ATLANTA — Kirby Smart knew the circus was coming to the College Football Hall of Fame, and the Georgia head coach wanted no part of it.
Smart’s SEC Media Days presentation distinctly focused on maintaining an organizational mindset that has led Georgia into seven of the past eight SEC Championship Games, including last year’s 22-19 overtime triumph over the high-dollar Texas program.
Smart repeated his offseason buzzphrase — “fire, passion and energy” — several times, a reminder to his now-paid UGA players that hard work is at the core of success.
“You don’t reach your goals being comfortable,” said Smart, who called his young team out in spring drills for not being more responsive to tough coaching.
Former Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm was known to parrot his head coach’s practice chatter that, “You’ve got to be comfortable being uncomfortable.”
Smart is still a believer in that theory, doubling down on it in an era where many recruits primary focus is on paychecks.
To be clear, Georgia pays high dollars to its best players, too, but Smart demands a soulful commitment for those dollars, and that they be well-earned.
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“We sell relationships over transactions, and we think the relationship still wins out,” Smart explained from the podium during UGA’s presentation, “because the relationship allows you to push people and demand excellence.”
That Georgia mindset won out over Texas last season, even after the Longhorns benefitted from a league schedule that featured only two teams that would finish conference play with a winning record.
The Bulldogs, who played four teams with an SEC-winning record, beat the Longhorns twice while in an underdog role, including a decisive 30-15 win in Austin as a 4 1/2-point underdog.
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Georgia’s 15-point win over then top-ranked Texas in Austin was the most lopsided defeat a No. 1-ranked team had suffered at home since Notre Dame beat Pitt by a 31-16 count in 1982.
Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian, perhaps playing to his crowd, said “Unfortunately we didn’t play our best football tonight …. Hopefully we get another crack at them.”
Texas got a second chance at Georgia in the SEC Championship Game, but even after knocking starting QB Carson Beck out of the game at halftime with a 6-3 lead, the Longhorns could not match the Bulldogs’ grit.
Georgia out-rushed Texas 141-31 yards with then-backup and now-projected starter Gunner Stockton coming on in relief of Beck.
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Smart is focused on dominant line play and the foundation of a strong run game on offense being key to Georgia making another SEC Championship run.
The Longhorns, now led by Heisman Trophy favorite Arch Manning, have a team payroll between $35-$40 million, per a well-sourced Houston Chronicle report.
Sarkisian has done what he can publicly to downplay Texas’ financial edge, at one point telling the SEC Media crowd “We only have so much money to go around.”
There’s a reality to players and their families wanting to secure the most financially secure deal in the college ranks, and Georgia looks to compensate its players extremely well, too.
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But Smart’s vision for his players go beyond the initial college paychecks and NIL opportunities, an approach that is in line with last year’s Heisman Trophy winner, Travis Hunter.
“The NFL is going to set you for life,” Hunter famously said last season. “The NIL can only set you for a moment.”
Hence, Smart’s message and the Athens-area cliche that “Georgia ain’t for everybody” when it comes to players who choose a program known for its competitive practices.
“If you don’t love the game don’t come to Georgia,” Smart said. “ If you don’t want to be coached, and you don’t want to be coached hard, don’t come to Georgia
I just want you to love the game.”
The rest, Smart believes, will take care of itself, as suggested by Georgia’s run of success turning out NFL draft picks and winning championships.
The NIL and transfer portal are a challenge to Smart’s model for success, but the Georgia head coach let it be known last week he has no plans of changing the formula that has led him to the top.
