Everything From Georgia Tech RB Coach Jimmy Smith After Friday's Practice

Jimmy Smith is entering his first season as the Georgia Tech running backs coach, and he has a loaded room to work with heading into the 2026 season. Smith is going to be coaching Justice Haynes, Malachi Hosley, J.P. Powell, Trelain Maddox, and more this season, and it should be one of the best positions on the Yellow Jackets' roster.

After Friday's practice, Smith spoke with the media and here is everything that he had to say.

1. On how much more comfortable he is with the room since spring...

"Hopefully a lot more comfortable. I'm excited. I'm excited about what we have and how we're using the guys that we have and the personnel that we do, all the stuff that we do with the guys, and I'm excited about them. So I'm really comfortable with the guys I have."

2. On the talent and energy in the room...

"I was blessed because usually when you're recruiting and you're trying to find guys and that stuff, you look for a certain type of guy. I was blessed with most of those guys are those type of guys already that are not selfish type guys, but guys that if you get 10 yards, I'm going to get 20. You get 20, I'm going to get 30. You don't want anybody to do bad, but you just want to do better.

And that's what I have in the room. It's very important for me to make the guys understand that in no days off, you might have a bad play or you might have a bad rack of plays, but you shouldn't have a bad practice. It's like a game. You shouldn't have a bad game. You might have a bad play, but you shouldn't have a bad game. So it's a lot of it's mental. I tell them all the time, one good play, let it go. If it's a bad play, let it go. I'll get you later on, but focus on the next play."

3. On the the chemistry between the running backs and Alberto Mendoza...

"Chemistry with the guys is pretty good, man. You know, the beautiful thing about college football now is that the guys have so much time on their own before. Like, you have spring, you have summer, you have a lot of opportunity to practice together and do stuff together. So a lot of times the guys do a lot of stuff on their own and do stuff together. So they got a good relationship, the running backs and stuff on their own and do stuff together. So they got a good relationship, the running backs and the quarterbacks, and they communicate a lot and do a lot of ball polish.

I mean, because we can talk about what we want to do. with the running backs and quarterbacks, certain run game stuff, and it's pretty clean right now."

4. On what makes him a good teacher as a running backs coach...

"I honestly go back to being a high school teacher and been teaching math. Putting stuff together, putting it in the process, putting one thing at a time, learning this before this. Understanding that some kids got to do it. Some kids can write it. Some kids got to do both. Some kids got to walk it. Some kids got to regurgitate it to you. Some kids got to just sit there and listen. Some kids can't write while you're talking to them. Some kids got to sit there and listen and then write it after. So through teaching and stuff like that and just learn different types of kids, you learn how to teach different levels. And the lesson for my kids is... I don't have kids in high school.

You might have a kid who's probably not as prepared, not at a lower level, because they didn't learn a lot. You have a kid way over here, so it's even more difficult. I'm blessed with a group of kids. Nobody's really at that level where I got to go all over to the basic. But I start with a foundation where everybody can understand what I'm teaching."

5. On Trelain Maddox...

"Tre is really important with Tre, and honestly, it's really important with all the guys. Everybody has a role. Tre does a great job of whatever you give him, he handles it, and you can give him more. Some guys, you'd be slow to give him more. You're like, okay, I don't know if he can handle it. Tre embraces any opportunity he gets to do anything, like whatever it is, even special teams, running down on kickoff, on punt.

Run the ball inside, run it outside. Whatever we ask Tre to do, he's going to be ready to do it and do it at the highest level he can every time. And you don't got to do a lot of reps with him because he catches on really well."

6. On having so much and getting guys on the field...

"We're going to do a lot of different formations, a lot of different stuff with the running backs. You know, you got a lot of stuff. You know, a lot of personnel pack, a lot of stuff."

7. On Justice Haynes...

"He doesn't relax. Like, he doesn't say, I got it already, so I don't need to work as hard right now. I don't need to do this right here. I don't need to study this hard. I don't need to have my iPad today because we already went over this one time. Nah. He comes in on day four, the same installation. If he's doing the same installation, he know everything ain't making a mistake. He won't have his iPad right now and everything like he never saw it before. So it makes them, they can't have an excuse. You can't say, Coach, I got it. Nah. You made a mistake on that. He write it down and he make a mistake on that at all.

So, he's... He's the type of kid where you're blessed to have him in your room, type of kid who don't take a playoff, don't want an opportunity to say, okay, I already got it. He's going to practice. He's going to do everything in the meetings, everything at a high level, as high level as he can every time. He wants to be great. Good ain't good enough for him, and he makes everybody do that. With Chad and Malachi and Tre and Shane and all the guys, that's something we see every day.

He ain't going to be good. If you want to be good, you got to do something else. He's probably going to go somewhere else."

8. On getting in pads next week...

"Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. It's getting better every day. It's day four today, and we've got more days, so we're going to keep getting better and better. As a coaching staff and as a room, we've got a lot of work to do. I'm excited about what the future holds, but we've got to stay in the now and get better for right now, what's tomorrow going to hold."

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