Tag: smart uga

Rival SEC commit visits Georgia football staff in Athens

Ole Miss pledge Daran Branch is in Athens for weekend to meet with Kirby Smart and Matt Luke.

The Georgia Bulldogs have a visitor on campus committed to a conference rival.

Ole Miss pledge Daran Branch is in Athens for weekend to meet with Kirby Smart and company. His primary recruiter is Matt Luke, former University of Mississippi head coach and current offensive line coach at Georgia.

It will be one of Branch’s five allotted official visits.

Branch, a three-star senior cornerback out of Amite, Louisiana, committed to Ole Miss on November 17, two weeks before Luke was ousted from Oxford.

The lengthy cornerback certainly fits Kibry Smart’s mold for an ideal defensive back’s size and has the speed, awareness, and ball skills to be a ball hawk at safety.

Georgia’s 2020 defense will return the vast majority of the team’s 2019 starters, but only have two cornerbacks (five-star Kelee Ringo and four-star Jalen Kimber, the latter of whom already enrolled at UGA) and one saftey (Major Burns, enrolled) in the 2020 class.

Branch previously committed to Miami in March. It seems like a spot is there for him in Athens given his relationship with Matt Luke, but his commitment will be one to keep on eye on in the next week and a half before National Signing Day.

Kirby Smart addresses Georgia football’s offensive woes

Georgia faithful still wonder how the much longer the Dawgs’ D can bail out the struggling offense.

Georgia’s 2019 defense is a statistical anomaly. The Junkyard Dawgs will enter their final regular season game ranked fifth in total defense, second in rushing defense, seventh in passing efficiency defense, and have only allowed one rushing touchdown.

The Bulldog Nation thoroughly enjoys watching a defense that can guarantee a win requiring only 21 points. Georgia is one of two teams (Clemson being the other) that hasn’t given up more than 20 points thus far this season.

That said, Georgia faithful still wonder how the much longer the Dawgs’ D can bail out the struggling offense.

Head coach Kirby Smart acknowledged the fans’ echoed concerns after the Silver Britches’ lackluster offense.

“There were things [against Texas A&M] that we missed that were there. That’s the frustrating thing.”

He continued: “You get an opportunity on first and ten to make the plays that we had, and you’ve got to make those.”

Smart, obviously aware of the situation, added that “some of that had nothing to to with the calls…it had to do with execution.”

“[The defense] got tired toward the end of the game. We’re going to have to overcome that, because two weeks in a row now, we’ve kind of lost momentum late and struggled on a couple drives.”

Quarterback Jake Fromm has thrown under 50% for three consecutive games. Compared to his career percentage of 65.5%, the current trend is surprising.

“Offensively, we’ve got to improve. There’s no bones about it.” Smart The message this week is that the next step is the most important step.”