What Kirby Smart said about Michigan football the Wednesday before the game
DANIA BEACH, Fla. — Michigan football vs. Georgia in the Capital One Orange Bowl is but days away now, and both teams are gearing up for what looks to be a perpetual fist fight in the trenches.
Being that it’s the College Football Playoff, both teams will look to use whatever they can to find an advantage, and both the Wolverines and Bulldogs are heavy when it comes to utilizing the tight end position.
On Wednesday, Georgia coach Kirby Smart met with the media to discuss the matchup and noted that while the Bulldogs love using Brock Bowers, the Wolverines have a cadre of tight ends at their disposal that they like to use as well.
“Yeah, size, speed, match-ups,” Smart said. “You’ve got to be careful, you can’t put a little guy on a size-speed guy. He can get overpowered, overmatched. You’ve got to have the personnel to match the offensive personnel. I don’t care if that’s five wides or if that’s 14 personnel, and they’ve got a back and four tight ends in there.
“Everybody can control the match-ups they want to try to emphasize to what the strength of their team is, and Michigan does a tremendous job of utilizing those tight ends.
“They’re easier to use in play action. They’re good match-ups for intermediate routes. They’re really good for the play-action game off of wheels, off block and release. They do a tremendous job of that. I think both these teams utilize their tight end skill sets really well.”
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But perhaps the great equalizer on the Michigan side of things is the pass rush. While tight ends may be used to chip, with players like Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo, Michigan has still managed to get home, no matter what other teams throw at them.
Smart spoke about the challenge that the Wolverines’ formidable pass rushing duo present, saying that he’s learned a lot by talking to coaches of other teams who have already faced Hutchinson and Ojabo. What he hadn’t realized is that it isn’t just talent as much as it is the drive that both have.
“Yeah, the first thing you have to do is match their intensity,” Smart said. “Regardless of the talent they have, the strain, the desire, the want-to leaks through on the film.
“You talk to people that have played them, it’s one of the first things they talk about is man, we didn’t take into account how hard they played, how much effort, how much want-to, how much desire. That has to come from within. That doesn’t come from a star that was given to you out of high school. That doesn’t come from a reputation you got. That comes from like within, what do you have inside you, what stamina do you have in the fourth quarter to pass pro or run block, whatever it requires in the fourth quarter, to outwork the player, out-strain the player in front of you. Those two guys just are tremendous want-to — you can tell they push each other. They go against a really good offensive line every day in practice, so those guys are really good competitors, and they’re a huge challenge for our offensive line.
”Our offensive line embraces challenges like this. They want these opportunities. It’s what you come to college to go play against is the best in the country, whether that’s the best in the country at run defense or best in the country at rushing the passer. You want to play against the best. You want to be measured against the best, and that’s what the playoffs allow you to do.”
Michigan and Georgia are set to kick off on Dec. 31 at 7:30 p.m. EST at Hard Rock Stadium.
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