'll put a big, sorry not plans. Yeah. And Nick Sabin said that after a big win, you know, you tell them what they did wrong.

30:51But then when they lose a game, that's not when you blast them. That's when you try to build them up. You know, so it almost goes against the office. We expect after a loss, the coach go in there, fired, Bremstone, teal the paint off the walls, you know, flay these players alive. A lot of times it's like, hey, okay, we lost them. Let's get back to it. And then they have a big win sometimes. The coach points out everything that went wrong. You're like, well shit coach, what do we, what do we got to do here? But it's part of it is managing the psychology of the team. Kirby had stuff that he's legitimately mad about. Mad about. And I think he kind of leaned into it a little bit, you know. Yeah. Three, we had three questions from Mick Davis, David Rockwell and Debbie Melton, all asking about, you know, can George do this stuff? Can they win both sides of the ball against better competition? How will the defense and offense do against good teams? And I think I'm going to put all this into the question from Dan Stedman. He's got two. And these are all four of these are kind of similar. He says, can our first team defense create turnovers?

31:51We've seen them create turnovers against lesser teams. Can they create turnovers against a better team? He says, can our offense go on long drives to tire out opposing defenses? I think back to when you needed, when you had a third and one, and you had two true freshmen on the right hand side. And they didn't get it. Before the one, whatever was. So the question is, do you see, because George ended the last year at zero in turnover ratio? That even. Do you think this defense against better teams can create turnovers? They're preaching it. And you see the reaction. You saw AJ crew a bunch of ball out on the open play. You see Demelo Jones make a play on the ball where they had him fooled, wind up being a zone defense. And Melo read the, he's basically a flat defender and he ran with the wide receiver and Stedman, a perfect play on the ball. But little things like that is how you get turnovers. That was Robinson jumped around one time, almost got it.

32:54The DB had actually stick his arm in there. So there's, there's plays that you see that you understand. But I know this, this is what I would watch. Not there. Obviously we're never there at practice, but we both know people are there. One thing I know for sure, they have done since the spring heavily is punched the ball out. Joe and Carter make a play the other night in the fourth quarter. Just straight up punched the ball out inside the red zone. Now they didn't get it, but it was on purpose. So I think that's one of the things, you know, that you see now this talk is forced turnovers. And can you punch a ball out? I'm, I'm, listen, we got a lot of questions too. And we're all about to find out there. You know, those questions to me, I'll answer it in a very general quick way. I think Georgia can win the national championship. I do. I think this roster is built like it can win a national championship. Probably the only team know this roster has enough in my opinion, but we're all about to find out because here's your sample size.

33:56Roddy, as long as you've been doing it, I've been doing it. They're about to run through nine SEC games and then throw on a rivalry game. Yeah. Yeah. So, and then, then probably an SEC championship game with things go well. Let's talk about 11 games. We're going to find out about this team. And then me just throwing the other little small note, you could possibly play four more. So yeah, I mean, there's a lot, there's a lot to this. And I'm excited to find out, but I think when I get that question a lot, can we win it? Yes, I think this team can win a national championship. I love their schedule, even more now. They got to handle business, man. And I think they set up well for Georgia if they can stay healthy and they've got a very, very experienced football team. When I think about, and we've made this comment the other day about the fact that you can't stack talent like you did, but Georgia is, Georgia's not as deep as they were, but that

34:58they were so much deeper than any of their competition in 2021 and 2022, 22, say the Alabama. So let's say Georgia was up here with talent and the other teams were here. Now Georgia's down here because of the transfer of Portland and IL, but so were the other teams. Nobody else stack talent. So that disparity is still there. It's just not all first rounders like 54 guys are going to be drafted. It's still there. So when I watched that Texas as a team, I think, could win the national title. Ohio State's a team, I think, could win the national title. When I watched Texas, flub around for three quarters and then I watched Ohio State blow at 20 point lead. I saw a hurricane. I've seen some of these teams are, you know, these are the ones that are going to be there. So I'm struggling. I'm like, okay, there's not a team out there that looks like a world leader. There's not a team that looks, you know, like Georgia did in 2022 or Ohio State did a couple of years ago. I'm like, yeah, Georgia should be right in it. So I'm with the 100%.

