Kirby Smart makes candid comments about Nick Saban and Carson Beck | On the Beat

On this episode of On The Beat, DawgNation insider Mike Griffith discusses Kirby Smart’s latest interview with ESPN and a look at one major difference between Carson Beck and Stetson Bennett. Plus, a look at the three hottest position groups for UGA football. Later, who’s hot and who’s not in the UGA sports world.

0:00 – Kirby Smart claims he wishes Nick Saban never retired in ESPN interview
7:30 – The characteristics and circumstances that separate Carson Beck from former UGA quarterbacks Jake Fromm and Stetson Bennett
13:50- UGA men’s basketball team continues to turn heads in NIT Tournament
16:32 – UGA Offensive Line could be the best OL in the Kirby Smart Era
24:30 – Trevor Etienne and Roderick Robinson are what will make the UGA backfield elite
30:38 – UGA Special Teams are one of UGA’s best three position groups
34:00 – Who’s Hot and Who’s Cold around the UGA Sports world

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[Applause] [Applause] This episode of on the beat is brought to you by Engles shop online with Eng Les curbside pickup new curbside stores opening every week please welcome Mike Griffith hi everybody Mike Griffith here welcome to tonight’s Engles on the beat segment and we’re going to talk about Georgia Spring football we’re going to

Talk about Georgia baseball we’re going to talk about about Georgia basketball we’ve talked a little Georgia softball let’s start it out with Kirby Smart and some of his recent comments in a one-on-one interview with ESPN now Kirby met with the local media last Tuesday he meets every Tuesday with the media but

Then afterward he met with ESPN’s Chris low and I thought Kirby had a lot of interesting things to say and among those things ironically enough was that he wished that Nick saen hadn’t retired I posted a story on that and everybody is saying April Fools that really the

Kirby W no it’s not April fools this is not an April fools from Kirby Smart he really does wish that Nick sain had not retired because he likes competing with him and Kirby admitted uh that he would have liked to have played him again um now he didn’t say it wasn’t eating him

Eating him up because it was kind of put to him that way but he did say that yeah he would have wanted to play against Nick Sabin again and you know when I look at where the Georgia football team is right now I understand that like I thought Georgia was better than Alabama

Last year when both teams were at their best but obviously there were some key injuries to Georgia and I think their schedule uh really ran them down in the month of November when you consider they played Missouri Old Miss Tennessee and and a pretty feisty Georgia Tech on the

Road uh the last game of the season and we all know Brock Bowers and lad mcon were not at 100% And then credit to Jaylen milro who probably played the game of his life and Alabama didn’t make mistakes and and Carson back in in Georgia uh made a couple of those

Mistakes so I thought it was very interesting that Kirby would say uh that he wished um that Sabin hadn’t retired um you know in terms of wanting to play him again you know he said you know we’ve had some really close games and some really great games uh but yeah I

Wish he was still there I wish he was still around so that could get more shots in him because I hadn’t done real well against him of course the record being one and five and yet when I think about the Georgia Alabama series with Kirby and Sabin I don’t think about it

Being that lopsided because of the way the 2017 title game turned out uh with Alabama having to come from behind and winning overtime and I think about the 2018 game where Alabama came from behind again uh Georgia with a key injury to DeAndre Walker I think about the 20 20

Game when Georgia was beating Alabama and tuscalo at halftime and then uh I think Stetson had three interceptions that night and it turned out to be a national championship team H for Alabama in that covid shortened season of 2020 schedules weren’t the same either when I

Think a 2020 it’s One That Got Away remember Richard lount and the motorcycle accident the night they beat Kentucky and Jordan Davis and the elbow injury in the Kentucky game both those players missing when they lost to Florida otherwise you probably would have seen Georgia play Alabama again in

2020 in the SEC title game 2021 uh you think about Georgia’s national championship First National Championship season a loss to Alabama in the SEC Championship game and then in the Revenge matchup the Georgia defense settles in and beats B albe it uh mie and Jameson they’re two best receivers

Uh both with some injury issues as well and then of course last year the SEC title game and all these games were hard I suppose the only lopsided game in there was the 2021 uh SEC Championship game and again some some interceptions and issues for Stetson in that game uh

