ATHENS — Kirby Smart knows that from this point forward, there is only one way to improve Georgia’s roster.

That wasn’t the case a season ago, when the spring transfer portal still existed. Georgia went out and added four players after the conclusion of spring practice, while seeing four players exit the program as well.

Smart, thankfully, doesn’t have to worry about that this time around, as rule changes set up just a single portal window in January.

“With there being no spring portal for us, it’s actually brought some sanity to your roster being your roster,” Smart said in a radio interview with 680 The Fan. “Now that could be positive and that could be negative because there’s a lot of coaches out there that would love to, ‘Oh man, I’d love to get this guy or get that guy or kids would like to move.’ But now that you’re fixed, it puts a little more pressure on.”

Georgia isn’t the most aggressive team when it comes to the transfer portal, something Smart acknowledges. Georgia added only nine players via the transfer portal in January, but also lost only 12 players. Georgia had the fewest transfer additions and departures among SEC teams.

The Bulldogs have liked what they’ve seen so far from Clemson defensive back Khalil Barnes and Georgia Tech wide receiver Isiah Canion. Saturday’s spring scrimmage will be the public’s first chance to see those transfers in a Georgia uniform.

But Saturday also gives the viewing public the chance to see how the likes of Talyn Taylor, Jah Jackson and Justin Williams have all improved since the end of last season.

While so many outside the program may be interested in what is new for the Bulldogs, Georgia knows its success will be determined by how much it improves the players it was able to retain from last year’s roster.

“Can you get your roster better than their roster? Can you improve your kids more than they improve their kids because you can’t go out and change kids now,” Smart said. “So you gotta take your roster and develop them. That’s very different than the NFL model of free agency.”

One of the keys to success for Georgia this upcoming season will be how its second and third-year players improve. Georgia signed the No. 1-ranked recruiting class for the 2024 recruiting cycle per the 247Sports Composite rankings and the No. 2 class for 2025.

Those players form the backbone of the program. Of the 57 recruits signed in those two classes, 51 are still with the program. Consider that only 13 of Georgia’s 26 2023 signees made it to their third year in the program.

“We’ve got good football players, we’ve got good coaches,” Smart said. “I don’t measure our success and failure just on outcomes of games. I look at it in terms of development and production and what kind of human beings you’re putting out. But whatever you guys need to say to make it work, I’m good with it. Expectations are always high here— and they should be.”

Georgia went 12-2 last season, winning the SEC championship but losing in the first round of the College Football Playoff.

There’s pressure to perform in this year’s College Football Playoff, especially after winning national championships in 2021 and 2022.

Smart helped create those lofty goals and has been able to achieve them in the past. He’s eager to do so again in 2026 with a roster that is one of the most talented in college football.

With spring practice concluding this week, Georgia is through its first phase of improving its roster. But even after Saturday’s spring scrimmage, there’s still a lot of work to be done internally if Georgia is to have a better season than it did in either 2024 or 2025.

“I just have an expectation of to win every game and to be the very best we can possibly be. That’s simple,” Smart said. “I mean, I learned that from Nick [Saban] a long time ago,” Why didn’t we win more since then? Because somebody else was better than us or somebody else did a better job than us, either one.

“Our job is to do the best job we can possibly do this year and then see where we fall.”