Georgia wide receiver Jackson Meeks (9) makes a leaping catch over Auburn’s J.D. Rhym (23) during a game Oct. 8 at Sanford Stadium.

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart, cornerback Kamari Lassiter and linebacker Rian Davis spoke to the media on Tuesday, Oct. 11. Here are some key takeaways.

Vanderbilt’s New-Look Offense

Vanderbilt is coming to Athens with a 3-3 record, having already tied the team’s highest win total since 2019. All three losses have come from teams ranked in the Associated Press’s Top 25, so Lassiter and the Bulldogs aren’t taking the challenge lightly.

“Vanderbilt has a really good football team this year,” Lassiter said. “They got a really good quarterback — well, really two good quarterbacks; one quarterback who can take the top off with his feet, really fast, and then one quarterback who’s really accurate, and they got some pretty good skill players, as well.”

Mike Wright began the season as the starter. Wright, a more mobile quarterback, was benched in the third game of the season. Freshman AJ Swann has started since then, passing for eight touchdowns and only surrendering a single turnover during his time on the field.

Swann is originally from White, Georgia, though he wasn’t recruited by UGA. Despite that, Smart had nothing but good things to say about Vanderbilt’s new starter.

“You can see why they’ve had confidence in him,” Smart said. “The most recent games he stood out and done a tremendous job. For a freshman to go into the environments he’s played in, he’s played really well.”

Georgia’s New-Look Defense

Just as Vanderbilt presents a different challenge on offense this year, Georgia’s defense has undergone similar alterations.

One example of this is that Lassiter started the season at cornerback, even though he had never started a college game prior to this season. Lassiter spoke of his season as a period of growth, improving with each and every snap.

“Starting off from game one, I had a little bit of nerves, coming in, you know, my first start,” Lassiter said. “And then as the season progresses, just get better with practice and reps, learn to do things better and better.”

Smael Mondon and Trezmen Marshall both missed the Auburn game due to injury, leading to Davis’ first career start. Davis has dealt with several serious injuries throughout his career including a torn ACL and a torn labrum, so this past weekend was a special moment for him.

“It meant a lot,” Davis said. “I was very excited about that. It was a very emotional game for me, because I’ve battled through a lot, so getting that first start and getting to go out there with my brothers – it was a good time.”

Numbers to Know

Davis shares jersey number zero with Darnell Washington, and the two of them each refer to the other as ‘Little O.’ To Davis, the number is an aspiration, a quest to improve himself as a player.

“If I get zero, I’m gonna have zero problems out there,” Davis said. “I’m gonna have zero busts and zero missed tackles. That’s my goal: to have zero busts out there, zero missed tackles, just eliminate all mistakes.”

Lassiter wears number three; according to him, he also began playing football at the age of 3, so it was a natural choice. Smart wore number 16 as a player, though he doesn’t put much value on which digit is on the back of a jersey.

“I don’t think many kids nowadays, especially with NIL, put that high on the priority list of what the jersey number is,” Smart said. “We have a system that we believe in on it, and we follow that system.”