But for the most part these have been very hard fought close games so you know while it’s 5-1 saving uh these are all very contested games that I feel like most all of them but maybe with the exception of one could have gone either way so I get Kirby’s Vibe with wanting

To play this guy again and especially when you look at you know Sav and lost twice to Dabo and Kirby beat Dabo of course in the 2021 and they’ll have an opportunity to match up with Dabo Sweeney and Clemson again uh in this year’s season opening game in Atlanta

That’ll obviously be pretty key obviously Sabin lost to Harbaugh on his last game and Kirby beat har BAU on the Orange Bowl just a couple years ago so you could play some transitive properties you look at the struggles Alabama’s had with auburn and and and georg’s had some pretty good success of

Late so uh bottom line though no not in April Fools Kirby really does wish sain was around and and I give Kirby credit um because in the course of this interview with ESPN he was asked a couple times about Nick Sabin and obviously this is a guy that Kirby

Respects and admires he worked for him for a long time and he gives him a lot of credit but but Nick sabin’s retired now typically when a coach retires you know people don’t keep talking about him so much and you would think this is when Kirby Smart would get his attention I

Brought it up last week on the program and I’ll bring it up this week it it just blows my mind that Georgia hasn’t lost a regular season game in four years and Kirby’s won two national titles in that span and had a record-breaking 29 game win streak and yet he’s never been

The coach of the year in any of those Seasons I I just don’t know how that’s possible but you know maybe some of its Society with you know wanting to you know lift up the weaker guy and give Coach of the Year to the guy whose team

Was supposed to be bad and you know actually won nine or 10 games instead of five or six instead of just giving it to the best guy you know I I think that’s more of an indictment on our Sports Society right now because 20 or 30 years

From now uh when I’m having that conversation with my grandson or granddaughter whomever and they say Mike you covered that Georgia program back in the era when Kirby Smart was winning championships and um I was just looking it up the other day was Eli drinkwitz

That good of a coach and I saywell what do you mean they say well he was named the SEC coach of the year over Kirby and Nick sain that year I say ‘ no he really wasn’t that good of a coach but that’s just how people voted back then they

Didn’t vote for the best coach to be the coach of the year did you hear what I just said we don’t vote for the best coach to be the coach of the year okay all right how much longer before the team with the most points isn’t the winner anymore I I

Mean when I was young I bowled in a handicap League we’d get like 35 pins the other team might Out roll us but because we were worse Bowlers we would get these pins and we would it was it was called handicap bowling we’ve hit the handicap stage of awards now for

Coaches apparently so anyway uh de grass get back on track here uh Kirby Smart also said in this ESPN interview and I thought this was interesting he said that Carson Beck had a bit of air arance to him but then he said but he’s not holier than now so at one breath Kirby

Talked about Carson having some maybe conceit right but at the same time you know being able to laugh laugh at himself okay I guess it balances out I look at quarterbacks and and I don’t know that that I want arrogance as much as I wanted confidence

And maybe it’s wrong and maybe you all will disagree but in terms of the ideal disposition for a quarterback for a Georgia quarterback I thought that was Jake frown I thought Jake PR was a guy that carried himself in model fashion I felt like Jake was always confident I

Thought he was always clear I thought he was always positive um and and at times uh he took a lot of responsibility for himself you know Jake would blame himself for situations that really weren’t his fault all right because he was the quarterback and he was raised to take on that

Responsibility and I thought you know Jake FR is the guy if you could take Jake fr’s disposition and attitude and put that in Carson back I think you’d have a pretty popular quarterback um Carson obviously with an NFL arm Carson with probably uh more Mobility Than Jake I think both quarterbacks were fantastic

At the PRI snap Reed Jake’s still in the NFL by the way for all the people that that are critical of Jake Jake from is still in the NFL you can’t be real talented uh to be a number two or number three quarterback and and who knows

Maybe Jake will one day get his break there but I thought Jake was a very good quarterback Obviously good enough to win a National Championship as a true freshman had a safety not blown an assignment Jake from did his job folks he led you to a national title

Offensively if your defense can make a stop on second and 26 um so but anyway the comments on Beck were interesting and then Kirby also said that it’s time to let this cat go and make some plays uh he talked about how at the beginning of last year how

