Kirby Smart believes Kentucky always seems to have a physical running back and this year it’s Chris Rodriguez, who followed in the footsteps of Benny Snell Jr.

At his Monday press conference, Smart praised Rodriguez and explained what makes him a great back.

“His willingness and love for contact, he seeks and cherishes contact,” Smart said. “It’s that time of year, you watch defenses across the country, people turn down contact, they turn down hits and we make a point to show to our guys. As the year goes, tackling gets worse and worse. Are we going to bit by that contagious bug of that lack of willingness to thud and tackle people, especially a guy that seeks it. He wants to hit you. One of the most physical runners I’ve seen and it just seems like Kentucky always has that guy. Benny (Snell) was that way. It almost feeds to their personality. How did he get through that tackle? You don’t really know because he just keeps going when people hit him. Great challenge to physical with this guy, match his love for contact.”

Georgia travels to Kentucky this week and the game will be the 3:30 p.m. ET “SEC on CBS” marquee game in Lexington.