Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart and the rest of the Georgia team arrived in Miami, Florida, ahead of the Orange Bowl. The Bulldogs (12-1) are scheduled to face the Florida State Seminoles (13-0) on Dec. 30 at 4 p.m. ET. The Orange Bowl will be televised on ESPN.
Georgia enters the Orange Bowl as a significant favorite over Florida State. The Seminoles are reeling after numerous key players opted out of the Orange Bowl.
The Orange Bowl will serve as a preview of the 2024 season for both Georgia and Florida State. The Bulldogs will return quarterback Carson Beck next season. Both teams have a bunch of players in the transfer portal that aren’t anticipated to play.
What did Kirby Smart have to say after arriving in Miami for the Orange Bowl?
On Georgia football's opt outs
Georgia tight end Brock Bowers and right tackle Amarius Mims did not travel with the team. Both Bowers and Mims are dealing with ankle injuries. No Georgia players have opted out of the Orange Bowl yet. However, numerous Georgia players have entered the transfer portal and will not participate.
Right now, we’ve got our guys that are healthy playing, guys who are healthy and have been cleared to play have said they are going to play. They’ve been practicing, doing everything. We do have guys who are dinged up and injured trying to fight their way back, we’ll see if they can go or not in the game.
On how Georgia has been preparing for Florida State
Kirby Smart notes Georgia has been focused on itself to prepare for the Orange Bowl. Florida State looks very different on tape compared to the roster the Seminoles will field in the Orange Bowl.
We’ve taken the approach of, it’s not about them, it’s about us. … We’re trying to play to our standard, and we’re always trying to play to our standard. We’ve had a lot more good on good in practice. It’s probably been the best bowl practice in terms of not going against the scout team and going against each other. When you don’t know what you’re going to see, your better off going against really good people.
On how healthy Georgia is
Georgia was pretty banged up for the SEC championship against Alabama. The Dawgs are in better shape now according to Kirby Smart.
We’re probably healthier than we’ve been for the last four or five games of the year.
On if transfers and early enrollees are with the team
Kirby Smart noted approximately 10 early enrollees are with the team and practicing.
It depends on if they’re admitted to school. If they’re admitted to school – I don’t know if you’re talking about midyears (early enrollees) or transfer midyears. London (Humphreys) is here but not all the guys. Just the guys that are admitted to school.
On Georgia's seniors having a chance to set a record
The current senior class could finish with the most wins of any senior class in Georgia football history, and that’s something worth playing for.
I think our senior class of guys, they really want to finish on top. They want to get to 50 wins for the senior class, we’re at 49. It’s really important to them that they hit that number and do something special. They want to walk off the field winners. Sedrick Van Pran, all these seniors, they want to finish on top.
On star wide receiver Ladd McConkey
Kirby Smart updated the status of star wide receiver Ladd McConkey, who has battled an ankle injury and back injury this season.
Ladd’s been practicing with us, working out. Ladd wants to play. Ladd’s missed some games and hasn’t been able to play in some games. He’s still coming off of an injury in the SEC Championship game that he’s still not 100% from. But he’s out there every day, taking reps, catching punts, he’s doing a lot of good things. He’s doing a lot of good things. He’s practicing, hitting good miles per hour. Ladd should be good to go
The latest on tight end Brock Bowers
Georgia junior tight end Brock Bowers battled an ankle injury in the SEC championship game and is not fully recovered from that.
Brock’s been with us the whole time and he’s been doing all the things he’s got to do. It’s more important though that he’s 100%. The guy probably played earlier than he should have, came out there and competed his butt off. He’s done everything he can for Georgia. He’s not 100% so it makes it a little harder to do.
On Georgia's practices
Georgia has gotten a lot of practice time ahead of the Orange Bowl.
I don’t know that the practices leading up to Christmas break were what I would love. Since we have been back, the two we’ve had have been really good.
On kicker Jared Zirkel playing
Georgia kickoff specialist Jared Zirkel is in the transfer portal. He is planning to play in the Orange Bowl, which is rare for a transfer.
I didn’t even know if he’s going to go anywhere. He’s got his graduate degree. He’s graduated. He just wanted to stay with us and kick the final one. A lot of guys don’t want to go do that. They want to go look, shop around, figure out where they’re going. That was never the intent for him.
On the college football calendar
The college football calendar is a problem for coaches across the country. It is more prominent for Georgia football this year in December because the Bulldogs did not make the College Football Playoff.
They shrunk it some this year and reduced the number of days. I don’t think they got what they wanted out of that. I don’t have complaints about it because they want kids to have flexibility. My biggest problem is trying to finish what you started and finished the season. If you notice, the teams playing in the playoffs aren’t getting hit with it as much. It’s making the bowls harder to deal with for people, but not really for us.
