Kirby Smart spoke Tuesday to begin Georgia’s spring practice and fans almost certainly found plenty to enjoy with his remarks.
Last year, Smart spoke unmistakably about his team’s goals to run the ball better and stop the run. As has been noted, UGA improved dramatically in both those categories in 2025.
It seems likely the often-repeated message of how critical those two areas would be to the Bulldogs’ success helped spark the upgrade.
Of course, UGA still wants to be good in both those areas this season, but we were also hopeful that Smart would pick out a couple new issues to highlight this spring.
We got our wish.
Smart made it clear Tuesday that he wants Georgia’s offense to be more explosive in 2026, and he wants the defense to be more disruptive, too. If you asked fans where they’d like to see the Bulldogs get better, most would probably focus on these same areas — which makes it refreshing to hear Smart echo their concerns.
If UGA comes even close to improving its explosive play rate on offense and its havoc rate on defense as much as it improved its areas of emphasis last season, then this could be a special season indeed.
Smart said all the right things on Tuesday. This looks like a team with an intense focus on what it already does well, and on some key areas where it can get even better.
Check out the rest of our coverage below.
Trivia time
What Georgia quarterback was drafted by the Vikings in 1961?
Answer is at the bottom of the newsletter.
Gunner Stockton eager to show the difference a year can make
This time a year ago, we didn’t truly know if Gunner Stockton was going to be Georgia’s starting quarterback.
He started in a College Football Playoff loss against Notre Dame, but had yet to show whether he could handle the rigors and pressure that come with being Georgia’s quarterback.
As Stockton begins his fifth spring practice, it’s safe to say we know a lot more about the Georgia quarterback.
He answered those questions so definitively last season his profile rose enough to meet President Donald Trump.
When asked about how the meeting came about, Stockton handled it diplomatically like the leader he is for this Georgia football team.
“It was just a chance to meet the president,” Stockton said. “I think me personally, I don’t know your stance, like anybody’s stance, but I’d meet any president when I got the chance to. So that was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and it was pretty neat.”
The question about Trump was far from the only tough one the Georgia quarterback faced from reporters Tuesday.
He was asked about the Ole Miss game, where he was outplayed by Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss as Georgia saw its season come to an end with a 39-34 defeat.
“It definitely left a bad taste,” Stockton said. “And just try not to let that happen and do our best to make it not happen.”
Stockton later touched on what he needs to do to get better. As difficult as his job was last year, it’s even more difficult to go from very good to great.
He knows that’s what he’s tasked with in 2026, in addition to leading the 2026 team.
UGA athletics daily recap
Tuesday, March 17
- Baseball: beat The Citadel, 8-5.
Smart gives the latest on G-Day spring game
Georgia has a tentative date for its annual spring scrimmage, as the Bulldogs have circled April 18 as the team’s G-Day game.
But as far as what the game will look like, much of that is still up in the air per Smart.
Speaking ahead of Georgia’s first spring practice on Tuesday, the Georgia coach explained his thought process on how the spring game might look for the Bulldogs.
“No, G-Day will stay similar, assuming (health). It’s a long way off but assuming that we’re healthy and we have the number of guys we need to be able to play, G-Day would be a very similar format,” Smart said.
Georgia will have 15 practices this spring, giving the 2026 team a chance to get ready for the upcoming season. The Bulldogs finished last season going 12-2, as they won the SEC championship but lost to Ole Miss in the first round of the College Football Playoff.
The Bulldogs held a spring game last year, but it was not televised.
There are questions about what the future of spring football looks like as the sport continues to change.
Photo of the day
Quote of the day
Linebacker Raylen Wilson on goals for the defense:
“Well, our main goals on defense for this spring is to get better at creating havoc in the backfield. And really playing together, everybody being on the same page. I mean, if we get that accomplished, I feel like we’d have a great spring.”
Smart confident his program isn’t a bunch of ‘independent contractors’
Wilson is a veteran of the Georgia football program. He is in his fourth year, making him somewhat of a rarity.
Georgia has only 10 four-year players in the program. Compare that to 40 newcomers the Bulldogs welcomed out of either the transfer portal or as part of the 2026 signing class.
That gives Wilson a lot of new teammates to meet. So when he sees someone he doesn’t know in the team facility, he makes it a point to introduce himself.
“I don’t pass anybody I don’t know,” Wilson said. “So I make sure I introduce myself when I know everybody I pass in the facility. So it’s like, yeah, just getting to know everybody throughout the facility. It’s connection, that’s one of our main pieces in this team, like a DNA trait. So we help them out a lot with everybody being connected.”
To this point, Georgia has just one practice under its belt. The full team wasn’t even present, as a few Bulldogs won’t arrive until the summer. Georgia is also without key contributors like Drew Bobo and Gabe Harris as they recover from injury.
Trivia answer
Fran Tarkenton
