SMART: ‘THERE IS NO PLAN’ TO DIVVY UP QB SNAPS

ATHENS — After No. 2 Georgia’s 38-12 SEC victory over Tennessee on Saturday, Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart insisted there was no etchedin-stone plan for utilizing the talents of quarterbacks Jake Fromm and Justin Fields.

At Monday’s meeting with the media, Smart reiterated that there’s no big scheme to determine when the freshman Fields will come in and when the sophomore Fromm will come out.

“You have to understand that ‘the plan is there is no plan’ means that we don’t have a plan going into the game,” said Smart as No. 2 Georgia (5-0, 3-0 SEC) prepares for a homecoming visit from Vanderbilt (3-2, 0-1). “You can’t have a plan because we don’t know how the game is going to go. That doesn’t mean we don’t have a plan in practice, and it doesn’t mean we don’t get certain reps for certain guys.

“If you sit here and think that we know exactly when Justin is going to go in or when Jake is going to go in going into the game or the third series of the fourth snap in the second quar- ter, the game doesn’t work like that.”

Thus far this season, Fromm has completed 66 of 91 passes for 924 yards, nine touchdowns and two inter- ceptions. Fields — who played only two downs against Missouri but ran for 46 yards and two touchdowns against Tennessee — has completed 15 of 19 passes for 147 yards and two scores. Fields also has rushed 13 times for 116 yards and three touchdowns, bringing another dangerous layer to the offense.

Smart, who said the media was making “a bigger deal” about the Bulldogs’ quar- terback situation than the players themselves are, said Fromm’s No. 1 objective should be to protect the ball and later added that Fields “brings the dynamic of being able to run and pass that is very valuable.”

Injury report: Smart said that the only injury “of note” concerned receiver Tyler Simmons, who didn’t play Saturday and played only briefly at Missouri because of a shoulder injury. On Monday, Smart said Geor- gia hoped to have Simmons back in time for Vanderbilt.

“He ran all last week,” Smart said. “He’s going to practice today. Probably going to have to have a har- ness for his shoulder, which may limit him some, but we hope to get him back for this week.”

Simmons, who also is a very effective special-teams player, has two receptions for 19 yards this season.

Running with the rock: Through five games, Eli- jah Holyfield and D’Andre Swift have proved to be the Bulldogs’ busiest running backs. Holyfield has rushed 52 times for 368 yards and two touchdowns, and Swift has 52 rushes for 240 yards and four scores.

Both average roughly 10 carries per outing, and Smart said he’d be OK with a feature back recording more rushes, though not on a regular basis.

“I’ve got ultimate confi- dence in all those backs,” he said. “I mean if they need to carry it 30, they could each do it. I don’t know if they could do it for a whole year, but they could do it for a game.”

Besides Holyfield and

Swift, Georgia has called upon a number of players to carry the ball, including Brian Herrien (156 yards and one touchdown on 26 carries), James Cook (114 yards on 23 carries), Fields and receivers Simmons, Deme- tris Robertson and Mecole Hardman.

“That’s why you have the backs you have,” Smart said. “That’s why you have the ability to use different backs. That’s why we hand the ball off to the receivers. We’re sharing the workload when it comes to rushing because we want to be able to spread the ball out. It’s a long season. You want to be able to be hard to defend.”

Circle of Honor: Former Bulldogs and Pittsburgh Steelers star Hines Ward headlines the list of Georgia’s 2019 Circle of Honor inductees, who will be recognized at Saturday’s game and will be feted at the Circle of Honor Gala in February. Ward, who played on two Super Bowl championship teams in Pittsburgh and was Super Bowl XL MVP in 2006, will be joined by 14-time NCAA champion swimmer Mary Descenza; four-time NCAA track champion Hyleas Fountain; the late George Poschner, an All-SEC first team end who earned a Purple Heart, Bronze Star and Distinguished Service Cross for his actions in combat at the Battle of the Bulge; and former baseball coach Steve Webber, who led Georgia to its only College World Series championship in 1990 and recorded 500 victories during his 15-year tenure.

BOB ANDRES / BANDRES@AJC.COM Georgia freshman quarterback Justin Fields brings another dimension to the Bulldogs offense with his running ability. He has 116 yards and three scores this season on 16 carries.