ATHENS — The SEC has announced a series of honors and awards on Wednesday, and it was hard to find much Georgia representation.

Don’t be surprised if the “No Stars” mantra makes a return and sparks the teams in the postseason, just as it did in 2021 when the USA Today failed to list any Georgia players on its preseason All-SEC team prior to UGA’s national championship run and record NFL draft class.

The most dangerous Bulldogs under Smart have been those of the underdog variety.

The 2021 version of Georgia got rich off its “No Stars” approach with an NFL-record 15 players drafted — five in the first round.

Now, like then, there were obvious oversights.

This time the slight came from the league coaches who voted on the team, and it started at the top with Kirby Smart not winning SEC Coach of the Year.

After all, if the Bulldogs were truly only worthy of one first-team All-SEC selection on offense/defense, as voted on by the league’s coaches this week, than Smart must have done an incredible job.

Georgia emerged from this season as the SEC champion and the highest-ranked team from the league.

But no, the SEC Coach of the Year award went to Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea, whose Commodores improved from 7-6 last season to 10-2 this season.

Lea, a very good coach by all accounts, had the benefit of Heisman Trophy finalist Diego Pavia, who with a court-granted injunction, got an extra year of eligibility than typically permitted by NCAA rules.

The Commodores’ 10-2 record was impressive, but they missed making the College Football Playoff, as none of their wins came against current CFP Top 25 teams.

Lea won SEC Coach of the Year over Smart last season, too, even with UGA overcoming a spate of injuries, a challenging schedule, and the loss of the starting QB while trailing at halftime of the SEC championship game.

Vanderbilt’s achievement this season is impressive, but look closer and you’ll see a team loaded up with 15 graduate students starting on their offensive, defensive and special teams units — the majority of them transfers.

Is winning 10 games against teams outside the Top 25 (UGA beat four current Top 25 teams) with a Heisman Trophy finalist and double-digit graduate transfers a better coaching job than winning the SEC with a first-year starting quarterback after replacing 17 players who went to the NFL and another seven from the two-deep/playing rotation?

A source who works with an awards committee told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that, “Part of the reason Kirby hasn’t won a lot of these coach awards because he’s expected to win.”

Indeed, so Georgia must have a lot of all-stars, right?

Yes, but no, because a look at the All-SEC first-team, as voted on by the coaches reveals the two first-team picks were linebacker, CJ Allen, a projected first-round pick, and special teams long snapper Beau Gardner.

Zachariah Branch, a transfer from USC who led the SEC with 73 receptions — many of them pivotal in Georgia’s run for the championship — was not selected by the coaches as a first-team pick.

Christen Miller, another player likely headed for first-round NFL draft status, was also left off the first team despite spearheading the top-rushing defense in the SEC — a unit that finished fourth in the nation.

Ellis Robinson IV, the only SEC cornerback to record four interception and a candidate for FWAA Defensive Freshman of the Year, was also overlooked on the All-SEC first team.

Success comes at a price, and part of that price is often jealousy and pettiness.

Do the SEC coaches, who often trumpet the talent, depth and parity of the league, truly believe Smart is not deserving after becoming just the fourth coach in the 35-year history of the game to win back-to-back league titles while reaching 100 wins faster (117 games) than any SEC coach in history?

Steve Spurrier, Phillip Fulmer and Nick Saban are the other coaches to win back-to-back SEC title games. It took took Saban 118 games to win 100 games, it took Spurrier 120 and Fulmer needed 123.

Smart isn’t one to complain or notice such slights, and his players are aware that the people who matter most — those in NFL draft rooms — don’t consider individual accolades when evaluating talent.

But Smart and his football team will take note of the slight, and the 2025 Coaches All-SEC team served up a reminder of why the Bulldogs’ head coach has said, “We’re not practicing to beat one team, we’re practicing to beat everybody”