University of Georgia Athletics
Georgia inside linebacker Monty Rice (32) plays a game with a young patient during a visit to Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans, La., on Monday, Dec. 30, 2019.
Photo by: Steven Colquitt
Hospital Visit, Press Conference, Practice Highlight Bulldogs' Day
December 30, 2019 | Football
NEW ORLEANS, La. --- The Georgia football team practiced for the third time at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on Monday. The Bulldogs will face Baylor in the Allstate Sugar Bowl, which will kick off at 8:45 p.m. EST and will be televised by ESPN.
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Prior to Monday's practice, Coach Kirby Smart and several players greeted patients at Oschner Medical Center. Also, members of the defense, including Coach Dan Lanning, participated in a press conference.
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Coach Dan Lanning
Opening comments:
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR LANNING: "First off, just want to say obviously how honored we are as a program to be associated with a bowl as prestigious as the Sugar Bowl. This is truly one of the best ones. You can circle it on your calendar every year. You know you're going to get everybody's attention in the nation when you get to play in a game like this. Luckily for me, was able to have a little bit of crawfish étouffée last night, which is always exciting, and have a couple oysters. So probably the first time I stepped out of the hotel this week. But this is one of those special ones. I know our guys are really excited. I know we have a tremendous amount of respect for Baylor and the program that Coach [Matt] Rhule runs and how prepared they'll be. So we're excited for a really fun game. Watch our guys go out there and go to work."
On not having J.R. Reed:
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR LANNING: "The reality is that's an opportunity. I love J.R. He's done a lot for our program. Extremely excited for him and his future. But we're excited for the guys that are here and what they're going to do. The reality is somebody is going to step up. It's pretty common in this day and age that you're going to get guys that get opportunities in games like this. We had a lot of young guys that got opportunities in this game last year. I think that was critical to their development and also provide you some insight to you as a coach with what you've got. We've got some really good players on our team. Excited to see those guys go perform."
On his first season as coordinator:
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR LANNING: "Sometimes you sit back and it's hard to realize the blessings that you've had all your life. There's probably nobody associated with this program that feels as fortunate as I do to get to do what I do every day. We have outstanding coaches on the defensive side of the ball, Glenn Schumann, Tray Scott, Charlton Warren. Those guys are a pleasure to work with. I get an opportunity to work with Coach [Kirby] Smart every day, and for me that's really exciting. He's a phenomenal coach. Since the first day I've got here, I've approached it like a guy that has a lot to learn. I'll tell you this, he's not afraid to teach me. So that's exciting. More exciting than that, we build our mantra on kind of being the no‑name defense. It's not really about the players. It's about us. It's been about us this entire year. Our guys have gone out constantly and performed, tried to play to a standard regardless of who the opponent is. It's been exciting to see our guys embrace that this year. They've just done a really good job I think of attacking it each week. This game's no different. The standard doesn't change for this one either."
On Georgia having a no-name defense:
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR LANNING: "Yeah, I'll be honest, I don't really know where it came up. It just kind of came in the conversation one day in one of those defensive meetings that we have that, look, it really doesn't matter what anyone else thinks outside of this room. What really matters are the people in this room. We take a lot of pride in our performance, in everything we do. Not just the way we play, the way we meet, the way we present, the way we practice, the way we work. And it's great that the numbers can reflect that. This year that's awesome. But our number one goal regardless of the numbers is the win. And I think our guys take a lot of pride in that. And a lot of times those numbers, they equate to wins. So when you're doing things the right way, you get to win like we have been able to win here at Georgia. So we take ‑‑ yeah, we want to hold our defense to a standard. We've been fortunate to hit that several times this year. But the number one priority for us always is that W. And I think what's great about our players is they don't care who gets the recognition. They truly don't. They want to have success, but they all realize that individual success comes within team success."
On the secondary:
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR LANNING: "Fortunate us we've played a ton of guys this entire season. I think if you go back and look, we probably had over 40 guys that really had significant roles for us in this defense. You're going to see more. You're not necessarily going to see new, but you will see more. You will see more Lewis Cine. You will see more Chris Smith, more Otis Reese. You will see some more guys but you're not necessarily going to see new guys because all those guys at this point in the season have contributed to our success."
