CFP National Championship:
Georgia vs TCU
Tuesday, January 10, 2023
Inglewood, California, USA
SoFi Stadium
Georgia Bulldogs
Coach Kirby Smart
Javon Bullard
Brock Bowers
Press Conference
THE MODERATOR: We’re joined by Kirby Smart and
student-athletes Javon Bullard and Brock Bowers.
COACH SMART: Thanks for you guys showing up
appreciate the coverage you guys give us. Not as quite a
full room as it was last year I guess some of you celebrated
last night. Appreciate the coverage you give us and what
college football means to so many.
I appreciate these two young men what they’ve meant to
our program and all the fans that spent a lot of money to
come out here and celebrate us play in a national
championship that’s hard to do I have a great appreciation
for our players, our coaches our training staff and support
staff.
There’s hundreds of people that sacrifice time away from
their family to give us an opportunity to play in an event last
night. Thanks to the CFP for what they put on and an
incredible event certainly appreciate it.
Q. Stetson was supposed to be here this morning how
is the young man feeling the day after? And a few
days ago you were talking about your season for next
year’s start actually today. Are you going to put that
on pause and appreciate what you guys were able to
accomplish?
COACH SMART: I am concerned about our season next
year the entire flight home and things we can do right now
what’s important now. W.I.N., that’s our motto.
I know people think that’s unheard of, but you actually have
to. There will be time to take off it’s just not today because
decisions are imminent. We have several players on our
team who stuck it out. Like they didn’t have to.
They could have said I’m going into the portal. We had
several guys that said, Coach, I’d like to go in the portal;
I’m going to go into the portal, but I want to win a national
championship.
That makes me want to cry they did it for the team over
themselves and that makes me really proud. That time is
now for them the portal is a real thing. It’s a vehicle to go
somewhere elsewhere you can be successful.
We had guys make sacrifices to do that. I think that’s
pretty cool.
As far as Stetson, I don’t know. I didn’t see him, obviously.
Q. You said somewhere in the run-up in this game it’s
human nature to just let down after winning one. Can
you talk about that and how do you get to three?
COACH SMART: I really don’t want to talk about three. I
mean, it’s human nature to relax. It’s human nature to take
the easy route. And I can be as guilty of that as anyone.
But it wasn’t this team’s nature to relax. This team — this
wasn’t as hard a job as people made it seem because of
the people we recruited — not because of talent, but
because of what they were — like the DNA inside of them.
These dudes, this team was different. This team was just
different.
And every time they were backed against the wall they
came out scratching, clawing. Like, if we had a bad
practice, we’d have a great practice. They responded to
everything. So the team’s makeup — I didn’t talk about this
enough last night. Our team GPA was the highest we’ve
ever had in, like, 15 years at Georgia.
Georgia’s not easy. Georgia’s hard academically. So
when you have people that do well in school, they care
about each other — I mean, Georgia’s not getting easier
academically — you have a chance at success. And these
guys bought into that.
So starting to think about the next one, I do think it’s going
to be much tougher. And I do think we’re going to have to
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reinvent ourselves next year because you can’t just stay
the same. Like these two guys up here, they’re coming
back.
And we have a lot of guys, in my opinion, that are going to
come back and it’s easy to get comfortable. And
comfortable does not win.
Q. Because you are trying to build something greater
than a one-off championship and just a championship
team, you’re trying to build a championship program,
does this season, I don’t know, validate — is validate
the right word — provide a little more proof of concept
that you’re building, that your vision is really coming
true?
COACH SMART: It’s awesome. But I don’t want their
careers — I don’t want their self-worth or our program’s
self-worth to be built on just championships.
I get it. I get that’s what you define Joe Montana on, Tom
Brady on, LeBron and Kobe and Michael Jordan, on the
number of championships. I don’t want these young men
to be defined by that. I don’t want my career to be defined
by that because I know tons of coaches and players out
there that didn’t get one that had unbelievable careers.
So I never hang a hat or say, you validate. All I want to do
is be the best I can be today. And I want these kids to
know that they need to be the best they can each and
every day so they can be successful. If you measure
success based on wins in each day, that’s what I want our
success to be measured on.
Q. The question was all week about Darnell. What did
you see from him as he was working to Monday night
trying to be able to play? And then the fact he was
able to play at all, just what it said about Darnell?
COACH SMART: I think our training staff did a
phenomenal job. They can do the greatest job in the
world, but if the player doesn’t want to buy into that, then
it’s probably not going to happen. So he was not able to
practice the entire time we were in Athens.
We came to LA. He ran with the team and ran decent on
the first day we were here. And then he practiced. And we
felt like there was going to be a good chance he was going
to be able to play. There was no chance of doing any
more damage.
