DALLAS – It was the first question a fan asked Kirby Smart, after the head coach had thrown it open for questions. From the back of the room, a voice boomed out the query.

“Demetris Robertson: Are we gonna get him?”

Smart hesitated a split-second.

“Is that a yes or no question?” he answered.

That drew laughter from the room, which bought the quick-thinking Smart the few seconds he needed to find the right answer.

“I’m gonna ride the fence,” Smart said. “I will say I hope we get him. Because he’s really fast. He’s really fast. We need really fast. We’ve got some quarterbacks who can throw the ball a long way. We want to be able to use their arms to throw it a long way and make them (the receivers) run under it.

“But ultimately he’s got to make that decision.”

Robertson, for the several of you who may not know, is the five-star prospect from Savannah who has taken his recruitment well past signing day. He’s set to finally announce a school on May 2, and is reportedly down to Georgia, Notre Dame and California. Robertson has signed financial aid agreements with several schools, including Georgia, which is why Smart was allowed to talk about him, as he did several times this spring when reporters asked about him.

Smart and Robertson have remained in constant communication. Maybe not literally constant, but close to it, as Smart explained on Tuesday night.

“I think I know every person in his family, and their family, and their family,” Smart said. “Put it this way: If my kids know him by first name – ‘Daddy’s back on the phone with Demetris again’ – they’ve kinda figured it out.

“There’s been a lot of time spent on him, and I hope he chooses what makes him happy, and I hope he gets to do what he wants to do.”