On Baylor's offense:
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR LANNING: "First off, they are extremely well‑coached. They do a really good job on offense of mixing it up. They can carry tempo, but they can also slow it down. They have big tight ends that can block at the point of attack. But they are really big at wide receiver outside, and that's a challenge. They make you play them honest. If you want to take away the wideouts, they're going to be able to run the ball. If you want to take away the run, they are going to be able to run the 50/50 ball outside to guys like [Denzel] Mims. They have shifty backs. And their quarterback is just a winner. [Charlie] Brewer is a winner. You think, okay, well, if he's not in, somebody else is playing. Next guy comes in and has the success he had in the championship game. They are really balanced, and you can't pick one thing or another thing to take away from them because you're probably pulling away from something else that you need to be able to do well. You just watch them on film. You can see they're extremely well‑coached, play really, really hard. They compete for the ball, and they don't beat themselves. They're a team that doesn't beat themselves. So that sticks out."
On developing players:
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR LANNING: "Probably not common to popular belief, we don't really care how many stars guys have. That just seems to happen. But we focus on the overall player, what kind of person they are, and where's their room for growth. If we can take guys that are talented players but are eager to get better, those are the guys you really see develop. I think the guys that you are talking about in our program that have done that have really attacked it and wanted to get better. They come out of this program a whole lot better player because obviously Coach [Kirby] Smart is one of the best people doing it when it comes to development of players. We have a lot of support. We've got player personnel staff. We've got a strength staff. We've got coaches. We got a lot of people that touch our players in our program. So at the end of the day, that provides a lot of opportunities for growth and we have some guys really taking advantage of that."
On Azeez Ojulari:
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR LANNING: "His coming‑out game last year was this game. And he has just continued to work and push himself throughout this year to get better and help us. … He's the kind of guy that will get up in the room and he does it by showing you, not by what he says. I think that's something we have challenged Azeez, Hey, man, you could be more vocal. You have earned that opportunity. What he does, he just rolls up his sleeves and goes to work every day. That's what Azeez has brought to our program and what he does. I think when you set by example, when you lead by example, that's a really good way to lead. That being said, I know Azeez knows there's a lot of opportunities for him to get better. And I think he's excited to attack those areas for growth."
On the defense's rotation:
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR LANNING: "I think what we really set out to do at the beginning of the year is identify the guys that were ready to play and contribute to our team. And what we didn't want to do is have guys that we felt like could play on the sideline for us. So if you had the ability to have a role for us in this defense and you were ready, what we've said from the get‑go is if you're good enough, you're old enough. It really doesn't matter how old you are. We've had a lot of guys we felt like were good enough and we could find roles for them. When we were able to find those roles, those guys excelled and did a good job depending on what we felt was best for us to take away the team we were playing. A lot of guys embraced those roles, and that equated to a lot of guys playing. So we want to reward guys that work hard and are ready to play."
DT Michael Barnett
On the key to Georgia's success on defense:Â
"Everyone has a role and does it really well. We do not really try to go outside of our role, because everyone knows their role is the key to helping the defense. Once you play outside of your role is when you hurt the defense."
DB Richard LeCounte
On the "no-name defense" and what he would name it:Â
"I do not want to say 'no-name defense' because we have 11 players that are able to make plays for us. It is not like none of us can make a play or anything like that. It is just that we all put in so much work and stuff like that. Coach [Smart] is just saying our defense is solid. As far as anything else that [the defense] goes by, there are no names or anything like that. It just defines how we are on the ball, where our hearts are at, and how we really play football."
LB Azeez Ojulari
On his first chance to play this time last year:Â
"It was a blessing. I was nervous having not played the whole season. It was a big game, but I realized that all the hard work I had put in was finally paying off. I wanted to display what I could do out there."Â
LB Monty Rice
On the matchup against Baylor's offense:Â
"They have a great running backs that can run good routes, and a good quarterback that does not slide when he runs the ball and solid receivers to match. So it is definitely going to be a great matchup."