And Darnell is a classic guy that came to Georgia with the
sole purpose of having an opportunity at the NFL. He
wanted to play in the NFL.
And by the time he left, he was one of the toughest players
we had. Missouri, his shoulder pops out, and he will not
come out of the game. I mean, he made two probably
career-defining catches against Missouri, contested
catches, with a shoulder that was hurt and he wouldn’t
come out.
LSU, he gets cut. He’s 6’7″ and they cut him at his ankles
and shins, nothing worse than that, and he’s waving people
off — I’m not coming out; like, I’m pissed off.
And to see that growth and to see him care about winning
the game last night, like, he played last night selflessly.
Not a lot of throws targeted for Darnell. It was blocking and
covering people up. And that part will always hold a
special place in my heart for the sacrifices he made for our
team.
Q. I feel I watched you guys morph week in and week
out, and at one point you said there was zero overlap
for four weeks defensively. What kind of football
intelligence does it require to play at Georgia?
COACH SMART: A lot. J.B. will tell you. We spend a lot
of time — I don’t know how other people do it so I don’t
want to brag and say, we do this or that. I don’t know what
other people do.
But I do know at our place we expand the brain. We
stretch it and stretch it and stretch it. And then when you
need to stretch it more in the game and change something,
they have a comfort level with change.
Like, he sits in a meeting every day, we make him talk, we
make him communicate, we make him take notes because
we think that’s going to be the difference in the end.
And it makes things easier to go from an offense that might
be completely different when you’re not afraid to change.
And hey, a lot of talk last night about Stetson and Brock
and offense, and this guy is the defensive MVP. But our
defensive staff now, Coach Schumann, Coach Muschamp,
Chidera, Fran and Tray Scott, they do a hell of a job. That
was, I don’t know, fourth, fifth leading scoring offense in the
country. Whatever league you play in, pretty incredible.
Q. Obviously Brock’s had an incredible career. We
know about his All-American status. And Stetson’s, I
guess, legacy is probably the best word. You had a
couple of former three-star recruits this year in Kenny
McIntosh and Ladd McConkey that you don’t see them
getting the All-American honors or the highlights. Can
you talk about what those guys meant to the offense
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this season in terms of leading the team in yards from
scrimmage?
COACH SMART: Kenny, I can’t believe he would even be
considered a three-star. That’s just disgusting to even
think about because this guy is an incredible athlete. His
brother plays in the NFL. He’s got great DNA.
Kenny is a great example of our program. He came in as a
chubby kid with a great smile, playing behind people and
didn’t know how to play on special teams. He left as an
alpha leader.
And when he spoke, people really listened to Kenny. I’ve
never seen a person will a team to a win like he did in
Missouri. The guy was basically running crippled out there
against Missouri and pounding people and running the ball.
He took over games.
I can remember the Florida game, after the fumble, I’ll
never forget the visualization I have of he fumbles and we
say, you know what, we’ve got to come back to Kenny. He
comes back with a vengeance running the ball just mad.
And those memories stay with me forever.
And Ladd’s another one. Ladd’s, thanks to YouTube and
smartphones, I probably wouldn’t know who Ladd was
because I watched him at a camp just unbelievable
quickness and suddenness. And he was beating kids that
we were recruiting. I was, like, why is nobody recruiting
this guy? What did he do? What did he do to not garner
attention? Because all he does is make plays.
And there’s a certain element of you get a full day’s work
out of guys. Bull and Brock, when they come to practice,
we have to slow these two dudes down. Like, hey, slow
down. That’s how Ladd is.
When you have that kind of culture, it makes success
come much easier.
Q. Javon and Kirby, when you hear the words
“dynasty” with Georgia football, do you think that fits
this program now?
JAVON BULLARD: I mean, this place is special. It’s
special to all of us. I know it’s special to Coach Smart and I
know it’s special to me.
Just growing up as a kid from the state of Georgia, playing
for the University of Georgia, it’s special. So the word
“dynasty,” it’s something we’re building together. And that
was built before us and it’s going to continue to be built
after us.
So we’re just trying to leave our legacy and leave this place
in good hands.
COACH SMART: What’s cool is listening to the guys in the
locker room. That locker room last night, it was first class,
as good a facility as there is. Probably the newest NFL
stadium, for all I know. You’ve got Jamaree in there.
You’ve got Nakobe in there. You’ve got DK in there and
Sony in there, and so many guys that played come back.
And they talk about how much they miss it. And I always
tell our players, the players think I’m crazy, whatever, we
want to get to the NFL.