Maybe they were a little slow to let Carson uh I don’t think he said go downfield but um maybe I’m trying to think of the way he put that well I mean here’s the quote he he said early in in the year last season we probably did try to protect him too

Much he said but then you see that nothing ever really affects him and you know you’ve just got to let the cat go play because we were either going to make it or not make it on his back and as the year went on he got better

And better but we were probably a little slow with him out of the gate in other words they tried to protect Carson from turnovers or any sort of adversity and then as it turned out Carson is a guy who can handle adversity on the field Carson is a guy who can

Bounce back from turnovers and what Kirby’s saying is Maybe maybe you should have thrown him a little deeper in the water a little sooner um but but as things evolved I think we saw Carson I thought he looked outstanding against Old Miss I thought he was particularly sharp against Tennessee um Georgia Tech

Was a challenging game for the whole team and then I didn’t think he played real well against Alabama it maybe in spurts but gosh I keep going back to that underthrown ball to Aron Smith if it’s on target it’s seven instead it’s underthrown and uh you have to settle

For three and that’s four points and it’s a three-point game uh that’s one you know Carson wishes he had back so this year A lot’s going to be on Carson’s shoulders again I made an SEC network appearance last week and I made some comments that I thought more

Would be on Carson Beck shoulders uh this season than last season and I also said that I didn’t think that Carson had as good of a Supporting Cast as Stetson Bennett had and some people took offense to that they took that as a criticism of Stetson it wasn’t meant to be that but

What it was meant to say was that Carson won’t have Brock Bowers this year and he won’t have blad makoni this year and he never had a Donnie Mitchell uh and he never had James Cook and he never had zamir white um and and he didn’t have

Kenny Macintosh last year and I thought those were all better players uh than what you’re GNA have this year now now we’ll wait and see um and in the second segment of this program I’m going to bring out what I think think of the three best position groups on this

Football team but my point is uh I also don’t think the defense is going to be as good either and neither does Kirby Smart by the way Kirby Smart said uh that he felt like the one thing he’s seen this spring is how good the offensive line has been playing uh and

That they’ve uh you know got the better of the defensive line and his comment was it’s not to say that Georgia was so par on the defensive line last year we just weren’t great he says uh he said we didn’t have a dominant guy but we were

Always going to he said but we’re always going to be good on defense I don’t know that we’re going to be great this year but I think we have a chance to be great on offense that puts a lot on the shoulders of Carson Beck

Stetson um came up big in a lot of games but I also think he had a championship defense that kept George in a lot of games so I thought there was a little bit bigger margin for air uh for ston and JT Daniels for that matter when JT

Was the starting quarterback uh during that Championship run so I think the quarterback has more on their shoulders now I think the defense isn’t as good as it was in 2021 or 2022 maybe not even 2020 and obviously that’s something that has been an ongoing storyline as Kirby Smart

Talks about not having Havoc makers uh or train record on that front line um this is still a playoff team team this is still a team that I think you’re going to see in a tournament but we’re going to have to wait and see how the season progresses who stays healthy and

How these Bulldogs evolve again segment two we’re going to break down the best position groups now speaking of tournaments the men’s basketball team is in the NIT tournament they’re one of the last six teams playing they’re one of the final two SEC teams playing Alabama of course made the final four uh you

Know Georgia had Alabama down by 11 points in the second half they had Tennessee down by 11 points in the second half and and I Mike White about that on a zoom press conference today at hle fieldhouse in Indianapolis and Mike said he felt like maybe last year the team got a little

Tight offensively and that that maybe you know local media maybe fans uh talking a bit too much about the NCAA tournament must-win games and that the team wasn’t maybe as process focused as it was or process oriented as was results oriented I’m not sure if I’m willing to

Take the blame for wanting or suggesting that Georgia needed to win games to me I think you need to be mentally tough enough to understand that you got to win games I don’t think that’s a bad thing um you know this this whole do your best

You know thing I know that’s you from a psychological standpoint do your best and let the results fall uh that sounds good if it helps you sleep good at night but that’s not reality uh especially when you’re talking about where Georgia basketball at and and and