DB Eric Stokes
On Baylor's offense:Â
"It is a great offense. You already know that they go fast, they do a lot of RPO's and the quarterback can absolutely run. I know for a fact once he runs he is not looking to go out of bounds, he is looking to go ahead and get extra yards. He is a physical quarterback, and the wide receivers are tough and physical. They are trying to get after you."
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Prior to Monday's practice, Coach Kirby Smart and several players greeted patients at Oschner Medical Center. Also, members of the defense, including Coach Dan Lanning, participated in a press conference.
Â
Coach Dan Lanning
Opening comments:
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR LANNING: "First off, just want to say obviously how honored we are as a program to be associated with a bowl as prestigious as the Sugar Bowl. This is truly one of the best ones. You can circle it on your calendar every year. You know you're going to get everybody's attention in the nation when you get to play in a game like this. Luckily for me, was able to have a little bit of crawfish étouffée last night, which is always exciting, and have a couple oysters. So probably the first time I stepped out of the hotel this week. But this is one of those special ones. I know our guys are really excited. I know we have a tremendous amount of respect for Baylor and the program that Coach [Matt] Rhule runs and how prepared they'll be. So we're excited for a really fun game. Watch our guys go out there and go to work."
On not having J.R. Reed:
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR LANNING: "The reality is that's an opportunity. I love J.R. He's done a lot for our program. Extremely excited for him and his future. But we're excited for the guys that are here and what they're going to do. The reality is somebody is going to step up. It's pretty common in this day and age that you're going to get guys that get opportunities in games like this. We had a lot of young guys that got opportunities in this game last year. I think that was critical to their development and also provide you some insight to you as a coach with what you've got. We've got some really good players on our team. Excited to see those guys go perform."
On his first season as coordinator:
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR LANNING: "Sometimes you sit back and it's hard to realize the blessings that you've had all your life. There's probably nobody associated with this program that feels as fortunate as I do to get to do what I do every day. We have outstanding coaches on the defensive side of the ball, Glenn Schumann, Tray Scott, Charlton Warren. Those guys are a pleasure to work with. I get an opportunity to work with Coach [Kirby] Smart every day, and for me that's really exciting. He's a phenomenal coach. Since the first day I've got here, I've approached it like a guy that has a lot to learn. I'll tell you this, he's not afraid to teach me. So that's exciting. More exciting than that, we build our mantra on kind of being the no‑name defense. It's not really about the players. It's about us. It's been about us this entire year. Our guys have gone out constantly and performed, tried to play to a standard regardless of who the opponent is. It's been exciting to see our guys embrace that this year. They've just done a really good job I think of attacking it each week. This game's no different. The standard doesn't change for this one either."
On Georgia having a no-name defense:
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR LANNING: "Yeah, I'll be honest, I don't really know where it came up. It just kind of came in the conversation one day in one of those defensive meetings that we have that, look, it really doesn't matter what anyone else thinks outside of this room. What really matters are the people in this room. We take a lot of pride in our performance, in everything we do. Not just the way we play, the way we meet, the way we present, the way we practice, the way we work. And it's great that the numbers can reflect that. This year that's awesome. But our number one goal regardless of the numbers is the win. And I think our guys take a lot of pride in that. And a lot of times those numbers, they equate to wins. So when you're doing things the right way, you get to win like we have been able to win here at Georgia. So we take ‑‑ yeah, we want to hold our defense to a standard. We've been fortunate to hit that several times this year. But the number one priority for us always is that W. And I think what's great about our players is they don't care who gets the recognition. They truly don't. They want to have success, but they all realize that individual success comes within team success."
On the secondary:
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR LANNING: "Fortunate us we've played a ton of guys this entire season. I think if you go back and look, we probably had over 40 guys that really had significant roles for us in this defense. You're going to see more. You're not necessarily going to see new, but you will see more. You will see more Lewis Cine. You will see more Chris Smith, more Otis Reese. You will see some more guys but you're not necessarily going to see new guys because all those guys at this point in the season have contributed to our success."