All you do when you get to the NFL is want to be back in
that locker room. I don’t care what locker room you’ve got
in the NFL, there’s never that feeling of brotherhood
because the guy across from you is trying to take your job.
In our locker room, it’s so different. And to be around that
last night, it brings to me that we built something special
because these guys want to come back. They want to talk
to the other guys.
Monty Rice, he sacrificed everything for our program and
unfortunately didn’t get a chance to win one. But I tell them
all the time, they’re a part of these because they created
the culture that allows us to win it now. And that’s what’s
special.
Q. Brock, when did you find out this morning that you
were going to be coming here? And for Coach Smart,
you’re flanked by a couple of sophomores right there.
We assume they’re coming back. But where are you
right now with roster management kind of knowing?
Are you still actively dealing with, hey, he might go in
the portal he may turn pro? Where are you knowing
with what you’ve got coming back next year?
BROCK BOWERS: For me I was coming off the elevator.
I saw Coach Smart and I started walking to go eat some
breakfast. And I got a call and they said, you’re in the
bullpen, come to media. I’m, like, okay, I’m in. Stetson is
not going to make it. I guess I gotta go.
COACH SMART: He always wanted to be in Stetson’s
shoes, so now he gets an opportunity. (Laughter).
As far as roster management, it’s every day. It’s
continuous. We know the juniors coming out and you
mentioned about these guys. They better be coming back
because they can’t come out.
So they better get ready to go to work and they’re going to
be some of the key leaders. But we’ll be dealing with it
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every day. I mean, we’ve been dealing with it — it’s not like
it goes away. I’ve been dealing with it a week before, the
day of. We were dealing with it yesterday.
We have 19 new guys that started classes yesterday. So
we deal with it every single day and it will continue to be
that way.
And you respect the process. My saying is you’ve got to
be better at the process than everybody else is. You don’t
have to be perfect. You just have to be better at it than
everybody else is.
If you’re willing to work at it and have conversations, you
manage it the best way you can.
Q. I guess I want to know, I’m curious about the
games that Georgia played that we didn’t get to see.
Fall camp, when iron went against iron. When Javon
and Brock were against each other. One, I wanted to
know what that was like. And, two, Coach, how much
is that indicative in your stage in your career where
hey this is the types of things we do where we know
days like today are possible?
BROCK BOWERS: I think like during those spring
scrimmages and fall camp scrimmages the offense is going
against probably the best defense in all those guys. So
that really helps us out in the long run. And I mean it really
makes games almost easier than practice. It definitely
helps.
JAVON BULLARD: As far as that, let me add something.
Offense used to whoop our butt. When fall camp first
started offense gave us the business.
But like Brock said, competing with those guys, knowing
you’re going up against some of the best guys in the
country, if not be the best, like I said, it gives you a sure
amount of confidence going into the season because
you’re thinking that you already went against the best.
So when you compare it up to other competition, not to
knock them down or nothing like that, but it’s, like, I’m
going against Ladd at practice. I went against Brock. Like
what better can I get from that?
COACH SMART: I love the iron sharpens iron. I told our
guys, every scrimmage we had, I said, you think you can
get ready to go play teams in our league, you better get
ready to play today. Because if you’re not your best today
you’ll get embarrassed. You’re going against the best
defense or offense you’ll face.
They respect that. Our guys truly respect that. And those
matchups even — I go back to the Ohio State week,
Tuesday practice, we’re in the indoor, and they were — I
mean, I was ready to call practice off. They were going at
it.
And it was, like, Jalen Carter came to me said can we do a
bet, Coach, we win team run over the offense and whoever
wins doesn’t have to run. And the other team has to run.
I’m like, okay, sure, whatever. I’ll go for a game,
competition, make it a little fun. I usually don’t like
motivation tactics like that because it’s artificial and you
have to simulate it every time.
Oh, I thought they were going to kill each other. We had
two guys tackle. We injured a back. I’m like, guys, we are
going to cancel practice if you all keep doing this. Because
they were getting after it.
And those are those legendary matchups. I always liken it
to the Dream Team, when they played. And they talked
about how those two teams went at each other and Jordan
took over. And it was like that in our building.
I’m, like, if cameras could see these guys go at it, Sedrick
Van Pran takes so much pride in winning team run. And
Jalen Carter takes so much pride in winning team run that
there comes a time when you’ve got to call it off. And
when you have that, you’ve got something special.
Q. Kirby talks a lot about selflessness and the
sacrifice that you guys as teammates will do for each
other. Brock and Javon, could you talk about that
attitude from the players’ perspective, being in the
locker room. I know you touched a ball a lot, but there
are times, Brock, you just block. But the players’
mindset, of that culture of being there for each other.