What Mike was hired to do now that said I think Mike did a really good job with his basketball team bringing all these different bodies together they had a 10 game win streak they had some very impressive wins against the ACC going on the road to beat Florida State beating

Georgia Tech again beating Wake Forest twice but I think we will find out more uh about this basketball team in the future when they play seat and Hall it’s a 9:30 game on Tuesday night I’ll be checking that out now let’s go ahead and take a break want to recognize our

Sponsor Engles appreciate Engles Engles has been with us from the start uh they make this Monday night program possible uh so let’s sit back pay attention to this message from our sponsor Engles when we come back we’ll break down the three top Georgia football position groups at Engles were’re proud to work

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Community it’s all in the bag Eng Les low prices love the Savings the program best three position group GRS on the Georgia football team as I see it right now in the spring and I kind of tipped off the first one when Kirby Smart was talking about how the offensive line had fared so well and and

He said you know he kind of suggested he wasn’t sure if if that was an indictment on the defensive line um I do I do think it has more to do with the talent of the offensive line and you start to think about a lot of these players across the

Front four five excuse me and you think about guys like Tate ratti and um you think about guys like zavier your trust and when they came in who was on the other side of the ball right Ernest Green for that matter Jaylen Carter was over there maybe they got a piece of

Jordan Davis maybe they got a piece of Devonte Wy or or maybe they practice against the number one pick in the draft Trayvon Walker um Nolan Smith was a guy that certainly they went up against and drills when you’re going against firstr NFL Talent you’re going to get better

Early in your career you’re going to have a different work ethic and I think that where Georg offensive line grew was in its Youth and now these guys are all growing up and now it’s their turn to dominate and you hope this means that the future Georgia defensive linemen are

Going to be bigger better faster stronger and you’re going to get back to that dominant form when Georgia led the nation and run defense what was it four out of five years they were number one and the other year they were number two and then last year they Dro all the way

Down to 18 and that was a problem right they weren’t able to stop Alabama when they needed to um it’s crazy to think that Georgia would win 29 games in a row and what were they 12 and0 at that stage of the season and then in one game it

Just all vanishes and and you you it’s almost like you couldn’t believe it when you were watching it because Georgia always would win these games right even when they fell behind South Carolina even when they fell behind Auburn you just felt like this Georgia team would find a way but they couldn’t they

Weren’t good enough at the line of scrimmage they got beat this Georgia offensive line looks different I like that it’s Ernest Green’s second year as the starting left tackle I know the center is very important and yes you lose Cedric van pran and he was probably from an operation standpoint the most reliable

Center in the nation a lot of high talk about Jared Wilson a lot of confidence there don’t know that you can expect him to step in and be said from a command and a leadership standpoint but the good news is you have a second-year quarterback a seconde starter I should

Say a fifth year quarterback in Carson back and Carson’s going to be able if if there’s a little bit off at Center Carson’s goingon to make it right so I feel good about that battery right there left tackle uh Dylan Fairchild is a guy that emerged very physical obviously you know former Championship

Wrestler but I’ll tell you the guy we visited with the other day Michael Morris was very impressive I mean this guy was wide bodied and like to hit people and has waited for this opportunity and talking to Michael Morris and seeing that fire in his eyes

You said oh man I’d hate to line up across from this guy every day uh you’re gonna be real good at left guard I don’t know if it’s Dylan I don’t know if it’s Mike it’s probably both but there’s G to be some fire coming out of that spot and

Then at Right Guard you got Tate rattled it’s interesting that Kirby Smart would say uh that there was some guys that came back for another year he said that he didn’t want him to come back just to come back they need to get better and he

Mentioned Tate rage in that and Tate is a guy I enjoy his podcasts I think they’re clever and funny he seems like like a really good positive locker room Force it’ll be interesting to see how Tate rage dominates at the offensive guard position how high can Tate build

Himself up in the NFL draft you don’t typically see a lot of guards draft in the first round but Tate is big and strong and fast and physical and he’s going to be important to the Run game Tate rattled is by nature a leader and

It’s going to be up to him to set the tone and I know he’s a bit of a jville guy and he likes to have fun Jordan Davis was that way too but Jordan found that way to to be that fun jial guy and yet be the fire and the guy that

