Georgia HC Kirby Smart compliments DJ Lagway and Florida’s WRs ahead of annual World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party

Kirby Smart is keeping his Dawgs on their well alert this Saturday.

Kelsey Kramer — College Football & NFL Trending News Writer
Add as preferred source on Google
Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart speaks to media ahead of Florida Gators matchup.
Georgia Bulldogs

The Georgia Bulldogs are gearing up to face the Florida Gators in the annual World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party on Saturday afternoon.

It’s shaping up to be an intriguing matchup, especially after Florida made headlines by firing head coach Billy Napier midway through the season. While the Gators work to pick up the pieces, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart knows better than to underestimate a team in that position because these shakeups can sometimes light a spark.

Smart is keeping his Dawgs grounded heading into this questionable matchup

Smart made sure to keep his team grounded this week, offering plenty of praise for the Gators’ offense and standout quarterback DJ Lagway, emphasizing that the Bulldogs will need to be at their best.

“He’s a really bright player, got a bright future, great arm talent, got an ability to process information quickly, get ball out on RPOs,” Smart said. “Really hard to tackle when it comes to, if you do get through on the rush, if you ever get through, now I gotta finish. Finishing on a guy that size is harder than you think, in terms of his escapability and ability to lengthen plays and do things. He’s done a good job. He’s improved.

“We watched him grow before our eyes last year and this year, and he’s surrounded by a really talented group of wideouts and a really talented offensive line. They’re physical on the offensive line. It seems like they’ve got guys that’ve been playing there for a while, and that complements his style very well.”

So far this season, Lagway has completed 65.3% of his passes for 1,513 yards and nine touchdowns, and leads the SEC with nine interceptions. Those numbers don’t look the best, but Smart also isn’t ignorant that things could look different with wide receivers coach Billy Gonzales now in charge.

And speaking of wide receivers, Smart placed an even greater emphasis on that group.

“Size, speed, they’ve got great size, speed, twitch,” Smart said of the Gators’ receiving room. “Movement at the line of scrimmage, ability to make plays down the field, break tackles, block, crack, in the run game, involvement in the run game. They do a really good job of getting their wideouts involved in that. Shift motion to get them open, but they’re talented. They’ve got young and old, and they’ve got good players.”

Georgia vs. Gators kicks off at 3:30 pm ET on Saturday afternoon.

Related Articles