Kirby Smart explained why Georgia takes a “use them or lose them” approach when it comes to players the Bulldogs land in the transfer portal.

“We have to play players faster now, they’ve got to be ready to play, and get out there and play,” Smart said during an appearance this week on the NFL Network while in Mobile, Alabama, watching his players practice at the Senior Bowl.

“You can’t do the years of, ‘I’m going to install this and be really complicated,’ “ Smart said.

“It’s much closer to free agency in the NFL; you pay for a player, or you have an NIL player, you better get them on the field, quick, or they’re going to be gone.”

Georgia wasn’t as aggressive in the portal this season, as the Bulldogs invested heavily in the retention of players it has recruited and developed.

Smart has said before that UGA’s strategy has been to use the portal to fill holes or replenish positions of need, and the Bulldogs have stuck with that strategy.

The majority of players who transferred out in this past class did so with the staff’s blessing.

So to Smart’s point, if UGA isn’t going to make use of the transfers, it can be better for both parties for the players to find other opportunities.

That was the case for safeties Adrian Maddox and Jaden Harris — acquired through the portal last year — and now gone to new schools via the portal one year later.

Maddox, who came in from UAB, transferred to Kansas State after playing 67 defensive snaps in four games, and Harris, from Miami, transferred to Kansas after playing 56 snaps in four games.

The Bulldogs brought in Khalil Barnes through the portal, a former freshman All-American who started in the Clemson secondary.

Elo Modozie, another portal addition last season, has also left out of the program after one season and is headed for Purdue.

Modozie, who was undersized for his position in the SEC, played only 149 defensive snaps.

“We call it ‘use them or lose them,’ “ Smart said. “So if you don’t use them, they’re going to be gone.”

Georgia made good use of other key portal addition last season, as the following snap counts would indicate:

• WR Zachariah Branch (USC), 521 snaps, 14 games

• WR Noah Thomas (Texas A&M), 453 snaps, 14 games

• SS Zion Branch (USC), 231 snaps, 9 games

• DT Josh Horton (Miami), 173 snaps, 14 games

• RB Josh McCray (Illinois), 105 snaps, 13 games