Everybody talked about and and I wonder if that can be Tate rattled this off season I’ll be interested to see um because I think this young man has a tremendous future and a tremendous upside but can he bring what Georgia needs from a leadership standpoint I think George is missing vocal leadership

We’ve heard Kirby say that that Carson’s not the most assertive guy he’s not the most vocal guy and you know I look at other positions and I say well where’s the offensive where’s the voice where’s the voice in the hudle who’s the voice that says we’re going to get this done

Who’s the voice that puts the foot down who’s the voice who’s the foot that goes up the tail when things don’t go right is that Tate rage it needs to be somebody on offense because Carson’s not a very vocal guy and not an assertive guy according to Kirby

Smart right tackle is Xavier truss and I remember Xavier got pressed into action remember the Georgia Cincinnati game um of course everybody talks about Georgia playing an undefeated Florida State team that didn’t get in playoff boohoo right well in 2020 Georgia played an undefeated Cincinnati team that didn’t

Get into the playoff and Cincinnati didn’t opt out okay those gays showed up and they played and they had Georgia down double digits in the fourth quarter between before JT Daniels and Kenny McIntosh uh brought them back in the fourth quarter uh but that was Xavier’s first game I think starting and he

Started at left tackle because I think you had an opt out um a Georgia opt out you might have had one or two two guys were an injury in that game I know there was some guys um I know Eric Stokes didn’t play and I want to say there were

Some injuries where you had to change up your offensive line and Truss was thrown out there and and Truss has been around a minute now he’s a big strong guy but is he gonna become that Dominator I mean he’s been around long enough now right I

Mean this is 2024 and I’m talking to you about the 2020 season so that tells you how long Xavier trust has been around is he one of those guys that came back to came back to come back or is Xavier truss you know going to come up with

This Edge and you’re G to go oh my gosh I’ve never seen his version of this guy can he fill the shoes of amarius Mims because amarius was a road greater can Xavier trust be that guy I I don’t know I don’t know the talent ceiling there I

Know that Stacy serles has proven himself to be a fantastic coach and I still remember when he got hired there were some Georgia fans who were skeptical I I I never really Ood that because I think Kirby’s made some really good hires but I think Stacy SOS has

Evolved into one of the most valuable coaches in the SCC maybe the country not just on the Georgia staff but I think it’s time Georgia fans step back and go okay yeah this guy has done a heck of a job the offensive line was was adequate

Last year okay it wasn’t Elite uh they didn’t get the push when they needed against Alabama in short yardage Mike Bobo called him out for that I would also put a little bit that on Carson his ability to uh make plays at the line of scrimmage um but I like this George

Offensive line and I think it is the strongest unit on the team and I think that this unit is what gives Georgia a chance to win a National Championship this offensive line I think is is the team that can finally win um you know the awards trophy is the best offensive

Line in the nation so that’s something that I look forward to number two position I’m just going to call this the Back Field because I I don’t want to say quarterback and I don’t want to just say running back but I think back in tandem with ET and Rod

Robinson is the key to the explosive Dynamic on offense I I don’t have a lot of faith in the receiving Corp I I’ve been very blunt about that I think Georgia has nine transfers on their team and I want to say five of them are pass catchers that’s an indictment on the

Position and the lack of development there in my opinion some of the young guys that transferred out were receivers that’s unfortunate I still say that if if Adon Mitchell doesn’t transfer out that Georgia wins last year’s National Championship I think Carson was one receiver short all year long that ex

Receiver position never equaled what it was when Adon was there uh in the playoffs in 2022 and during the stretch run and into the championship game in 2021 I mean the guy caught four touch Downs at Georgia I want to say and all of them were in the playoffs or

Championship games and he’s a mid first round pick you didn’t replace him I mean ra Rod Thomas came in and and was injured and had some off field stuff and that that transfer didn’t fill those shoes that was I don’t want to say that

Was a Miss but it wasn’t a win um love it came in and I felt like he was adequate but I didn’t feel like he was any step up from kis Jackson or or Dominic block um another adequate guy I thought would be explosive Difference Maker and wasn’t he was not a Difference

Maker he wasn’t there when you needed him to uplift the team I mean that was a big ask I mean do I think he did a f okay yeah he he was fine check check the box okay but not Dynamic not not KaBoom right um etn Kaboom I think etn is a

