Field Street Forum

ATHENS – Georgia head football coach Kirby Smart, along with tight end Oscar Delp, offensive lineman Micah Morris and inside linebacker Raylen Wilson spoke with the media Thursday to discuss fall camp and the progress of the team in preparation for the 2025-26 season.

Head Coach Kirby Smart
Opening Statement…
“I am excited to be here and excited to get started again. This is year 10 for us, and I am really pleased with the off season work ethic of this team and the summer program. We had some outstanding testing numbers that I’m really excited about for our guys. We did our traditional combine and then we also did a lot more non-impact cardio. We’re trying to get guys in shape without putting mileage on some of their feet. We’re probably the healthiest we’ve been starting into a camp in terms of looking at the last five years and in terms of guys that were out or were limited with soft tissue injuries. We are young. We’ve talked about that in media days, but we are hungry. We got a team that’s fun to coach. We go out to practice each day, and they’ve been enthusiastic. They’ve been out there working out, just doing all the things you ask. Like I said, a lot of them haven’t had an opportunity to play, and now this is their opportunity. Sometimes when you’re coaching, it’s a lot more exciting for guys when they’re having their first time. Now that being said, the lack of experience sometimes can show, but we’re gonna try to get through that in camp. Our numbers are still pretty good, so we’ll approach the camp in terms of physical and mental toughness is one of our biggest goals to achieve. The second is probably creating good habits, like being on time, resting and recovery. Camp is a grind, and ours certainly is a grind. Then connection, leaning on each other, staying in a hotel for eight, nine, ten days with 15 practices in 18 days with two scrimmages. It’s not easy and it’s hot. We want to develop this mental, physical toughness that we think carries us through the season. Our coaches have done a great job preparing for this and getting a lot of informative tape, NFL tape, NFL quotes, past history of camps here and watching guys that are now in the league that came through here. The messaging has been really good, and we get to kick off today on the practice field.”

On keeping the message fresh in year 10…
“The message is fresh because it’s a new team. When you have a new team, you have new years, and you have got new guys. We talked about it before, I think we’ve got 40 or 50 guys that maybe it’s completely new, first or second year players. I don’t think you have to worry about your message staying fresh when you have the turnover you have, but you have to keep your message fresh based on what’s changing in college football and offensive and defensive schemes, things people are doing outside of it and just the demand you have. Our coaches do a great job of changing things up, and I’ll do the same with our guys.”

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Micah Morris has been around a while. The Georgia offensive lineman started his fifth preseason camp Thursday, and Morris and running back Cash Jones are the only remaining players who were part of the 2021 and ’22 national championship teams.

“It doesn’t feel like I’ve been here forever, but I am starting to feel like everybody I came in with is gone now,” Morris said. “I’ve been having a great time, and I’ve had so many memories.”

Morris, who started five games in 2024, is hoping to make a lot more in his final season. He will do so with a different cast around him, both on the offensive line and throughout the team. While every team is different every season, the 2025 Bulldogs are young. There is loads of talent, as always, but there are also a lot of players who will be counted on to play large roles for the first time.

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