HOOVER, Ala. — Kirby Smart knows what it takes to win in the Southeastern Conference -- and it's not necessarily quarterback play.
Yes, the QB position is important -- and Smart spent plenty of time discussing the race to win the Bulldogs' starting quarterback spot in Tuesday's SEC Media Days appearance in Hoover, Ala.
He was more adamant about another position, however.
"You look at last 10 years, SEC champions, it's not necessarily senior quarterbacks (that make the difference). There's a lot of athletic quarterbacks in those 10, but the biggest thing is defensive line and dominating the line of scrimmage, stopping people from running the ball," said Smart, who took that lesson to heart during eight years of leading championship defenses at Alabama.
Continuing that success in his rookie campaign in Athens could prove difficult, especially for a Bulldogs team that is short on depth and experience along the defensive front.
Sophomore Trenton Thompson (25 tackles, 1.5 for loss in 2015) is a standout at defensive tackle, but flanking him is a mix of inexperience and potential that Georgia hopes will develop quickly.
"The biggest concern for me and our team is the defensive line," Smart said. "We have to do a great job there and stay injury free. We have to develop the guys on campus. If those guys get better, we'll have good depth there."
Junior John Atkins, who made three starts last season and played in 10 games, making 12 total tackles, is hoping for a breakout season. Yet sophomores Daquan Hawkins (10 games played, two starts, three tackles) and Michael Barnett (seven games played, five tackles) will have to provide quality depth -- likely alongside freshmen Julian Rochester, Tyler Clark and Michail Carter.
The impending suspension of defensive end Jonathan Ledbetter, who was arrested for the second time on an alcohol-related offense on Sunday, and will face a suspension (see below), only added another question mark to the unit -- one that Smart will undoubtedly make a focus on the recruiting trail.
"That's one of the things that, in my history, has been very important, to sign enough big bodies to dominate the line of scrimmage. And those are the hardest positions to come by now," Smart said. "When you go look, those big guys don't grow on trees. You got to go find them. There's not enough of them out there to supply the entire SEC. So finding the big defensive line that can dominate line of scrimmage is critical to your success in the Southeastern Conference."
SMART WORKING TO CURB ARRESTS: Like most coaches over the first two days in Hoover, Smart had to answer questions about player conduct and did note that Ledbetter will be suspended after his DUI arrest as per Georgia Athletic Association policy. He declined to say how many games the suspension would be, however.
Discussing the seven overall arrests that have taken place just months into his tenure, Smart was quick to say that he believes it is an aspect that the program and the University is working to correct.
"I think certainly it's an issue. I think any time you have those issues, you got to put things in place in your program to help players -- every way possible we want to help and assist those guys," Smart said.
Like any new coach, however, it will take time to implement the changes Smart wants in place.
"We've had five guys that have been arrested. Two are no longer with us. I hate that for them, but our team has moved on. It's very important that we don't make the same mistakes twice," he added. "That's a big part of improvement. We'll do everything we can possibly and (get) plenty of support from our athletic department to put things in place to help our players not to make those same mistakes again."
YOUTH WILL BE SERVED: Look at it this way -- a lot of Georgia's players won't have to unlearn things imparted from the former coaching staff.
"Sixty-three percent of our team is going to be sophomores or less. So we've got a young team," Smart noted. "And we also only have 12 scholarship seniors on this team."
The coach was quick to point out that numbers don't always tell the story.
"The teams that win the SEC, they always have great senior groups -- not necessarily quantity, but quality," Smart said.
Players like offensive linemen Brandon Kublanow and Greg Pyke, safety Quincy Mauger and linebacker Tim Kimbrough will have to play key roles both in production and leadership moving forward.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2016/7/421986/bulldogs-notebook-smart-focused-on-improving-defensive-line