Home run hitter I think etn is a pass catcher that’s going to help Carson out tremendously no more Brock Bowers so you’re going to need a safety valve uh I think Oscar dppp is is more than adequate I think Oscar Delp is Charlie Warner I think he’s an NFL tight end um

Which is to say very very good uh but I don’t think he’s Brock Bowers and so I think you’re going to need that short that that player that can take the short pass and do a lot after the catch like Brock Bowers did make your passing numbers look a lot better than they

Really were make your quarterback rating look a lot better than it really was when you got a tight end that can catch a ball three feet behind him over his head uh you know run over somebody make two people miss all of a sudden your passing number everybody oh wow look at

These passing numbers okay well you can thank Brock Bowers for that so now Brock’s gone so lad makoni another yard after the catch kind of guy so who are those guys going to be again questions at receiver time for Carson to work that out over the summer time for players to

Emerge time for Georgia to go get another receiver out of the portal after spring drills perhaps but right now all the juice is coming out of etn and Rod Robinson and Robinson is a 240 pound back with 7% body fat Kirby told a group of boosters I can’t wait to see this guy

Play he looked impressive against Florida State well didn’t everybody but I I think this guy is is gonna come to fruition and then the Frasier kid the incoming freshman I want to see what he brings from California sometimes uh running back can be a position that’s easier to transition into than other

Spots and typically you’ll know a great running back early in their career you don’t have to wait two or three years if you’re two or three years that’s too long I don’t think George has done the best job uh maybe with some of the young Talent they’ve had in the past now

There’s been some injuries that have slowed up some guys but uh I think I think at times there’s been too much seniority I’ll be interested to see how coach Crawford manages this I think they can do better managing that position in terms of getting their most Elite Talent

Out there more often and we’ll see what etn does he’s not the biggest guy he’s not as thick as Swift um but he has the same sort of cat-like quickness I think he’s got the same hands um but boy that’s that’s a tough comparison uh sorry etn I’m glad you changed your

Number from seven to one but you’re still probably going to get compared to DeAndre Swift who I think is the last truly great College back he certainly was the last Georgia back to be a first team or second team onc pick Georgia has not had an LCC back since 2019 folks um

Rbu needs to make a return I think it will and I want to group Beck in there because I think Carson’s NFL arm and NFL ability give this team a ceiling now again it’s going to be up to Carson to grow as a leader it’s going to be up to Carson to

Grow as a teammate and get this chemistry with this receiving core Carson’s talked about how he needs to find more confidence um Carson’s talked about how he needs to you know challenge himself to avoid complacency because last year was a good year um I think Carson Beck and Kirby Smart probably

Need to have a really good line of communication I know Mike Bobo is is a guy that’s been championed by Aron Murray is somebody who really teaches these quarterbacks what it means to be a Georgia quarterback and I guess I’d go back to what I was saying about Jake fromm’s character Jake fromm’s

Leadership and Jake fr’s disposition I think you need to see more of that from Carson Beck um it’s tough uh again I mean when you ask a guy to sit for three years like Carson dead right and then you then you then you throw on the

Superman cape and say hey put this on after not playing for three years that’s a big ask it’s a tough ask but it’s what Carson signed up for by staying in Georgia and was he as ready as he needed to be for last year I I don’t know I

Know they didn’t win they didn’t lose any games uh because of Carson Beck but they also didn’t win what proved to be the biggest game of the year um and Jaylen milro at Alabama was the MVP of that game and not Carson back and and at the end of the day that hits

Home hard uh and that’s the underlying reality the third position group and and you might say I’m cheating on this one but I don’t think so the Special Teams I mean Brett Thorson this this dude this dude is so good I I know that some of it

The the no punt return some of that’s Aron Smith being a fantastic Gunner and getting down there but but a lot of it’s Brett Thorson I mean it’s a grown man okay the Australian punter um this guy’s got an edge I like his attitude I’ve learned a little bit more about him

Watching him on Tate rat ledge’s podcast Tate you can you can send the the check in the mail by the way I’ve been promoting his podcast all night but but Tate and and Brett do a great job with that and I’ve learned more about Brett

