TAMPA, Fla. — Kirby Smart had a critique about talking season at his appearance at SEC media days.

He worries too much of the chatter around the sport is now focused on governance and not on the on-field product.

“I think this time in college football, the landscape of college football, that’s all the talking heads want to talk about,” Smart said. “Everywhere I go, TV, media, everybody wants to talk about the landscape of college football. It’s sad it’s forgotten what wins games. Maybe that becomes boring, mundane, but not at our place.”

Smart did reveal some interesting nuggets about his team this fall in his various interviews during SEC media days.

He once again championed offensive coordinator Mike Bobo. The Georgia coach detailed a recent whitewater rafting trip where quarterback Gunner Stockton voluntarily threw himself into a leadership position.

Smart also gave some strong praise for junior safety KJ Bolden, something of a habit at this point.

“I am excited to see one of the best playmakers we’ve had over the last two years, KJ Bolden, on defense, and he’s done a really good job,” Smart said. “I think back to a play he made in the Texas overtime game that people don’t talk about, where they ran a cross screen to the back, and he came out of the top. One of the most instinctive plays I’ve seen a player make, and he made that as a true freshman.”

It wouldn’t have been a surprise to see Bolden at SEC media days this year, given his importance to the Georgia defense. That the Bulldogs were able to bring Stockton, Drew Bobo and Raylen Wilson speaks to the strong leadership on this team.

Yet even with Georgia having more veteran leaders than a year ago, he knows it’s still a young football team.

One that will have to grow over the course of the season.

“I’m very pleased with where our group is,” Smart said. “It’s just ironic to me that I remember saying last year how young we are, and I said we’ll be young again the next year. And then guess what, we’re young again.”

The importance of Gabe Harris

Georgia fans know very well the importance of Gabe Harris.

His emergence during the month of November was a big reason the Bulldogs seem primed for a deep College Football Playoff run. Harris had 4.0 tackles for loss in games against Texas, Georgia Tech and Alabama.

Yet Harris picked up a toe injury against Alabama. That injury required surgery, forcing Harris to miss the season-ending loss to Ole Miss and all of spring practice.

In the wins over Texas, Georgia Tech and Alabama, Georgia gave up just 26 points. Without Harris, Georgia’s defense gave up 37 points in a loss (Ole Miss added two more points on a safety).

Georgia is being cautious in how it brings back Harris. Especially with how important the senior outside linebacker is to the program.

“He’s similar to Drew (Bobo),” Smart said. “It was a very significant injury. Those two were the two biggest missing pieces for us towards the end of the year and made it really tough. But he’s out there doing everything now. He did not do anything in the spring. And we need him to have a big year. But, yeah, he’s on a load-management deal, so he’s not like out there every day doing everything. But he’s healthy.”

Georgia does have capable depth behind Harris, as it can lean on Quintavius Johnson at outside linebacker and Joseph Jonah-Ajonye as a defensive end.

But if the Bulldogs are going to have a better finish to the season than they did a season ago, Georgia knows it needs to have Harris out there.

Smart defends player acquisition model

Smart knows he’s come under fire for how he elects to build the Georgia roster.

The Bulldogs added only nine players via the transfer portal, the fewest in the SEC. Two of those players have already suffered significant injuries, as the Bulldogs will be without running back Dante Dowdell and outside linebacker Amaris Williams.

Smart wants to build through the high school ranks, even if there’s a drawback to that model.

“We’re going to be young every year because we still believe in a high school model,” Smart said. “So I think somebody sent me something where we’re 27 freshmen, 27 sophomores, 26 juniors, so we’re like right at, I don’t know what it is, 30% of our roster or something is freshmen, sophomore, junior. And then the rest is other, for the fourth year and fifth year. It’s a low percentage of it.”

In his next breath, Smart spoke about the importance of retaining talent. Georgia has done a better job in that regard with the 2024 and 2025 classes than it did with 2023. That partially explains why this Georgia team is slightly older and better suited to contend for a national championship.

“We think that our investment in our player is better than your investment in your player that I would get from you in the portal,” Smart said. “So we just keep thinking that if we pour into our guys, that our development is going to be better than taking a guy that’s second, third, fourth year that somebody else developed.”

Smart wants to continue to build his program the way he’s always done it. He’s more of a minority in that regard among his conference peers, especially compared to the likes of Texas and LSU.

“But when you’re upgrading at the expense of telling somebody they’ve got to go and that happens, then maybe that’s not culturally and ethically, morally right, and we don’t really want to do that,” Smart said.

Smart gets bulletin board material for wide receivers

A reporter raised concerns about the Georgia wide receiver position when speaking to Smart.

The Georgia head coach turned the question into the bulletin board material for his position group.

“I am just very thankful for people like you, Steve, that keep questioning them, because the more you question them, the more it helps me motivate them,” Smart said. “So everybody says they don’t listen to you guys. The wide receivers are listening, so they’ll have a new challenge issued based on your question.”

London Humphreys is the only returning wide receiver from last season’s team who caught more than 15 passes.

Georgia can lean more on their tight ends this season, while the running game will once again be a point of emphasis.

But Bobo did make note of how well Georgia Tech transfer Isiah Canion has done for the Bulldogs since arriving in January.

“I definitely think we’re more capable of being explosive,” Bobo said. “Isiah Canion has been a great addition for us. I think he’s looking really good. I think London’s looking really good, too. Sacovie (White-Helton), all of these guys. I’m really excited for them in the receiver position.”

Smart, Bobo and Stockton all spoke about the need to be more explosive. The Georgia wide receiver will certainly be tasked with keeping up its end of the bargain this fall.

Canion was the only transfer portal addition Georgia made at the position. Much of the growth from the group will come from within. Talyn Taylor, CJ Wiley and Craig Dandridge were all top-100 prospects in their respective recruiting classes per the 247Sports Composite rankings.

Landon Roldan, Thomas Blackshear and Tyler J. Williams will also look to make an impact for Georgia this fall.

Our first look at the Georgia wide receiver comes on Sept. 5, when the Bulldogs take on Tennessee State. The game is set for a 3 p.m. ET start.

Different family dynamics

This fall will be a different one for Smart. His two oldest children, Weston and Julia, are off to college.

Weston is headed for North Carolina, while Julia will attend the University of Georgia.

Smart has reached out to coaches on his staff to navigate the difficulties that come with sending your kids off from home.

“The two kids going to college is the big worry for me,” Smart said. “I don’t know how my wife’s going to respond. I don’t really know how I’m going to respond. I’ve heard Will Muschamp talk about it, and (James) Coley’s going through it with his daughter, and Mike (Bobo)’s talked about it with his one, two, three, all five of his out of the house now going out this year. So that’ll be new for me.”

Bobo does get to coach his son Drew, so the comparison is not totally perfect.

The younger Bobo said he’s seen more of his dad at Georgia than at any previous point of his life.

“It’s been cool to do that,” Bobo said. “I tell people these past four or five years, I’ve seen my dad more than I’ve seen him the rest of my whole life. So it’s been cool to have the same off time, getting to go play golf together, getting to go on vacations together.

Smart will still have one child at home, as his youngest, Andrew, is set to be a freshman in high school.

The youngest Smart has made headlines this offseason as he picked up his first two scholarship offers.

When Kirby Smart was asked about Andrew Smart’s football prospects, he did his best not to give too much praise to the well-regarded prospect.

“He’s got a long way to go,” Smart said with a deadpan and smile.