35:59I think 2022, I think Georgia 2022 was the last super team. There's going to be damn good teams. I think the last 2019 LSU 2020 Bama 2022 Georgia, I think that was the last in this day and age college football landscape. I think that was the last super team where you're sitting there. Georgia was 3D with NFL players. Never going to happen again. But they will still be one or four. Yes, that's right. Absolutely. Way more talented than just anybody. Absolutely. 100%. So yeah, they're going to win it. And the other question we have was, you know, can Georgia go on those long drives to choke a game out? You know, they should. They should with that old line. They should be able to. Yeah, if they can run the football, God, I sound like a coach. If Georgia can run the football, my goodness, it opens up everything. Then you get then you have to bring the extra guy in. And that means I'm going to leave a nickel at some point on Jane Radell.

37:02I'm going to leave a safety at some point on Isaiah Canyon. It's just it solves a lot of issues. And if they can run the football, this particular team and it gives opens up the play action with Gunner, the bootleg stuff that he does. If Georgia can run the football, they'd be in there. They're an absolute nightmare to face. Yeah, barking bad. Two passes, Bama O'Line would be the opportunity to be counting on Russell's running. Bama doesn't have the, you don't look at Bama like you used to. No, they're not as deep. They're not as deep. So I'm with you there. I think that. The fact that Georgia's second string, offensive line. It can be a boco an absolute stud and then four juniors who are ready to step in and make a name for themselves. So you get the first five that are all going to be drafted. You know, then you got to five behind them. They're pretty legit. Oh, big thing. When I wrote my column on Friday, I know nobody read it.

38:05But one of the things I asked for was does Georgia have an elite tail back? I know we got Nate Brasers. Good Nate Brasers had what first game four carries three touchdowns. That's pretty good. But I want to see could they break tackles? Does Georgia have a guy who could break tackles like Neon Trace Swift who would just have run over James Cook who didn't get the ball enough? That's a, that's a show for another day. Show for a. Hell and just too much talent to be peeing on a damn room. You know what I mean? James Cook. James Cook was there now. He probably, they probably would wield him off the field every Saturday. Yeah, exactly. So my, my home point is, you know, Georgia has some really good ones, you know, big fan of the guys that have been here sits DeAndre Swift. Yeah. But where, and you just saw DeAndre's son of new contract and he was killed for him. Good for him. Love that guy. Yeah. But do they have a guy who can break a tackle? Sometimes you, you know, I mean, you played line. I played line. I played defense. You played defense.

39:05Sometimes you get a hat on a hat and it's running back versus a linebacker. Safety. And it's he's got to win that you. Everybody's done their job. Now it's a running backs turn. And I saw this past Saturday. Well, Chelsea Bowen's didn't break a tackle. He just jumped over. Just jump. That's athletic as hell now. But the other guy, what do you saw? I saw a, you know, I saw Nick Peel breaking tackles. I saw. I like him now. I made friends with breaking him. Help Jay Lamar. Bow Walker. I will send him like. Yeah. I think that is, I think it's a really good room. I'm not going to see it here and say this one of their best running back rooms is not. They've got some guys that are really damn good players. And, you know, I still say that keep on spell. And I just hate to say about a high school kid, but he'd be playing right now for George. I mean, there's no question my mind. I think Nate Frazier has had some ups and downs.

40:07I think he has got, they basically benched him actually Alabama game last year. And the way, the way he reacted, I actually fumbled a game. They took him out. I mean, I think they had enough. And the way he reacted since that game to me says a lot about Nate. He drives me nuts sometimes where he will absolutely run into the last man. But I will tell you this that Nate Frazier is running as hard as I've ever seen him. I mean, this guy, he runs pissed off. That's the best way to say it. Now, the last guy is going to get him most of the time. We kind of laugh about that sometimes. I'm like, Nate, we're running right into that stop sign. But he is running like a damn pissed off running back. And I love that out of him. I think his best days are ahead of him. And he stays healthy, huge piece. Chelsea Bowens is a guy to me that gives you a little bit more twitchiness at times. Really good back.

41:08The next guy, I'm telling you now, this peel guy. And it's, I saw him last year in a high school football game. And I'm telling you, I thought pretty good back. I didn't see that out of it. He's got some shiftingness to him in a big frame. And Roddy, they're playing him pretty quick. You know what I mean? I still think Bow Walker's hard to deal with. This running back room is enough. So don't get my words twisted. I still want to see an alpha in there. Not sure they got one quite yet. But they got some damn good running backs. The best thing is going with that running back room is in five guys in front of him. And they can fly out. Go get it. And George has always had good backs. I mean, you know, they're good. But he's a good, he's a NFL guy now. These guys are going to play in it. These guys are going to play in a fail. But what you're used to at Georgia is game changers. And I think that's I think that's where they're trying to hit these guys. And the reason I bring all that up is. Want to see the guys break tackles because that would be a situation where.

