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Kirby smart player1/9/2024 It’s ‘Will those players play hard for each other, and do they believe in their coaching staff, that their coaching staff cares for them?’ And I think the older I’ve gotten, the more I acknowledge the relationship with the player matters much more than maybe the play you call, than maybe the practice habit you create or anything else. “You better have buy-in with your players. And I think each and every year you have a different team,” Smart said. “I don’t know that you can relax and just say, ‘OK, we’re going to be fine.’ You have to make it happen. Either way, Georgia won the title and somehow Smart brought back an even hungrier team. Alabama received 158 votes to win the SEC at media days last summer. “We felt like we were the underdogs,” receiver Kearis Jackson said, despite his team entering the game as the biggest favorite in the history of national title games since the advent of the BCS.įew, if any, expected a rebuilding Georgia team to repeat. Much of the conversation in the locker room after the title game drubbing was about doubters and questioning. I don’t know who these people were, but Smart clearly convinced his players they existed. I'm a #Dawg for life and I will always be a Dawg."Ī DGD indeed. "They thought we were gonna go 7-5, we end up perfect. Multiple players after the game referenced how “people” thought Georgia was going to go 7-5 and the Bulldogs had proved them wrong. During the past two seasons, Georgia has finished fourth, in addition to fielding the nation’s best defense both years.Īnd if his leaked pregame speech didn’t make it clear enough, he’s a master motivator. In 2019, the Bulldogs were 46th in offensive yards per play. That was on full display in the Peach Bowl semifinal this year when the offense needed to score precisely 42 points to keep its national title hopes alive. He had never coached with Todd Monken before he hired him before the 2020 season and allowed him to bring creativity and explosiveness to the offense that it needed. “It’s exactly what Nick Saban does.”īut like Saban, Smart’s not against evolving with an always-changing sport. Every aspect,” an assistant in the SEC said. He runs the defense, but he’s very involved in offense and special teams. “Every aspect of the game, he has his fingerprints on it. He’s a defensive schemer, but he’s obsessive about managing all the other aspects of his program. And he has an eye for evaluating talent so three-star prospects like Jordan Davis, Javon Bullard and Ladd McConkey become stars while five-stars like Jalen Carter, Kelee Ringo and Nakobe Dean grow into superstars and NFL Draft picks, too. Once Smart gets those players on campus, he develops them. And like Alabama, Georgia is more than capable of showing up in Florida, California, South Carolina, North Carolina or wherever else is required and having success on the recruiting trail. That’s a powerful recruiting pitch and Smart is throwing it at about 106 mph. Doing it an hour away from home is another. Georgia, Atlanta especially, is full of transplants, but the Bulldogs are the state’s lone SEC power, and coming to Georgia to help it do what it has done the past five years is one thing. In 2021, Alabama produced six.Īlabama also shares its state with another SEC program: Auburn. In 20, the state of Georgia produced 16 of the 150 highest-ranked prospects in America. He has that budget because he pushed for it. He has an outlandishly large recruiting budget that supports his most important belief: Talent acquisition is the most important thing in the sport. Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett and Kirby Smart led the Bulldogs to back-to-back national titles.
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