On Baylor's offense:
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR LANNING: "First off, they are extremely well‑coached. They do a really good job on offense of mixing it up. They can carry tempo, but they can also slow it down. They have big tight ends that can block at the point of attack. But they are really big at wide receiver outside, and that's a challenge. They make you play them honest. If you want to take away the wideouts, they're going to be able to run the ball. If you want to take away the run, they are going to be able to run the 50/50 ball outside to guys like [Denzel] Mims. They have shifty backs. And their quarterback is just a winner. [Charlie] Brewer is a winner. You think, okay, well, if he's not in, somebody else is playing. Next guy comes in and has the success he had in the championship game. They are really balanced, and you can't pick one thing or another thing to take away from them because you're probably pulling away from something else that you need to be able to do well. You just watch them on film. You can see they're extremely well‑coached, play really, really hard. They compete for the ball, and they don't beat themselves. They're a team that doesn't beat themselves. So that sticks out."
On developing players:
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR LANNING: "Probably not common to popular belief, we don't really care how many stars guys have. That just seems to happen. But we focus on the overall player, what kind of person they are, and where's their room for growth. If we can take guys that are talented players but are eager to get better, those are the guys you really see develop. I think the guys that you are talking about in our program that have done that have really attacked it and wanted to get better. They come out of this program a whole lot better player because obviously Coach [Kirby] Smart is one of the best people doing it when it comes to development of players. We have a lot of support. We've got player personnel staff. We've got a strength staff. We've got coaches. We got a lot of people that touch our players in our program. So at the end of the day, that provides a lot of opportunities for growth and we have some guys really taking advantage of that."
On Azeez Ojulari:
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR LANNING: "His coming‑out game last year was this game. And he has just continued to work and push himself throughout this year to get better and help us. … He's the kind of guy that will get up in the room and he does it by showing you, not by what he says. I think that's something we have challenged Azeez, Hey, man, you could be more vocal. You have earned that opportunity. What he does, he just rolls up his sleeves and goes to work every day. That's what Azeez has brought to our program and what he does. I think when you set by example, when you lead by example, that's a really good way to lead. That being said, I know Azeez knows there's a lot of opportunities for him to get better. And I think he's excited to attack those areas for growth."
On the defense's rotation:
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR LANNING: "I think what we really set out to do at the beginning of the year is identify the guys that were ready to play and contribute to our team. And what we didn't want to do is have guys that we felt like could play on the sideline for us. So if you had the ability to have a role for us in this defense and you were ready, what we've said from the get‑go is if you're good enough, you're old enough. It really doesn't matter how old you are. We've had a lot of guys we felt like were good enough and we could find roles for them. When we were able to find those roles, those guys excelled and did a good job depending on what we felt was best for us to take away the team we were playing. A lot of guys embraced those roles, and that equated to a lot of guys playing. So we want to reward guys that work hard and are ready to play."
DT Michael Barnett
On the key to Georgia's success on defense:Â
"Everyone has a role and does it really well. We do not really try to go outside of our role, because everyone knows their role is the key to helping the defense. Once you play outside of your role is when you hurt the defense."
DB Richard LeCounte
On the "no-name defense" and what he would name it:Â
"I do not want to say 'no-name defense' because we have 11 players that are able to make plays for us. It is not like none of us can make a play or anything like that. It is just that we all put in so much work and stuff like that. Coach [Smart] is just saying our defense is solid. As far as anything else that [the defense] goes by, there are no names or anything like that. It just defines how we are on the ball, where our hearts are at, and how we really play football."
LB Azeez Ojulari
On his first chance to play this time last year:Â
"It was a blessing. I was nervous having not played the whole season. It was a big game, but I realized that all the hard work I had put in was finally paying off. I wanted to display what I could do out there."Â
LB Monty Rice
On the matchup against Baylor's offense:Â
"They have a great running backs that can run good routes, and a good quarterback that does not slide when he runs the ball and solid receivers to match. So it is definitely going to be a great matchup."
DB Eric Stokes
On Baylor's offense:Â
"It is a great offense. You already know that they go fast, they do a lot of RPO's and the quarterback can absolutely run. I know for a fact once he runs he is not looking to go out of bounds, he is looking to go ahead and get extra yards. He is a physical quarterback, and the wide receivers are tough and physical. They are trying to get after you."
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Players Mentioned
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