Georgia players prepare for the next play. The University of Georgia football team defeats Vanderbilt University 55-0 at Sanford Stadium in Athens Oct. 15.

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart, defensive back Kamari Lassiter and offensive lineman Sedrick Van Pran addressed the media in the days leading up to the 2022 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl matchup against Ohio State. Here are the key takeaways from the afternoon.

Overcoming the Ohio

State offense

The No. 1 Bulldogs will face off against the No. 4 Buckeyes on Saturday, the first time the teams have met since 1993. Ohio State is entering the game coming off a 45-23 loss to No. 2 Michigan, while Georgia is fresh off of a 50-30 victory in the SEC championship.

The Bulldogs weren’t content with their performance in the SEC title game, though. The defense gave up over 500 passing yards during the game, by far the most yards Georgia has allowed in any game this season. Lassiter stressed the need to “recenter and refocus” for the Peach Bowl – especially against such a dangerous opponent.

The Buckeyes are led by Heisman-finalist C.J. Stroud. Stroud’s thrown 37 touchdowns this year, tied for the fourth-most of any quarterback in college football. Georgia recruited Stroud out of high school, and Smart had nothing but praise for the junior signal-caller’s performance this year.

“He keeps a really level head, which to me at quarterback is one of the number one qualities you can find,” Smart said. “He came on a visit to our place as well and got to see him at the Heisman. He’s just matured. To see him grow, he’s always had tremendous arm strength and touch and velocity on throws, but he’s become a complete quarterback there in their system.”

Stroud has a number of targets in the Ohio State passing game, but the Buckeyes’ leading receiver this season is Marvin Harrison Jr. Harrison Jr. has 1,157 receiving yards, adding on 12 receiving touchdowns to round out his highly-productive season. Lassiter is one of the defensive backs who will be tasked with containing Ohio State’s offensive weapons, and he knows that they’ll present a tall task.

“He’s a really good player,” Lassiter said. “I’ve got a lot of respect for him. He’s very physical. He’s a big long guy with a pretty big catch radius. He just seems like he pays attention. He has a lot of attention to detail during the game, and I think that’s what makes him a pretty good player.”

The downside for the Buckeyes is that they’re traveling to Mercedes-Benz to participate in the Peach Bowl, preparing to play in a stadium that the Bulldogs have already seen twice this season. Despite that familiarity, Van Pran is trying to keep his teammates from underestimating their opponents.

“At the end of the day, this is a playoff game,” Van Pran said. “Ohio State is going to go out there and give it everything they have. So at the end of the day, those things start to even out, and it’s all going to come down to who can actually get the ball the most.”

New additions to the

receiver room

Georgia brought in two wide receivers from the transfer portal over the past week, acquiring former Missouri wideout Dominic Lovett and former Mississippi State receiver Rara Thomas.

Both players led their respective teams in receiving yards over the past season, and together, they would’ve combined for nearly 1,500 yards through the air. Both receivers are transferring to Georgia from SEC East opponents, meaning that Smart and the Bulldogs are somewhat familiar with the new members of the roster.

“We knew about those kids coming out of high school, think a lot of them,” Smart said. “They performed at a high level in our conference, and I think they’ll challenge and compete with the rest of our roster and be competitive wideouts, which is important in this conference.”

The Bulldogs did not bring in a single transfer player in the prior season, meaning that the sophomores are Georgia’s first acquisitions since the team claimed the national championship. Lassiter was one member of that national championship team, and he also has experience playing against both Thomas and Lovett. With that in mind, he’d rather keep his thoughts on the task at hand.

“Both of those guys are pretty good players,” Lassiter said. “Both [are] explosive with big catch radiuses. They’ll be pretty good additions to our team next year, but right now, I’m focused on what’s important now.”