University of Georgia Athletics
Smart, Players Preview Western Kentucky
September 08, 2026 | Football
ATHENS, Ga. – Georgia football head coach Kirby Smart, sophomore tight end Elyiss Williams and senior defensive back Kyron Jones spoke with the media on Tuesday and offered the following comments.
Head Coach Kirby Smart
Opening Statement…
"We got started as usual with Western Kentucky yesterday. I know Tyson Helton and have a lot of respect for him as a coach in the program. They've done a tremendous job with their program over years, and they've got several members from our staff that are working up there. We've got a close connection. Their coaches come down and work our camps in the summer, and they've got a lot of Georgia kids in their program. It should be a great opportunity for us to continue to get better. We have a saying around here, you don't have to be sick to get better. That's been the motto of last week and this week."
On the offensive line against Tennessee State…
"They practice next to different guys every day. Very minor deal. Played hard, played well against an overmatched opponent, size and speed wise. Tough evaluation to be honest."
On the outside linebacker group…
"I feel good about those guys. Those guys have been that way for a while in terms of getting reps, growing. [Quintavious Johnson] Q does a good job leading that group, helping them out. Amaris [Williams] is doing it from the meeting room, and Chase [Linton] has been in there with them, done most of the camp. All those guys are getting better. Khamari [Brooks], PJ [Dean] and Darren [Ikinnagbon]. Even Duncan Carpenter got to jump in there and get some reps Saturday and did a nice job."
On ILB Chris Cole's role…
"He's probably similar, more similar than different. He's a little faster and has a little more length than them. Probably doesn't have the density and the size that they have, but he's sideline to sideline faster. He's really good on the edge like Jalon [Walker] was. He probably hasn't played as much inside backer as Quay [Walker] has, but we don't really do many comparisons around here. We kind of keep it to he's his own person, and he's a tremendous leader. He's one of the hardest workers and practice guys we've had."
On the SEC going undefeated in Week 1…
"It's hard to comment on because I can't sit here and say what I saw and didn't see because I didn't see much. I don't get to watch the totality of 15 games outside of ours that were non-SEC versus SEC opponents. I'd rather not comment because it's too early."
On DB Kyron Jones…
"It's not what he's done in the last five or six weeks, it's what he's done since he's been here. He's high character. He's tough. He's fast. He was more of an offensive player coming out of high school that we thought could transition to defense. When you look for defensive players, you look for size and speed. He has good size, good bulk, and he has good speed. He had to work a lot when he got here on instincts and playing that position. It's not a position that you can just go play and you haven't played a lot in your history, and he got better with that. He's one of the toughest kids I've been around. He practices hard. He's dealt with a lot of injuries, and he's overcome them. He sets his mind to something, and he does it. That's what's been impressive about him is that he works really hard."
On OLB Chase Linton's status and the pass rush…
"It's hard to evaluate it. Based on those guys they were going against, no disrespect to them, but there was not a long time for the quarterback to be able to throw. The quarterback got it out really quick as well. Chase is week-to-week."
On OL Drew Bobo returning from injury…
"I thought he did a good job. He did what was asked of him. He makes good checks. He commands the huddle. He's a high-effort guy. He didn't play a ton of snaps. He did a good job."
On S Ja'Marley Riddle's status…
"He should be fine."
On evaluating players for position changes…
"What's his temperament? Is he going to be able to deal with failure? Can he push through hard times when it's not going right for him? It's going to be a learning curve, and then, what does he weigh and what does he run?"
On OLB Khamari Brooks…
"He's got great work ethic. I think it's still yet to be determined how ready he is. I think there are a lot of guys that get battle-tested in practices. They'll get battle-tested today. They got battle-tested in the first scrimmages to find out where they are. He missed some time in fall camp with an injury. He fought back from that, and he's really just now coming back from that. We're trying to grow him and expedite his learning process so he can help us."
On HC Tyson Helton's consistency at WKU…
"It shows you that they have a tremendous evaluation process. They've done a great job of developing players. It's changed, and he's changed with it because they've had to dip into the portal and take more kids out of the portal because more of theirs have moved on through the portal."
On keeping recruiting local or national due to NIL…
"I think it's moved that way over a 10-year trend. I can't say that it's more because of NIL. I think it's more because of social media. These kids travel. They play more seven-on-sevens. They know more kids across the country. That trend was trending that way before NIL, and NIL probably just sped it up even more."
On RB Dante Dowdell…
"I think our medical staff does a tremendous job. Connor [Norman] and Ryan [Madaleno] have been unbelievable with communication, talking to his family, talking to Shepherd Center in different places, and they've been with him every step of the way, along with Coach Crawford in the running back room. They got to go over and visit him and see him in Atlanta and reached out and have talked to him a lot. He's been around the team some, and he knows what his priorities are right now, and that's trying to get healthy."
On the benefit of having game film…
"I think it's helpful for them to assess effort, how they ran to the ball, how they performed in a small window, because nobody played more than 30 or 40 snaps, and assess where they need to go from here. Everybody talks about how your greatest improvements are from game one to game two. I don't think that's necessarily true unless you make it true. You have to learn lessons from that."
On TE Elyiss Williams' physicality…
"Since he got here, he's never been shy from contact. You never know sometimes where guys are from and how much football they've played. He played basketball, and he's a tremendous athlete, but he was never afraid of the physicality from the time he got here. He's gotten better at that, but it's more technique-based than it was toughness-based."
On WR Jeremy Bell…
"He's a kid that's from our state. We comb the state for good football players. He was a tremendous athlete from a very rural area, and we've had several players from his school. We have relationships there with coaches, so they reached out to us, and we pursued it. He took advantage of an opportunity, and he continues to get better. He's worked really hard, and he's had some really good springs. He's getting better with each and every week. Sometimes when you come from those areas, you're not as polished of a receiver as a kid that played in some kind of system in high school. He was not fortunate enough to play in some elaborate passing scheme offense. He worked really hard at what he did, and he's continued to hone his skills since being here."
On WR Isiah Canion…
"Like I said, it's hard to measure a lot in that small number of snap samples he had. I go more off of the camp he had. He's tough, physical, works hard and plays fast. There are things that he does really well and things that he's here working to improve on. We need him to have a big year to create matchups and stay healthy."
