Kirby Smart on Chris Rodriguez, Will Levis and UK defense

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Georgia coach Kirby Smart says Chris Rodriguez is one of the most physical runners he’s ever seen. (Vicky Graff Photo)

Georgia coach Kirby Smart certainly wants to make sure his No. 1 Bulldogs don’t overlook Kentucky this week because of the Wildcats’ loss to Vanderbilt last week.

“I know we’ll get the response from them that you would expect out of a team that’s the quality of Kentucky. They have done a tremendous job the last two or three years with what he (Mark Stoops) has done with their program,” Smart said.

“He’s built it through keeping players there, developing players, extremely physical and tough. When you ask our kids over the last two years what the most physical game they played in, to a man, almost everyone of them talks about how physical the Kentucky game was two years ago up there and then at our place last year where they went on a 20-something play drive against our defense to end the game.”

“And their defense is one of the tops in the conference year-in and year-out, but that way this year as well. So a great challenge for us to go on the road, tough environment, day game, and looking forward to the opportunity.”

Here is more of what Smart had to say about the Wildcats:

Question: Chris Rodriguez is coming off of one of his best games of the season. Just what makes him such an effective running back and the challenge he presents?

Smart: “His willingness and love for contact. He seeks and cherishes contact. And it’s that time of year where you watch defenses across the country and people turn down contact. They turn down hits. We make a point to try to show it to our guys that as the year goes, tackling gets worse and worse and worse. Are we going to be bit by that contagious bug of lack of a willingness to thud and tackle people, especially a guy that loves it. I mean, he seeks it. He wants to hit you.”

“One of the most physical runners I’ve seen, and it just seems like Kentucky always has that guy. Snell. Benny was that way. They’re just, it almost feeds to their personality. And you watch and you’re like, well, how did he get through that tackle? And you don’t really know because he just keeps going when people hit him. Great challenge. Great challenge to be physical with this guy and match his love for contact.”

Question: What kind of challenges does playing a guy like Will Levis, who is so physically gifted, present to your defense?

Smart: “This guy’s got a bazooka for an arm. He can make all the throws. He’s a really good athlete, and he’s physically and mentally really tough. He’s wired that kind of way to compete against you. It’s not like he’s going to shy away from contact. He doesn’t get flustered by the rush. He’s not afraid of standing in there and taking shots.”

“That’s one of the number one qualities of a quarterback is can they stand in there and be unaffected, and he has been. He’s shown that. He’s actually shown the ability to break tackles.”

Question: Kentucky’s pass defense has been one of the best in the conference. Just what stands out about how they’ve played the pass throughout this year?

Smart: “Well, their entire defense has been one of the best throughout the conference and they have been consistently every year, let’s be clear. Because they have really good defensive coaches. Coach Stoops is very involved. Coach (Brad) White does a tremendous job. They’re very consistent because they’re physical. They don’t allow you to get the run game going. They play a lot of odd front, which makes for really tough sledding in terms of large human beings being inside. You don’t move and displace them very well.”

“They’re very multiple in coverage, so we’ve had ’em on tape multiple times. I know going into Tennessee, Mississippi State, you find yourself watching Kentucky a lot. And I have a lot of respect for what they do defensively and the players they have that do it. They do a great job.”

2 Responses

  1. Impressive scouting report from Kirby Smart on UK’s 2022 football team. He gives no bulletin board material in that assessment of UK. I just wish most of it was true for this version of UK football. The part about C-Rod is. You never know with a Stoops coached team anymore which one will show up come game day. The one we saw last Saturday against Vandy will get slaughtered by the nation’s top team, you can count on that. I just hope UK plays with more desire and passion and don’t get embarrassed before another home crowd.

  2. Don’t think Kirby lost much sleep this week. Just hope no one goes down Saturday. Next week will be this teams Super Bowl.

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