Kirby Smart is entering his 10th season at Georgia with his program “finding itself” amid heavy roster turnover.
In that time, the Bulldogs have been found most often at or near the top of college football, Smart having won a national title or league title in three of the past four seasons.
“We’re a different team right now,” Smart said Tuesday morning, speaking to a group of media members at the Omni Hotel at Centennial Park.
“We’ve got 54% of our roster first (or) second year. … It’s the most we’ve ever had in their first or second season at Georgia.”
For all the faces and names that have changed, Smart believes the Bulldogs can maintain their edge, in part, through mindset.
“I think the biggest thing that separates college football teams today is complacency among players versus fire, passion and energy among players,” Smart said.
“Our players need to bring juice and energy each and every day. If they don’t, they’ll be confronted by the players that do. And if the players continue to do that, we’ll have a successful season and a successful football team.”
Gunner Stockton, a relatively unheralded junior quarterback known better for grit and poise than NFL potential, is among the new faces projected in the starting lineup.
Stockton came on in relief of departed starter Carson Beck at halftime of the SEC title game and has just one start to his credit.
“I think it’s a matter of just coming together, resetting, normally (working out) five days a week,” Stockton told the AJC and DawgNation when asked about building cohesion in the offseason voluntary workouts.
“I wouldn’t say it’s easy; it takes time to see how everyone is moving and running routes.”
Smart surprised some by selecting Stockton to the SEC Media Days event at the College Football Hall of Fame, as he has yet to name him the starter publicly or privately.
On Tuesday, however, Smart expressed great faith in his largely untested signal-caller.
“Gunner is a kid that leads from the front, a winner, he comes from an athletic family background, (and) his dad played at Georgia Southern,” Smart said.
“I appreciate what Gunner does, he’s going to be a big part of our program this year in leadership, and doing that with the offensive players, he’s already begun to do that in his leadership groups that he runs right now.”
Smart also noted the talent and behind-the-scenes progress of backup quarterback Ryan Puglisi, whose arm talent gives the Bulldogs a capable, but very inexperienced, second option.
Georgia needs a major improvement at receiver, regardless of who is under center, after leading the nation in dropped passes last season with more than 30 by any of the varied counts.
Smart dipped heavily into the transfer portal to add the likes of former USC 5-star recruit Zachariah Branch and 6-foot-6 Noah Thomas, a former Texas A&M pass-catching target.
The Bulldogs also figure to lean more on their tight ends, where Smart expects veterans Oscar Delp and Lawson Luckie to play major roles as blockers and pass catchers.
“You have to get the ball to your best playmakers, and your best playmakers got to catch the ball,” Smart said, having noted the departure of All-American Brock Bowers from the position before last season.
“So it’s not as easy as, ‘Man, we’ve got to utilize the tight end better.’ Well, the tight end has got to get open in one-on-one situations, or we’ve got to run the ball well enough that play-action opens up, because the way a tight end catches the ball a lot of times is off of play-action.”
Smart will demand a more balanced offense from coordinator Mike Bobo after UGA finished 102nd in the nation in rushing last season.
There’s no doubt, even with all of Stockton’s newness and perceived limitations, Smart’s primary focus is at the line of scrimmage.
Georgia is replacing four starting offensive linemen and five players from its defensive front seven, including two first-round picks.
“This summer, we’ve changed things we’re doing that I won’t disclose,” Smart said. “We’re saying, ‘How do we get better at running the ball? We gotta run the ball more. … That’s a big point of emphasis for us.”
Georgia arguably brings back as much raw talent as any program in the nation and will add a unique freshman defensive line talent in Elijah Griffin who could make an immediate impact.
Griffin, like many others, will be tasked with playing a role. Smart is counting on defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann to design creative fronts and pressure packages that present matchup issues and maximize personnel.
“We do things a lot of times defensively by committee, we play a lot of players,” Smart said, adding that UGA ranked among the nation’s top five with 34 defensive players playing more than 100 snaps. “We get a lot of those guys reps, and we’ll see where we go.”
Indeed, returning safety starter KJ Bolden took off as an FWAA Freshman All-American last season, giving the Bulldogs a playmaking center fielder of sorts, while Daylen Everette returns as a third-year starter and lockdown cornerback in a deep and talented secondary.
Smart sees a Bulldogs schedule that includes some of the most daunting home matchups in program history — SEC contenders Alabama and Texas among them — and he boiled down season success to the team’s ability to defend the home turf.
“We’ve got a mantra in our building,” Smart said. “Teams that go undefeated at home have a stronger propensity to be SEC champions. … It’s like over half of our SEC championship teams in the history of Georgia, they were undefeated at home.
“You defend your turf. Look at last year, we lost two really rough road games, but we defended our turf at home, and in the end, it won out for us. So that will be key this year.”
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
