This is pretty funny in print…
There were 23 college football team this past weekend that weren’t able to kick a touchback. Georgia was one of them. There were eight teams that had at least six kickoff attempts, and failed to force a touchback. Georgia was one of them.
That wasn’t by design, head coach Kirby Smart made clear on Tuesday night, when asked what his philosophy was on kickoffs, and if he’d prefer someone boot it through.
“What do you think?” Smart said, interrupting the reporter. “What do you want?”
I don’t want anything, the reporter replied.
“Well what would you want?” Smart persisted. “If you were coaching what would you want?”
I’d want somebody to kick it out of the end zone.
“Well me too. That’s my philosophy,” Smart said. “You know anybody?”
… but it’s even better watching the clip (dial it up to about the 3:20 mark to hear the exchange).
As Seth notes, Kirby’s making a good point here — if he had someone who could generate touchbacks on kickoffs, he’d be using him. In the meantime, all he’s got is a smile.
Get The Picture 
He comes off as being nicer about it than Saban. More playful. But he is still sending a pretty clear message to the media.
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What happens to these kickers who are all-world in high school when they enter the Athens city limits? Does their kicking leg all of a sudden lose 10% of its power when the ball gets placed on a tee?
I’m not convinced a kick that is 2-3 yards into the end zone isn’t better than kicking it through because you make the return man decide whether it’s worth it to run it out. Also, if your coverage team does their job, you are highly likely to pin them inside the 20 rather than starting on the 25.
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Exactly my question as well. Go back and look at Blankenship’s highlight film from high school.
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This doesn’t explain everything but the high school kickoff is from the 40 while college is from the 35 yard line.
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A guy who kicks it through the end zone from the 40 should be able to kick it deep enough into the end zone from the 35 to prevent a return if that’s the objective … it’s only 5 yards.
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Plus a shorter tee in college makes a difference, but I’m with you , it shouldn’t be a 15 yard difference.
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This sounds like a challenge.
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I really like Kirby’s personality — he certainly has an edge to him, but he’s not a total prick like some coaches where he refuses to smile and show a bit of a sense of humor at times to. It’s a bit of a balancing act, but thus far I like the way he’s handled the press. No doubt he’s come a long way from his intro press conference back in December — he’s definitely grown into the job in that regard.
Speaking of the press, with all due respect some of these guys aren’t exactly the brightest people in the world, and often I’m impressed with the amount if patience coaches are able to muster in dealing with them. I recall a few years back Bill Bellichick was asked after a somewhat rough outing by Brady if he would consider benching Tom for the next game, and the look Bill gave the reporter was priceless. Suffice to say he didn’t bother even answering the question.
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This. There are some pretty stupid questions that are asked of coaches. And the coaches must take a class or something where there learn to fight back saying, “Holy crap did you even watch the game?”
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With all respect, while few sportswriters belong to Mensa, it is their job to ask dumb questions, the same questions we ask here from time to time.
Considering the prior history of short kick offs in Georgia games, and the interest in getting Kirby’s philosophy about kickoffs, the dumb question was not all that dumb…do you now know that Kirby wants to kick it out of the park?
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Agree…no reason to be quite so salty. They are at his mercy – when someone is at your mercy, you have to be careful not to be a jerk just because they cannot fire back…
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Not saying he was being a jerk, here. Overall I liked this presser, too.
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They need to find the guy that coached this Admiral.
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I assume that the difference in kicking tees for high school versus college have that big an impact? Just asking, too lazy/busy to look it up.
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Maybe cuz the stadiums are smaller the ball travels farther.
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I’m not looking it up either, but I’ve read it’s a 2″ tee in high school and 1″ in college. It’s still puzzling how one inch and 5 yards makes a kid go from kicking the ball 5 yards out of the end zone to 5 yards short of the end zone. Maybe it’s the dead leg thing Kirby alluded to. Having Kevin Butler coaching the kickers is definitely a plus. This would be the week to tinker with things.
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I watched that pressed earlier today and I also thought it was endearing. I totally get the “micro-managing” thing thought. Kirby pushes back on folks wanting to see more Eason citing “in the arena” stuff that regular people don’t get. I’m sure some of that is true, but also, it really can be as simple as “yes, he completed a long pass”. Kirby, if Eason’s presence loosens up our opponents defense, then that might be good enough, does it really matter if the kid knows how and why? Let him use his God given talent.
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My only comment is “Kirby is a genius”. But only time will tell how long I’ll believe in what I’m saying, LOL.
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To hear this, more than anything Kirby has said or done, makes me the happiest.
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I think the reporter’s response should have been, “The reason we do these press conferences is to get your quotes, not mine. You would be annoyed if I assumed something about your kickoff philosophy and it was wrong, right?”
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Kirby: “You can quote me, so that’s no problem.”
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Still, there are obnoxious guys with press credentials who try the coach’s patience – on purpose, like: “Are you now on the hotseat with the administration?”, “Are you going to punish the player who got a DUI and how?”, “Isn’t that opposite of what you said last week?”; to which the coach answers “No.” to each question. They are ticky-tacky Qs that are testing the waters as to where the coach’s temperament gives back a hot answer that embarrasses the reporter, the coach and the school, but makes excellent copy.
But, then again, you want to see Finebaum go head-to-head with Saban over divisive questions that should be answered. The reporter remains true to his/her profession by asking the hard questions, but is looking down the gun barrel of nada info as a response that has a hook on the end for the reporter. It’s a mixed bag of ethos that sometimes grinds us wrong and other times has our rapt attention.
Guess that’s CFB at its journalism best, what the hell.
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Apparently Kirby has not found the Georgia equivalent of 37F yet.
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I was so jealous watching the FSU game Monday night. They had a stud freshman kicker who was as cool as they come. I cant recall if it was the same kid or another, but on kickoffs it was pretty much landing in the first row every time. I just remember thinking about how nice that must be to have every kick be money in the bank.
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The kicker is the little brother of the guy they had last year who was great. He is a true freshman. That 40 yard fg was right down the middle. I mean the exact same distance from each upright. The kid is going to win some games for FSU.
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