Kirby Smart has lined up winners his entire life

NOV. 25, 2017 • VS GEORGIA TECH • W 38–7

Roquan Smith ‘a tackling machine’ against Georgia Tech and everybody else

BY MARC WEISZER • ATHENS BANNER-HERALD • PUBLISHED NOV. 26, 2017

ATLANTA — Roquan Smith says he enjoys going up against the style of offense that Georgia Tech employs.

“I love playing the triple option because you have to embrace it anyway,” Smith said.

He certainly looked like it Saturday with his sideline-to-sideline playmaking ways.

The way he is playing this season, chances are good it was his last game against Georgia Tech.

The Bulldogs’ junior continued to look All-American worthy, leading the Bulldogs with nine tackles — eight solo — with three tackles for loss, including a sack in a 38-7 romp over Georgia Tech.

“He did a hell of a job, he was flying around,” inside linebacker Natrez Patrick said. “I feed off his energy. I feed off of him.”

Smith is a finalist for the Butkus, Nagurski and Bednarik awards and some are projecting him as a top 10 NFL draft pick in 2018.

He offered a “no comment,” when asked if Saturday’s game was his last against Georgia Tech given his rising NFL stock.

“He’s a machine, a tackling machine,” said coach Kirby Smart who used the words “relentless, athletic and tough,” to describe the 6-foot-1, 225-pound Smith.

Georgia Tech was held to 226 yards of total offense and 188 rushing yards on 46 carries.

Those totals were the fewest Georgia Tech has managed in 10 games under Paul Johnson against Georgia.

The previous low was 276 total yards and 194 rushing yards in a 13-7 Georgia win in 2015.

“They were flying around as you could see,” said Georgia Tech quarterback TaQuon Marshall who led his team with 72 rushing yards on 17 carries. “Their hands are really long and we were trying to get around them and get things going to the perimeter.”

Smith now has 100 tackles on the season after leading the team in tackles for a fourth straight game and seventh in the last eight.

“That’s just Roquan,” nose guard John Atkins said with a laugh. “He owes me some cookies I think. I get him free.”

Smith earlier gave credit to his teammates around him.

“They’re hitting tackles, hitting guards, hitting A-backs and things like

OPPOSITE: Georgia linebacker Roquan Smith (3) during warm ups before the Rose Bowl game between Georgia and Oklahoma in

Pasadena, Calif., Jan. 1, 2018. JOSHUA L. JONES / ATHENS BANNER-HERALD