Everything Kirby Smart Said About Tennessee This Week

On His Teams Conditioning Ahead of Tennessee "I think our guys are in great shape; we've worked really hard for the past three to four weeks. We've taken

On His Teams Conditioning Ahead of Tennessee

"I think our guys are in great shape; we've worked really hard for the past three to four weeks. We've taken periods and worked really hard anticipating this coming, kind of like you do when you have a triple option. So, we work periods into practice to work on our substitution patterns so that we can sub our players. That's something that we constantly do. You know, we did it in the off week, we've got a couple periods each and every week to make sure we're prepared for it. Like I said, on Monday, there's nothing you can really do to prepare for that kind of pace of play. It's almost impossible to simulate in terms of your practice. A lot of it is knowledge, understanding it, and we want our guys to be able to do that. We want our guys to be able to play fast and execute."

On Similarities Between Tennessee's Offense and Gus Malzahn's

"I wouldn't say it is a Gus Malzahn offense, very different. It is most like Missouri when (Coach Josh) Heupel was there. If you remember, we played Missouri with Heupel there, we had a couple of games against them, and we've gone back and studied those tapes. He's evolved, and he's different in some ways and added more wrinkles. His wrinkles have come to his offense, and he does a really good job of being aggressive and keeping the pressure on. In terms of how we get the scout team to run it – we're very fortunate that we have an abundance of scouts. This week, we've got a tremendous look between being a little healthier at wide-out. Jackson (Meeks) has gone over there, Dominick (Blaylock) has gone over there, George has taken some reps. All of a sudden, that line-up has looked a little better in terms of competitive reps where before, we didn't have many guys who could give us a look at receivers because we were so down. We've had the scout team preparing for this for weeks. We've done a lot of work to get them ready for this. It's very similar to when you do a triple option; you better have a plan because it's so different and outside the norm."

On Tennessee Creating Explosive Plays With Their WRs

"They're fast, and you don't always get lined up properly. It's very unique, guys. It's like you ask the question, 'how come you can't stop the triple option?' Well, it's different, you don't face it every day. They've got guys wide open because people have eye violations. They look at the wrong thing, sometimes they don't even see the wide receiver. I know it's hard to believe, but their splits are clear out on the sideline. Half college football is playing condensed formations now, and everyone is in a teacup where everybody is right next to the ball, and now all the sudden these guys have two guys outside the numbers. I've seen guys on tape not lined up, trying to get a call. It happens to everybody. It's not like it's not on tape, and it worries you that it could happen to you. You want to make them earn what they get. There's a lot of plays that they have gotten on people off busts. And you're trying to avoid that. They have done a tremendous job through the tempo of being explosive."

On Tennessee Spreading Teams Out to Help the Run Game

"Make no mistake about it – they're a tremendous run-game team. They run the ball a crazy number of average yards per game. They wear you down; they wear you down, they wear you down. They've got a good number of backs, a physical O-line. It's not an air-raid team, it's a shot team and a pound you team. They spread you out. They make you declare defenders. They want you to declare is he in or is he out. At the end of the day, they make it hard to defend. It's tough, you've got to have a good plan and you've got to execute the plan."

On Creating Crowd Noise in Practice for a Game Like This

"We work crowd noise like everybody in the country does. But it's not necessarily Rocky Top. I mean, we have artificial crowd noise, and then we have other periods where we have music and turn it up loud and try to focus and concentrate. But it's a tough place to play. I think, if you look across the league this year, you're seeing a little more struggle with that in terms of, you went a year without it. And we talked about it going into Auburn: There's 50 percent of your team that hasn't really played in those kind of environments, and that Auburn one's a tough one, and so is Tennessee. I'd put those two places up against anybody in the country in terms of atmosphere and all those things, but, again, guys, it's 11 guys between the lines. The crowd noise, it can create penalties and can create that. But it's not an extra — it's just different. You've got to be able to execute between the lines."

On Remembering Seeing the Hobnail Boot

"I don't know. Whenever it comes up, I guess. I mean, I know Verron (Haynes) well, and Coach Richt, obviously, and the play call and all that. But I don't know how many times I've seen the replay because we're worried about this year. I've just seen it from time to time."

On What Has Impressed Him About Tennessee's Defense & Jeremy Banks

"They've got a lot of players with a lot of experience across the whole board. When you look at it, they've got a group in the secondary that has played for a long time. Banks has gotten better and better and better. Everybody knew when he was coming out he was going to be a good player. And, basically, experience helps you with that, and he's grown.

"He's gotten better, and you play a lot of football games, you have knowledge. You have experience. Things don't trick you for the first time, and he's playing at a really high level."

On the Difficulty of Facing An Uptempo Team

"The speed. I mean, it's obvious, right? I mean, it's the speed with which they get lined up. I mean, the hardest thing about preparing for that is the simulation of it. Everybody's trying to do it, but you can't duplicate it. You can only try to duplicate it, and you've got to do a good job of communication. Simulating that tempo and chaos is the hardest thing."

On Hendon Hooker

"Incredible athlete. Composure, poise, hard to tackle. When he decides to run, he's an extra running back, but he throws the ball really well. He's got incredible arm strength, arm talent. He can throw the ball to all parts of the field. Great velocity on his ball, great touch on his ball. He's a weapon. He can make you right in every play. If the box count's not right, 'OK, I can throw it.' Box count is right; I can run it. I can do a lot of creative things with a guy like that, so it's really hard to defend."