42:10If you want to push eight explosives. Yeah, who had poglisies being the leading ruster on the day. I didn't have that on my video card. I did roll it out, man. Yeah. So aside from that, I want to see. When we talk about that kind of curvy smart suffocating long drives. He's like, you're only going to get eight drives because my drives are all going to last about four and a half minutes, six minutes. And at the end of the game, some of these things will be seven or eight minutes. We might not even score. We're just going to keep it away from you because we can run it behind that big offensive line. Those nasty blocking tight ends when you got a life Williams out there. And loss of luck. You need to borrow more and change the bell. And you're in, you know, 12 personnel and you're like, OK, what are you going to do to stop us? We're going 13. We're still going to run it. I want to see those backs get that extra yard. You lost McCray. That guy came in and saved your butt. You know, when a couple short yard displays. Do they have a guy that can break a tackle when they bring up the safety?

43:10They bring up the linebackers. They add they have eight in the box. You know it's a box. They know it's a box. You still got to run and get there. And I'm thinking with this offensive line, do you have and tight ends and hell, even running quarterbacks. Now you have to threat to run, which you didn't have really so much in Carson thing. Now they even have to honor Gunner. So yes, you had those backs. And now I feel a whole hell of a lot more comfortable knowing. If you turn around and hand it to Choncy Bowen's, he's going to break a tackle this year. Yeah. Nate, you're just going to break a tackle. They're both running angrier like they're. I love it. I love it. I love it. Give me a say. They're not jumping around sideways like Nate did when he first got here. Yeah, bouncing everything. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Give me third and three, man, over third and seven. Just just break me a tackle. SEC game. Give me third and three with Gunner Soctin and we'll win some down football. Walk on 47, Randhard. Number 47. My man, Will Taylor there.

44:12Yeah, he will Taylor's. We've talked a lot about him this week. Wider seaver and. You know, it's interesting, you know, with him, he came in very early. And I was like, wait a minute. This guy's ahead of some people and you heard Kirby say he had. Third rep or third series. Yeah, you heard Kirby say he had the most explosives in fall camp. He goes, the other players will tell you the will Taylor blocks his ass off. And he had the most explosive plays on in fall camp. So again, this is a guy that came out of Cambridge high school where Craig Danches from saw him in high school. I had him in camp. I had him in a Georgia league classic all-star game. Kind of got lost in the shuffle. His senior year and had some big games. Not a great team. Cambridge wind up being really good the next two years. But he was a guy that you would just say like, hey, that guy can play somewhere. And I will say this credit to Matt Goblin, former director player personnel.

45:12That was basically the last kid that he was. They got him the like the night before signing day to not go walk on at Ole Miss and come to Georgia. You don't hear anything about him for three years. That was in 2023 when he commits to Georgia. Retweeted that yesterday if you guys follow me. And little things like that. And that's what sucks about this walk on rule. These stories are going to be done forever. I'm going to have it. But here's a kid. His dream was to play in Georgia. They pass up an opportunity to go to Ole Miss. He comes over here. He's buried. Nobody even knows who he is. And all of a sudden this guy is playing. And now when he's playing, he is in the real rotation. He is ahead of multiple multiple. My depth is over. I came in the fourth C.J. Wiley. He is in multiple depth charts. I've had a three or four guys. They're a scholarship player. I'm just telling you, 47. I know people are giving him a hell. I love it, man. Every one of y'all know who he is because he's wearing 47.

46:12I kind of like that. I kind of like that. You know what I mean? Have you had that? Have you had your unique number there? Yeah, because sometimes you'll see, is that 81 or 87? Is that 84? Is that 82? Is that a two or a seven? And I'm like, you're all going, remember, 47. 47 lined up, you know, out wide. You're like, oh, hey, look who's at Will's in the game. There's another guy that just kind of, I don't say surprised me because my first column I wrote about the guys and the second string offensive line. The guy that came in pretty early too was Marcus Harrison. Marcus Harrison coming in. That is a talked about Marcus Harrison at all. From Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, 67. It probably took him two years to adjust to be able to breathe down here from May, from May until September. It probably took him a while to learn the, the humidity's a little different down here. But I was in a Wilson. Oh my God. There he worked out.

