Georgia’s Kirby Smart visited Apalachee campus just weeks before ‘horrific’ shootingGeorgia head coach Kirby Smart admits program hasn’t ‘solved’ issue of speeding | Fox News
ATHENS — Georgia coach Kirby Smart was on the campus of Apalachee High School just three weeks ago. His youngest son Andrew’s middle school football team from Athens Academy played Apalachee middle schoolers at Wildcats Stadium on Aug.15.
Having just been there, Smart shared with sports-talk radio station “92.9 The Game” on Thursday how “scary” that “close to home” tragedy made him feel.
“Yeah, man, when that news started popping (Wednesday) morning pretty early, you never think that’s going to hit near you and then it does,” Smart told host Steak Shapiro in a phone interview on “The Steakhouse Show.”
“I was at a football game there less than three weeks ago at that same stadium they were all in, a middle school game. So, I’m just praying for all the people there, that community, law enforcement, the families of the lost people, including a young coach with a wife and two kids. It’s just horrific to even think about, but our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Barrow County and Apalachee High School.”
Colt Gray, a 14-year-old student at the school, is charged with four counts of felony murder for the shooting deaths of two students and two teachers at Apalachee High on Wednesday. Nine other individuals were injured during the incident. Gray is scheduled to appear in Barrow County Superior Court on Friday morning.
“Scary, scary for us all,” S
mart said.
The University of Georgia plans to recognize the tragedy in some way during its home opener at Sanford Stadium on Saturday. Apalachee High is located just 28 miles away in Winder. As of Thursday, the university had not settled on those plans.
ATHENS — To little surprise, Georgia once again cruised to an easy victory on Saturday. With a 48-3 win over Tennessee Tech, Georgia was able to keep its No. 1 ranking in the Week 3 Coaches Poll Top 25 rankings.
Quarterback Carson Beck threw for 5 touchdowns, while Georgia’s defense held Tennessee Tech to just 134 yards of total offense.
Through two weeks, Georgia is outscoring its foes 82 to 6.
Georgia will see a step up in competition this week, as the Bulldogs go on the road for the first time this season. Georgia travels to Kentucky to start its SEC campaign.
The Wildcats are coming off a 31-6 home loss to South Carolina. But Kentucky has always played Georgia tough in Lexington, Ky., and the Wildcats have two former Bulldogs on their team in quarterback Brock Vandagriff and linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson.
“I can’t think of a time I’ve ever been to that stadium and played in a game that was like, well, that was easy,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “It’s never easy up there. Never. It’s never easy on the road in the SEC at all, and I don’t know if people truly appreciate and respect a win on the road at Kentucky, how hard it is. They’re well-coached. They’re really physical. They do a great job. I mean, they have a really good football team, so we will have our work cut out for us.”
Expect Kentucky to have Georgia’s full attention when the two teams meet on Saturday. The game is set for a 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff on ABC
