Kirby Smart Has A Lot To Say About Alabama: "He's Playing Amazing"

ATHENS - Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs are set to play the Alabama Crimson Tide this weekend in one of the biggest games of the college football season.

The Bulldogs, ranked No. 2 in the latest AP Poll, are current underdogs to the Crimson Tide with the game being played in Tuscaloosa. Alabama's offense is playing at an elite level and the Tide defense is loaded with talent at all three levels.

Georgia football coach Kirby Smart, who defeated Alabama in last year's SEC Championship, had a lot to say this week about Kalen DeBoer and the Crimson Tide.

"I've got a lot of respect for Coach DeBoer the way they go about things," Smart told reporters this week. They’ve got an extremely physical football team. They're playing really high-level football right now. Their quarterback is playing amazing for them. So it'll be a great challenge for us to go into a really tough environment to go play, and I know our players will be looking forward to it.”

That quarterback playing "amazing"? That's sophomore Keelon Russell. A dynamic, dual-threat passer who has been outstanding so far for the Crimson Tide offense. He's a confident passer who can really test defenses vertically with his natural arm talent. He'll present a major test for the Bulldog defense on Saturday.

"Their quarterback is playing amazing for them", Smart added. "The guy is really talented, fun to watch, and you've seen the growth just from the first game all the way through. The talent this guy has is pretty incredible, and they’ve got a really good scheme around him. He's just unbelievably savvy, had good arm strength and pocket awareness. People will make him out to be a runner. He doesn't run unless he has to, and he can. But he scrambles to throw, scrambles to run. He's accurate. He's smart. He’s very talented.”

So far this season Russell is 94/132 for 1,414 yards and 11 touchdowns to go along with two INTs. On the ground the 6-foot-3 210-pounder has rushed for 184 yards and four touchdowns. Of course, he's not the only really why the Tide are playing so far. The Crimson Tide defense can also play at a high level and are stacked with talent all over that side of the ball.

Smart had a lot to say about an Alabama secondary that has a knack for creating turnovers and making big plays.

“They're very talented," Smart said. "They've got ball hawks. They've got guys who can make plays on ball. “They got a lot of length in the secondary. They play physical and a lot of that's brought on by their front because they create pressure situations. They stop the run."

“When you stop the run, force people to throw the ball it sometimes can make you one-dimensional, and they’ve been really opportunistic as well when they've gotten them running them back and scoring," Smart added. "So anytime you score on defense, it's a big huge momentum swing, and they've got players that can do it.”