47:12That was one of the last days that we could ever be at Kirby Camp. Yeah. They worked him out. He almost died. They worked him out in the air in the airfields. And I'm telling you, it was 220 degrees. And I watched this man hit a bag and about killed the coaching assistant. And I was standing there because we were able to be a camp then. I was standing there in long time. Great. Everybody knows Mike Kevin. He said, stop it. We've seen enough. I mean, this dude. But I'm gonna tell you, when he took his helmet off, he couldn't freaking breathe. Like, I bet he was like, airing away in hell. I'm coming to school down here. But, uh, I'm sure he was. Marcus Harrison playing a lot. Yep. He had the rivals. You guys old five star challenge. He worked out in the five star challenge. Um, uh, dry fit. And I remember it pissed me off because I couldn't use any of the pictures. I was like, dammit. I'm working for 24 or 7. I accidentally, I stumbled up on almost a private workout. Nobody's down there, but me.

48:12I'm like, I've got this. I'm in there. He's got a damn rivals logo. He's shirt off. I'm like, I couldn't use these damn pictures. So, y'all got me that day. Y'all got me. Now, there's a number of guys like that. Like the will tight, but there's the, you know, the guys who developed later on. And for me, I've always used the example of. Chris Smith, you know, guy who comes along in his senior year. It's like without him, you don't win a national title. Of course, you know, there's the freshmen and the, the guys who blow up right away last year. We're talking about the freshman that came in and held this year. You've got two on offense and two on defense. You know, two on offensive line, two on the deepets of line. Who are going to start for you? You know, this is just a huge increase. There's a lot of questions about the line of scrimmage. You know, can Georgia win the line of scrimmage? I'm like, when you have a, a sonay and PJ Dean coming on as true freshman. And you got. Zika, he helped him and Kenne Boca on the offensive line. I'm like, this is, this is filthy. You know, you don't see guys hit on the line of scrimmage as true freshman.

49:14Yeah. Saying that even though they had to do it last year. And I'm like, OK, so you've got some serious talent here. Winning on your lines of scrimmage. And again, I'm just going back to the fact that it's over a. You know, nine game SEC schedule. A maybe an SEC championship multiple games in the playoffs. The fact that you've got freshmen who can play that at that high level. What does the curve going to say? I'm looking for guys who can play championship football. He may have 10 freshmen who can play championship football. Who the hell gets that? Well, and they all came in every single freshman came in. In January, other than Justice Fitzpatrick. And that was for obvious reasons. Right. Who we got here later. Another thing to you, Roddy. I mean, these guys are, these guys are getting paid to play. And you don't want to play. You don't want. Dead money sitting over there on the sideline. When these guys are, look, I know Millage at four o'clock on the afternoon.

50:15It's great for these young men. And they, and Athens sells itself sometimes. But no, sir, these guys are getting paid. And it's probably along the lines of, hey, we might only have this guy three years. He's got to go. We, he's got to learn right now. This guy can help us. And I'm going to say, I'm going to say, I'm going to say, I'm going to say, I'm going to say, I'm going to say, I'm going to say, I'm going to say, I'm going to say, I'm going to say, I'm going to say, I'm going to say, like, I'm going to say, you know, that's a thing that this guy can help us. And I think a lot of that has to do with it. I'm on my former classmates, their Sid Gauten, appreciate you joining the city. He's telling me to, he's telling me to crack this purple thing over here a little bit early. And let's say that is definitely a prop. But uh, yeah, if I crack that early, the Randlings tonight will be. Probably interesting. developing and that when they lean on those freshmen it's going to be good but also the fact that you could lean on a will tailor, you know, and people be like, well, you know,

51:16where's CJ Wiley? Maybe he is a year two or year three guy. Like Marcus Harrison. He's the same question we got by Jayden Radell. Where is he? Oh, yeah. Jayden Radell should have transferred. Let me just say it. He was an instant starter elsewhere. But he stuck around and then he has a super battle. Although they have done a awful job, media training, fantastic by their records or by their standards, but by our standards, they take it all the fun out of Jayden Radell. He's a funny guy and he stood up there and asked for questions yesterday like a robot and I was like, come to get me something. And the only way I got him to actually kind of smile a little bit was asking about his GPS numbers which were through the roof and talking about Colton Heinrich, one of his buddies. He mentioned Colton Heinrich taking snaps at the end. How about that? And shout out, know his dad, mom and dad well. And he's another one, man. You just don't know this kid doing whatever he could do to help University of Georgia. He's in a damn room. It might as well be the cowboys.

