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Georgia coach Kirby Smart was lavish in his praise of Kentucky running back Ray Davis, the SEC Co-Offensive Player of the Week after running for 280 yards against Florida and scoring four touchdowns, during his press conference Monday to discuss the upcoming Georgia-UK game.
However, Smart also admitted that the No. 1 Bulldogs were not interested in Davis when he put his name into the transfer portal after two years at Vanderbilt and ended up at Kentucky.
“I don’t remember anything on Ray. Somebody said something to me about they might have expressed interest. I never knew that. I never talked to Ray. I never had any conversation with him,” Smart said.
“And to be honest with you, we were in a situation where we had some backs coming back. We weren’t actively pursuing anyone. And like I told you before: Most of these kids, when they go in the portal, they probably have an idea where they’re going.”
Whatever got Davis to Kentucky, he’s now leading the SEC in rushing with 594 yards and eight touchdowns. His 11 total touchdowns lead the SEC.
“I mean he’s an exceptional back, as good a back as I’ve seen in a long time,” Smart admitted. “This guy’s smooth, explosive, he pass protects really well, he protects the ball.”
Smart paid Davis a huge compliment comparing him to one of his former star players.
“He’s aggressive in the way he runs, he reminds me of (D’Andre) Swift, he’s just a little bigger. But he has a lot of the same cuts, one cut runner. And they do a tremendous job now of blocking for him. So it’s not all him, I mean he has a run game,” Smart said.
Smart considers Davis another one of the great running backs coach Mark Stoops has had at UK.
“It seems like Kentucky’s always had a back right? They had Benny (Snell) who was unbelievable, then they had the kid from Georgia (Chris Rodriguez) the last couple years. Their backs run really physically, but they are committed to running the ball and they do a great job at the point of attack,” Smart said.
