ATHENS — In the moments after last season’s win over UMass, Kirby Smart lamented how his team played.

Georgia pulled away for a 59-21 win, but that score doesn’t capture how close the game was. It was a sloppy effort from Georgia, one that prevented key backups from earning valuable reps.

“Just wish we’d have got more,” Smart said. “Just disappointed we didn’t get an opportunity to play more. And that’s what we, we talked about holding the standard all week for the other guys. And we probably didn’t hold that standard in terms of defense to get other guys an opportunity to play.”

That lackluster effort makes Georgia more of an unknown as it enters the start of the 2025 season. Many of those who didn’t get a ton of reps last season will now be counted on to open things up against Marshall.

Saturday’s game will be the first chance to see if this year’s team is truly different from the one that ended the 2024 season.

“We just wanna earn respect, I feel like,” tight end Lawson Luckie said. “One thing we’ve been talking about is first impression. You only get one chance to make a first impression, and that’s Saturday. We wanna come out with our heads on fire, play as best as we can, show how connected we are, and show that all this grind we’ve gone through this whole offseason hasn’t been for nothing.”

A common refrain this offseason from Smart has been about the youth of this team. Over half, 54% to be exact, of this year’s team is either playing in their first or second season of college football. When you factor in the transfer Georgia has added, it’s a team that looks very different from the one that won the national championship in 2022.

Georgia began that season with a 49-3 drubbing of Oregon. That Oregon team was much better than this Marshall team expects to be. The Thundering Herd has 60 new players on its roster via the transfer portal, in addition to a new coach in Tony Gibson.

Even with the downgrade in opponent, there is still an emphasis for Georgia to come out strong in the first game of the season and make a statement.

Georgia won’t be able to gain much respect nationally by handling Marshall this week. But not playing down to the opponent would be a great sign that this team is mentally locked in.

“Yeah, focus is on first impressions. And the first impression of this team is how we play in this game,” Smart said. “And if you can play winning football, and we think you’re a really good player, we’re gonna try to play guys in this game, regardless of where they sit on the depth chart. We wanna play the guys that can be rewarded and play winning football consistently.”

Against UMass, the offense came out ready to play. Carson Beck threw for four touchdowns, while Nate Frazier ran for three.

A similar performance would be welcome for Georgia in 2025. It talked all August about how important the rushing offense will be this year. As for the quarterback position, Gunner Stockton lighting up an opposing secondary should help quell some skeptics.

It’s worth noting this will be Stockton’s first start in Sanford Stadium. His last start came against a Notre Dame team that ended the season by playing in the national championship game. Had he gotten more playing time over the course of the 2024 season, he attempted just four passes against UMass, maybe he and the Georgia offense would have found more success last season.

A strong start from Stockton opens the door for backup Ryan Puglisi to get some much-needed playing time. He has yet to throw a pass for Georgia collegiately, yet Puglisi is just one snap away from being Georgia’s top quarterback option.

“It’s not about twos and threes,” Smart said. “It’s about our ones going out, competing, and playing really well. And we’ll see how it goes.”

Georgia made a strong first impression to open the 2024 season, dusting Clemson 34-3 in Atlanta. It was a Clemson team that would go on to play in the College Football Playoff after winning the ACC.

Yet it ended up being the best Georgia would look all season. Georgia ran its best mile of a marathon season right out of the gates. It could never match nor sustain that level of play.

Smart can’t have his team replicate that performance. Georgia has to start fast on Saturday. It also has to continue to improve over the course of the 2025 season.

“It is a lot more indicative of a team that can start fast and finish strong,” Smart said. “I’ve seen teams that started fast, didn’t finish, and I’ve seen teams that did start fast and did finish. Every team takes on a different trait. But obviously that’s the goal is to start fast and execute.”