52:21I mean, it's just everybody in the room. Everybody's NFL and Kirby asked Colton Heinrich to do something to help out a little bit. And what's he do? He jumps over there and don't think for one minute when at some point Kirby's going to have to answer to somebody for Colton Heinrich down the line where every place NFL, if he gets that point, whatever, he's going to bring up that point. This guy did everything we ever ask of him. He didn't bail when things got tough and a little things like that. It's a scholarship tidying that went over to help the defense for a couple of days and do what he needed to do for George. Those damn things are those things are invaluable. Those players are invaluable. I point out to those guys all the time. It's that big team little me. That atmosphere. That's another reason I think this team can win. We had comments about how that Oregon team looked to be, we'll say discombobulated, but

53:22you know they spent a lot of money in the portals. Oh my god. They're jelling at Oregon. How well are they getting along? And the fact is you have transfers come to Georgia who get named team captains. You have guys willing to run through a wall for trebritian. They love. Oh yeah. Oh god. They love London Humphries. You know how about Darius got 1415 guys that he played football with in high school on his team. So he fits in well. I'm just saying it's not about Darius Kendrick what he did. You know what I mean? He don't get mentioned enough on the other national championship team. I'm with the opposite. Yeah he gets overlooked a lot. He's still playing by the way. Who's a tight end wolf? Yeah we'll get a guy from Stanford too. I mean dude they don't. Hey dude you took a long snapper from you say in both Carter who's in the end of China. Yeah just say there is a way that George is able to bring in some transfers and still have team cohesiveness

54:25that you have got like Colton will go out there and bust his butt on the other side of the line. And you see when some of these guys get in the end zone it's their position mates to come out and watch other games and you see a third string running back score. I think the first string and second string running backs are running out and pat him on the head because they're like that could have been mine. These guys play for each other and that's I know it doesn't get you an automatic burst down. I know it doesn't you know I get you three points on the score board just because you have team cohesiveness but we've solved last year when they had those awful starts rusty. They just couldn't the defense couldn't get off the field. They give them scores on every drive. The offense is not getting anywhere. They're they're trailing at the half multiple times and the second half they can not kick people's asses. It was that team there wasn't the infighting that you would see on a team that doesn't get long. Yeah this is Screer's team. I've said that

55:25and it is a very close sometimes you sometimes it sometimes they don't mean a damn thing, Roddy. But I can tell you from the from a chemistry side everybody I know in that building everybody they'd love this team like Kirby. Kirby loves this team now. How's it going to play out? I don't know but you tell them about a good room they've got a good room. Yeah I'm with 100%. Hi folks we're going to have to leave it there. I know we have we didn't get to all the questions we never can. We can do this for three hours and we still have questions but that is what was the one give us one give me one you would give me give me a over time question what's one you wanted to get to we did to let's see people been hanging around here. I appreciate everybody. Trying to get there was one that I really liked and I can Oh Jason Smith. How much are we going to beat Bama by? Listen that game is for whatever reason it's been the one that you know and I'll say this after

56:25the way George and beat them in SC Championship and beat them down if George it goes in there and wins finally at Tuscaloosa on their 19th trip and eight years to them Tuscaloosa it seems you're right. I mean my god we're there every year almost. It's nuts. If Georgia goes in and wins that game this year that that momentum and that series is with Georgia and that's what people that's what people want I mean if I tell you Georgia going in 2017 you're damn going to take that but that's a good way is a way and I think I think I've said this from the start we're going to have a pretty good pulse on Georgia at the end of September and we're 14 days 15 whatever days away from finding out what they really have as you turn toward that stretch in October of important games but George needs to win in Tuscaloosa and people say ask me and Rod you may ask this different the question I got who do you think Georgia's toughest row game was is your honestly

57:28it's Alabama I know some of that stuff I'll miss they have not won enough in that series and that's really what has given Kalen the Boer a little bit of leeway over there but if Kirby goes into Tuscaloosa and beats him again that momentum has switched yeah 100% and that's I've always said that's like the last book you've had in the closet not great 100% Georgia Georgia played had played year that no I still predict the Georgia Florida score to be closer than it should be every year just because right the way Florida the psychological advantage they had for years until Kirby broke that but they still there's enough hatred there that when the two of them had against each other those games are closer than they should be and the only team that I ever think that Georgia or and maybe even the coaching staff when they act different they play different it's when they play against Alabama and I just think that there's some sort of mental block there and I know it's

58:28you know you can't save the guys on the team today are affected by what happened 12 years ago or 20 years ago coaches can be affected and the fact that you know that this is a team you haven't been successful against it permeate your mindset and guys play a little differently and coaches coach a little differently you win again now there's nobody left you're not scared of old men's you're not scared of a Ohio State Notre Dame Texas you beat Texas multiple times you beat no Ohio State before you're not gonna have nobody has a psychological advantage over your team except Alabama that's right you to begin it's gone great man I folks appreciate everybody joining us and we will see you next Tuesday at noon you