JAVON BULLARD: I know as far as defense perspectives
you’ve just got to do your job. Not — just allowing yourself
to do too much. You don’t have to be a superstar. This is
a help-me, help-you defense.
Knowing what you gotta do and doing that to your full
capability, the primary example that comes to my head is
(indiscernible) — just knowing, I know Chris Smith is filling
the alley, I stay outside. Even though I could probably
make that play, it’s not my job to make that play; it’s Chris’
job to make that play. And it seems to be working out
pretty good.
Selflessness is the team DNA. It’s one of our DNA traits.
We’ve got so many selfless guys in the locker room and
Sherman came up to us, and he gave us a speech last
night. And it really touched me because he was, like, even
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if you’re not getting in the game we still need you.
He was, like, we still need you. We need your motivation
on the sidelines. Don’t hold your head low. We still need
that motivation. We’re playing in a national championship.
If one person gets a sack the whole team gets a set. That
whole selflessness is really what this team is made of.
BROCK BOWERS: What he said, selflessness and doing
your job. We’ve got so many playmakers on offense that
everyone is able to touch the ball and make plays. If it
comes down to me blocking somebody for my brother
behind me, I’ll just do whatever I need to do to get yards,
get first downs, get touchdowns, win the game.
Q. Kirby, obviously the quarterback position has
always been about more than just athleticism, but
Stetson was the extreme example of that. And you and
Todd I know both acknowledge that you looked the
other way too often. I’m wondering, moving forward, is
this going to change the way you evaluate
quarterbacks? Are you going to tweak your analysis
at all moving forward because of what you just saw?
COACH SMART: I don’t know that it will change the
analysis. I definitely put a heavier weight on mobility
because of Stetson. I wouldn’t say this year. I mean, it
changed for me as he had success.
I mean, last year his mobility was the difference in a lot of
games. I mean, having been a defensive coordinator in
this league, when you can’t account for the extra element,
the 11th guy in the run game — it’s not even the run game.
It’s like people pass rush so well now that he’s going to
have to make a play with his feet.
Great example last night. I don’t know the situation,
whether it was first, second quarter, we go empty, they
max blitz us, they bring six on five — everybody does it in
college football. We do it. And you can’t block one.
It reminded me of the Auburn play when Stetson had just
taken over, they had a free rusher on him, on his outside
shoulder. He spins out, beats the guy.
I’m, like, who is that? That’s No. 13. That’s the fast guy.
That’s Dee Winters. He splatters people. Your
quarterback just took their defensive coordinator and said,
you called the perfect call and players make plays.
So does it change our criteria? I don’t know if it changes
the criteria, it definitely puts more weight on mobility and
that’s a really important factor.
I mean, like a scale of 1 to 10, if Stetson is an 8 mobility,
you probably can’t win without a 6 or a 7 because you’ve
got to have somebody who can step out of the way and
avoid things and his athleticism.
But it’s rare to find the athleticism, mobility, but the mental
capacity to handle the volume of offense, which that’s what
makes Stetson unique.
Q. Javon, obviously you guys on defense are losing
some talent to the NFL, but what stands out to you
about the guys coming back on defense in 2023?
JAVON BULLARD: We’re a young group. We knew that
coming into this year. But just those guys that are leaving,
just a special group of guys. I know a guy who touched me
is Chris. I’m going to miss Chris. Chris is like a brother to
me on and off the field.
Jalen Carter, I’m going to miss JC. But speaking of those
guys still there, we’ve still got a season to play. This is
college football. Those guys came in. They did their thing.
They left with a great legacy and they left with a lot of
pride and we thank them for that and we love them.
But like I said, we still have to play football. And the guys
coming back are going to be ready to work come this next
season.
Q. You talked about Ladd’s story a little earlier.
Javon, a little similar in the recruiting process. How
important is the scouting part of this, the ability to see
what other programs missed in terms of some of the
success stories you have on this team this year and
really throughout your entire time here as Georgia
coach?
COACH SMART: I don’t think anybody has it figured out. I
certainly don’t think we have a secret sauce for identifying
players. We all watch the same tape.
The problem is I’ve come to the conclusion there’s very
minimal difference between player A and player B. If
they’re both starting, both playing, both getting recruited by
SEC schools, there’s minimal difference.
The difference is in the hardwiring of that player. And I
don’t — we all talk about it we all say I want the right guy. I
want intangibles. I want him to have this and that and this
and that.
Like, the difference in these two, they hate to lose. These
guys hate to lose against each other day in and day out.
And I’ve started saying, you know what, you’re going to
sign three D tackles and five DBs and two tight ends.
