Kirby Smart emerges from TCU national title game prep to offer take on matchup, injuries
Kirby Smart is so locked in on getting Georgia football ready for the national championship showdown with TCU, he said he had not stepped out of his office Monday until he sat down to be interviewed for an ESPN appearance before noon.
“I asked them where they were broadcasting today because I had no idea where they were,” Smart, speaking from the second floor of the Butts-Mehre building, said on College GameDay. “They told me they were at the Rose Bowl.”
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Georgia was set to return to the practice fields on Monday and go in Athens all week until leaving for Los Angeles on Friday. The national championship game is Monday Jan. 9 at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN.
Tight end Darnell Washington told ESPN’s Marty Smith on the field after the game that “everything is fine,” with his left leg injury, It was thought initially to be a sprained ankle, but Smart told Smith on Monday that the injury is actually a “soft tissue contusion and strain,” that won't require surgery, Smith tweeted. That gives Washington a better chance to play against TCU than if it had been an ankle sprain.
Kirby Smart told me that TE Darnell Washington’s leg injury is not an ankle sprain.
Smart said the injury is a “soft tissue contusion and strain,” does not require surgery, and, according to Smart, gives Washington a better chance to play in NC than if it was an ankle sprain.— Marty Smith (@MartySmithESPN) January 2, 2023
Washington wore a walking boot and was on crutches on the sideline of Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Outside linebacker Chaz Chambliss sustained a hyperextended knee, Smart said. Chambliss has an expanded role after Georgia lost Nolan Smith earlier this season to a torn pectoral muscle.
“We’re hopeful to get pretty much all the guys back, that’s the hope,” Smart said Monday of players injured against Ohio State. “We had some guys dropping there for a little bit. We were on our 2s and 3s in some spots. Some guys stepped up and played and that’s what you have to have at the end of the year.”
Smart offered his first take on the matchup between 14-0 Georgia and 13-1 TCU, which beat Michigan 51-45 in the Fiesta Bowl. It’s a matchup of Heisman Trophy finalists, quarterback Stetson Bennett of Georgia and Max Duggan of TCU.
“They’ve had a ton of comebacks and really tight ballgames,” Smart said. “Our team has come back and fought in the fourth quarter. I think when you start looking at the character and identity of these two teams, they mirror each other in terms the leadership at the quarterback position and the heart and soul of the team.”
TCU arrived back from Arizona on Sunday evening and coaches were in the office early Monday to dive into Georgia game film, first-year Horned Frogs coach Sonny Dykes said on ESPN.
"They're a very good football team," Dyke said of Georgia. "A great combination of size and speed. They've been on this stage before, they're accustomed to it. I'm sure they're going to come in with a lot of confidence. The great thing about our group is we have a lot of confidence as well."
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Georgia football coach Kirby Smart comments on injuries, TCU matchup