Thoron and I like this guy and I like what he stands for I like how competitive he is I like his sense of humor um punters are important uh there’s you know Jake carda was invaluable his senior year when I think about George’s championship team Jake

Kamart had so much to do with that and Jake kamart grew so much the four years that he was a George and you just take guys like that for granted but he was special uh we know how special kickers are too right rod blank and ship

Certainly and um you know then of course the following kicker did an outstanding job and now you’ve got uh pton Woodring and you know I think pyton I want to say he made um is it 16 kicks in a row uh and we wondered how much would Georgia

Miss Jack pesne when you think about Jack clutch kicks and you’re plugging a true freshman remember pton missed a couple kicks early in the season uh before he bounded back and I want to say like he made 16 in a row pretty strong performance and I think he’s a guy you

Can count on uh this is a guy look forward to seeing mature get even better uh he was my choice on the Freshman All-American team I was glad to see him win that I know the Auburn freshman had won some other All-American honors but pton won the football Riders freshman

All-American pting slot and I thought that that was really key so those are my top three Georgia position groups I don’t know if you agree with me or not you going to put your comments in the section below I want to take a break right now recognize our sponsor anytime

Heating cooling and plumbing when we come back I’m going to go over this hot warm and cold segment and this this week we actually have hot warm and cold uh on the Georgia teams might surprise you who slides into the cold slot if only temporary rarely this might be the only

Time that you ever hear this player’s name listed with cold the rest of his career so stick with us right after this message from anytime heating cooling and plumbing want to make sure your family stays comfortable all year long our family of train Comfort Specialists are available anytime to service or repair

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Own business and I can tell you uh there was a lot of personalization a lot of effort uh that went into that truly a lot of Pride as well and uh it usually means very very good business so now the hot cold warm so let me start out with

I’m gonna start out with warm I’m GNA say the softball team’s warm now you might say oh wait a minute Mike this team is ranked number third in the nation how can they only be well they lost they lost it home to Arkansas and and Arkansas’s good they’re top 20 but

Listen when you’re top five when you’re Elite which I think Georgia softball is you can’t lose at home you shouldn’t lose at home that’s how great this team is that’s the ceiling for this Georgia softball team you know when you think about the greatest program in softball

Right now it’s Oklahoma for those of you that follow women’s softball uh you know about Oklahoma softball the advantages they have being in Oklahoma City where Team USA is also based huge Advantage be very interesting to see what happens to Oklahoma when they come into the SEC

Texas currently ranked number two by the way uh the SEC is about to have the nine of the top 10 teams in the country country Georgia number three though and this is a veteran team don’t expect them to be losing at home so that’s just they

Came back and won the next game and and they’re 29 and5 and six- two in the league and they’ve got the number one RP in the country they played this murderous role of a schedule and Tony Baldwin is is unbelievable he’s a fantastic coach but these are the sort

Of games you don’t expect Georgia to slip up in next week they’ll be at Tennessee it’s going to be very interesting be some televised games there one of the bigger challenges for the SEC I expect Georgia softball to win an SEC Championship they haven’t done that in almost 20 years regular season

So keep your eye on that team at Jack Turner Stadium I’m gonna go to the uh hot right now and the hot is this Georgia basketball team I mean my goodness uh they knock off Xavier which is a basketball school then they go to Wake Forest Wake and only lost one game

At home they beat wake on the road then they go to the Ohio State the Ohio State beat Purdue in Columbia earlier this year and you saw Purdue uh what Purdue did to Tennessee with that 7 foot4 player well how they beat that team in their home arena but they didn’t beat

Georgia and Georgia made five of their last six shots to beat the Buckeyes last week and the Buckeyes missed their last four now true enough Georgia basketball gave up a 170 run in that game in the second half but they still won and uh and I thought the young guys played well

Blue Kane was phenomenal had one of those Legacy performances uh syas demy Jr another guy they want back um Dylan James there’s a few freshmen uh that they really want back and there’s four Juniors that that have a year left and you know it’s an interesting time for

Mike White because the portal is open and on the one hand they’re having to recruit Mike said there’s been some Zoom calls and some phone conversations uh even while they’re still playing in season so I’m a little confused about this basketball portal uh you know it