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You’re going to sign — sign the ones that can’t stand losing.
And the ability part is important.
It’s not to be diminished. But sign the right mental makeup
and get people that can develop. And how do you
measure that? You can’t measure that just on a phone
conversation.
These two guys were Zoom babies. They Zoomed. And
this guy sent in 100 videos. We’ve heard about his videos.
But Coach Monken Zoomed with him and his coach to sell
his coach how we could use him to make him believe I
could be part of an offense that hadn’t used the tight end
that way. He had to sit on a Zoom. If they sit on a Zoom
during COVID, they’ll probably be successful, because
most people won’t do that.
In recruiting kids, are like, I’m not sitting on a Zoom talking
about that. This guy was sending in videos out in his
backyard. He’s got a military background. When you’ve
got a military background, you’ve probably got some
toughness and some makeup about you that makes you
the right way.
And we’ve been fortunate to make some good decisions on
kids that maybe other programs didn’t value their
intangibles enough.
Q. Kirby, Nolan Smith was pretty emotional last night.
What makes your relationship with him unique, and
what’s it say about him that his voice was still just as
loud when he wasn’t playing for this team as it was
when he was?
COACH SMART: Well, my relationship with Nolan is
unique because Nolan had a commitment to Georgia that
was unlike many others.
He was highly touted, considered one of the best players in
the country, debatable always, but he committed to
Georgia at an early stage in his career and he stayed
committed. Nolan is one of those rare guys that saw the
value in being from Georgia, committing to Georgia, never
wavering from Georgia, and leading the class. It reminds
me of Richard LeCounte where he said, you know what,
I’m coming; that’s where I’m going and I’m going to affect
others.
He never veered from that. He has some of the toughest
DNA qualities I’ve ever been around. The guy — physical
toughness. You can ask these guys, he never shuts up in
the locker room. He’s like a motor mouth. But people
embrace and enjoy him.
Of our captains, he was the leading vote-getter. It tells you
that everybody respected him. And he was not playing.
And he was going to check out and go train and go work
out. I said, Nolan, it will be the greatest mistake of your life
if you leave right now and don’t finish this because people
will remember how you finished. Whether we win or lose is
irrelevant. But the rest of your life you will be remembered,
were you a captain, were you there for everybody? Did
you stand by this team? Did you impact them in a way
without being on the field? Because NFL teams will value
someone who can impact their team when they’re not
playing.
I told him, the Ohio State win, about 20 percent of that win
goes to him because he was over on that sideline never
doubting, and just kept preaching. It’s little things like that
that make a difference in a team.
Q. I’ve heard football coaches for years talk about
finding your why. What’s your why?
COACH SMART: These men. I mean, I know my why
every day. It starts with my family. It starts with my wife
over there and our kids. And these men because there’s
not one thing I wouldn’t do for these men.
And I hate being in that locker room for the last time
because that team will never be together again. Coach
Richt always touched me when he talked about Paul
Oliver, and he talked about this is a young man that ended
up losing his life because he felt like he didn’t have
somewhere to turn and his career was over and he felt like
he was defined by football.
And these guys play football, but that’s not who they are.
And I think life’s a whole lot bigger. It’s a lot more
important to me that I’m a good father and husband than I
am a coach.
And I tell my wife — I texted her last night before the game,
I said, I was like I feel like I haven’t been as good a
husband and father as I can be because I spend so much
time doing this.
And you know what, these men are why I do it. And I do it
for them because I want them to be successful. And I want
the University of Georgia to have impact in their life like it
did mine.
Q. Javon and Kirby, you’re both from Georgia — sorry,
Brock — do you all have an appreciation level for
Georgia being in this position, two-time defending
champions, after years of people wondering whether
Georgia would ever get back to this point?
JAVON BULLARD: I know it’s a special feeling for me
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being a Georgia boy and growing up here, and I know this
state means a lot to me. It means a lot to my family. And
me just having the opportunity to play here and step on the
field and wear that G, it means the world to me. And I
couldn’t dream this big. And the fact I’m living out my
dream, I give a lot of glory to my God, and I couldn’t be
happier. It means the world to me. And I know it means
the world to Coach Smart too.
COACH SMART: I couldn’t agree with Javon more. We’re
talking coming over here about high school football and
how much it means in our state. And we’ll always recruit
the nation to find guys like Brock, but we’ll always recruit
our home base because it just means so much in our state
and it’s been a state starved for success and for something
good to happen.
It usually happens in cycles. You go through these cycles
of times where you could be successful and right now
we’ve got a good thing going and we want more kids in our
state to join us because we have a special thing going.
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