TAMPA, Fla. — Kirby Smart strongly believes in his convictions.

He still wants to lean on the high school recruiting model to build out and develop his team, even as that model becomes less and less popular around the sport.

Smart is aware that the Big Ten has won the last three national championships, with Michigan, Ohio State and Indiana all having older teams.

He knows that the fact that Georgia will be “young forever” worries those who cheer hardest for the Bulldogs.

“We’re never gonna be old,” Smart said in a one-on-one interview with DawgNation’s Brandon Adams. “And I think that that scares people because they say look at Michigan when they won it. They were old. Look at Ohio State when they won it. They were old. Look at Indiana when they won it. They were old. So if the model is to be old and win it, that’s not really who we are. And not many SEC teams are because we’re recruiting to the high school method.”

Smart didn’t just defend his roster-building policy with Adams, as the Georgia coach touched on a number of subjects in a wide-ranging conversation.

From concerns about the wide receiver to wanting to see Elijah Griffin dominate, Smart unloaded his thoughts on the 2026 Georgia football team.

Below are Smart’s full remarks from his interview with Adams.

Kirby Smart knows the way he’s doing things scares Georgia fans

On his frustration with off-field storylines …

“I don’t control a lot of the others. You know, they think that like our opinion matters and at the end of the day whether I care about expansion, nine-game SEC home-away, all these things that portal, NIL. I mean, I don’t control a lot of those things. I control how we practice. I control how we ‚at least to an extent, how we play. And that’s much more important to me. I’m all about like how can we steal a possession? How can we run the ball better? How can we throw the ball? Like I love that. I can’t control a lot of the debate that’s out there.

 On Smart not wanting to be a leader in college football...

“ … I don’t mind that. I think that’s important. No, I am infatuated with our game and I want our game to survive. I want my kids kkidsey want to play football, to play football. I want the game to be better because I coached in it. So I don’t run from that. But some of these issues are not about the game, you know, they’re just talk, conversation. How many playoff spots? How many expansion? How many SEC games? Those aren’t things that are gonna affect the longevity of football. I’m about like, okay. How do we make the game safer?OK do we cut down on concussions? How do we cut down on injuries? Those are things that matter a lot more to me.” 

On how much easier Gunner Stockton having starting experience makes things …  

“It’s never easy in our league. There’s nothing easy. Let’s don’t use that word because we’re gonna play really high-quality teams. Now. Does the experience matter? Absolutely. You give me experience every time because you can’t you can look at the quarterbacks that came into our league last year that were portal guys and were great quarterbacks and they were like, ‘Whoa. This is different.” When you play on the road against top defenses in our conference, you better get ready because there’s gonna be some failure. I’m very happy and proud of the growth that Gunner has made. We still have to play better. We had some games last year that ultimately we were very fortunate to win. At the end of the day we won because of our culture and because a little bit of luck. You don’t need to leave it up to luck.” 

 On what it means to be more explosive...

“ …means making plays that chew up chunks of yardages and allow you to score touchdowns without being perfect. When you have to play perfect offense, perfect meaning execute third and three, third and four, third and five and you don’t score on three plays score, on six plays, score on eight plays, it makes it really hard. You don’t see teams sustain drives for these long... You can …always do that well. You have to be able to score quickly. And we got to be better at that, and that comes through a lot of things. Quarterback play, skill play. I mean a lot of things.

On the wide receiver position...

“ … excited about that group because there’s probably three or four of those guys that were behind the scenes last year that I got to see day-in and day-out as freshmen that’ll now be sophomores that I think are really talented players. We brought the one kid in from the portal from Georgia Tech, Isiah. He’s hHe’sa great job. The tight end room is going to contribute there in terms of being skilled players and then throwing the ball to the backs out of the backfield. I think that Gunner’s growth will make the receiver room better even if we have less experience in that room.

 On Elijah Griffin... 

…don’t know. I want to see because his weight room numbers and his combine numbers whether it’s twitch, movement, acceleration, all these things we measure he’s hhe’srable to some of the best defensive line we’ve had. But we haven’t seen that on the field yet and he has only been a freshman. I you think back to those great ones we’ve had they were not dominant as freshmen. They were role players and he was a role player. So I’d love to see his growth and see him kind of emerge into a dominant player. But I haven’t seen that yet. So I want to see it before I start anointing him.”

 On pushing back against the idea that Georgia is experienced...

“ …re gonna be young forever. I’ve said that repeatedly when you look at our numbers, we’re right at 25,226%freshmen 226%sophomores. I think it’s 52 per52%m, it’s first or second year. Well, I was saying the same thing last year. That’s inevitable in the system we’re in where the older players move out when they don’t play and you’re still recruiting high school talent, which we’re gonna do, you’re always gonna be young. We’re never gonna be old. And I think that that scares people because they say look at Michigan when they won it. They were old. Look at Ohio State when they won it. They were old. Look at Indiana when they won it. They were old. So if the model is to be old and win it, that’s not really who we are. And not many SEC teams are because we’re recruiting to the high school method.

 On what he wishes people knew about Georgia football... 

“I just wish they knew how much our players care about each other in the culture that we have in that locker room. We got a lot of really good kids. So I can’t equate that to wins and tell you how fabulous this guy is gonna be and he’s gonna be the playmaker. But I can tell you this them guys in that locker room love each other and they have a great bond. That is what makes practice fun. There’s not a lot of complaining and a lot of yapping and fussing about practice. They love the game of football. We like to say birds of a feather flock together. So if you recruit kids who love ball and want to be in meetings and want to practice hard, then guess what? They’ll want to do those things on the practice field and they all do that. That’s the part that I’m probably most proud of that I wish everybody understood. Hey, look, I don’t know if we got the most talented roster. I would argue that at some positions we’re not. But we got some guys that love football And they know how to win, and we got good coaches to play with them.”