Starts in you know what it started at the end of the season I want to say a week or two ago and it runs until May 1st I mean come on this is this is ridiculous this is a distraction it led to some teams opting out of the NIT

That’s not what you want uh they got they got to figure this out I mean there needs to be a little bit more common sense so you don’t undermine your postseason tournaments right uh but but right now that’s a hot team uh and Georgia basketball 20 wins that’s big

It’s the first time they’ve won games in the postseason since 2016 so this this is a step U we mentioned earlier in the program I mean Georgia was beating Alabama by 11 points uh in the second half when they played him Alabama’s a final four team that

Maybe they’re really not that far off maybe just one player maybe one player maybe two but they’re close um because they were competitive they had a 10 game win streak they’re very hot right now now for once and only and and this is going to be the only time I’ll probably

Ever put Charlie Conan and cold in the same sense Charlie had his first 0 for four game of the year now it’s baseball there’s going to be go for four but never probably never going to hear Charlie Conan associated with cold ever again ever some going to say that this

Is the only time I can say it he had an 0 for four game and Georgia got shut out Sunday 7even to zero just this one fraction of a moment in time because you know what you know what Charlie Conan’s doing right now Charlie Conan leads the

Nation in home runs Charlie Condon leads the nation in batting a do you feel like you’ve been set up it you have April fools I got you I even got my producer she put the uh she put the graphic up there I got you Kaylee Charlie con leads

The nation with he did go for four on Sunday he did go for four on Sunday but he leads the country with a 505 average he’s got 19 home runs and he made a diving catch in center field uh to help Georgia Escape uh what could have been a

Big inning for Tennessee Friday night dog nation was there when Georgia beat Tennessee 16 to two 16-2 first time ever that Tennessee had been run rolled and and it happened right there at Lindsey Nelson Stadium I couldn’t believe a lot of Tennessee fans said well you gonna be here tomorrow

Night I said no no this is the game we’re here to we were here to cover Charlie Conan what an incredible start to the year uh Corey Collins also amazing of late coach West Johnson in these saber metrics I mean he gives Georgia a chance to win they really

Don’t have the pitching uh to beating a team like Tennessee that’s top 10 in hitting and top 10 in pitching and number five in the country but Georgia went up there and got it done um pretty amazing Georgia baseball 22- six four- five in the SEC folks if you’re 500 in

The SEC you’re awful darn good because the SEC is unbelievable in baseball diamond dogs will be on the road uh next weekend at Mississippi State that’s gonna be another tough road trip uh they’ll look to get one ideally two if you can get a sweep buy a lottery ticket in SEC get

Sweep on the road just doesn’t happen but if you can get one that’s kind of a push if you can get two good job you know and and that’s what this team’s trying to do they’re you get to the end of the year and Wes is hoping he can

Develop the pitching every single week and get a little bit better because the bats are big the bats are heavy so uh I’m G to close it out I hope you guys have enjoyed the show tonight I hope you’ve made some comments I hope you’ll share this on Facebook and share it with

Your friends I like doing the show every every Monday night I like going over football uh we’ve had some bonus basketball time this year with this unique nit run the baseball team has given us something to talk about the softball team’s Elite we’ll talk a lot more about those ladies as the year

Progresses I’m sure you’re going to see a lot of Georgia softball on television you’re going to hear a lot about their players featured because they have some of the best in the country and now baseball uh becoming more relevant of course uh we’ve got a couple more weeks

Of football and we know how much everyone loves Georgia football very soon will get to see Georgia football in their gday game on April 13th and then the dogs will go to work with the portal there’ll probably be if you guys leaving you know there willon be but there might

Be a couple more coming because Kirby is not g to rest uh he made that statement he doesn’t just want to be relevant he wants to be dominant and I suppose that’s the message that’s a good message to end with tonight so I want to thank my producer Kaylee Manzel I want to

Thank you for watching you can follow me on Twitter at Mike griffi 32 don’t forget every day dog Nation daily with Brandon Adams 10:00 a.m. Wednesday night Jeff Cel and then on Thursday night you just never know what Kaye and Conor are going to be talking about that’s a

Really fun program hope you get a chance to catch that and hope you have a great week everybody