ATHENS — There were and are plenty of takeaways to be had from the G-Day Game, most all of them positive indicators that Georgia can indeed challenge for a three-peat.
But there’s any underlying realty to what was witness that Kirby Smart shared moments after the annual spring scrimmage last Saturday at Sanford Stadium.
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Chiefly, that there’s a lot more work to be done.
“We’ve been going into the season where we’re trying to make decisions,” Smart said, pointing out that competition for positions and schemes are often fluid in his deep, talented program.
“There’s about 25 percent of the hay in the barn. There’s 75 percent of practices left. That includes our summer workouts and our fall camp workouts.”
A lot can happen, on and off the field.
There will likely be more transfer portal action this week with Georgia needing more attrition to get its roster under the NCAA-mandated limitation.
Smart said it’s the way of the world, well aware there will be more players looking for “greener pastures” even if that doesn’t mean championship rings or optical player development.
Fact is, some of the players will get more playing time and exposure going to another program where they can start.
If it’s later in their careers, such as the case with recent portal entry Rian Davis, a fifth-year junior who has been hampered by injuries throughout his UGA career.
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Davis saw only 188 defensive snaps in the 13 games he appeared last season and didn’t figure to see any more with Georgia recruiting more dynamic players at the position.
Bear Alexander’s situation was obviously different, as the talented defensive lineman has been restless throughout his career and is looking for a different level of immediate return on his abilities.
Smart deals with each situation on a case-by-case basis and has met with players about playing time and money and laid out what’s on the table for them in their short and long-term futures.
It’s part of a new norm, as much as evaluating and turning attention to the level of competition at each position and optimal game-planning that goes into the daily grind Smart likes to refer to as “chopping wood.”
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The G-Day Game was certainly an important cog in that machine, but the two other spring scrimmages were just as important.
Smart candidly admitted he had some concerns after the second scrimmage, and it’s a sure bet there are still plenty of challenges that must get solved.
But Smart is also optimistic those issues can get fixed, to the extent he maintained a positive disposition on the highest exposure spring game weekend any team in the nation was afforded.
“I haven’t thought we’ve had a bad spring, so maybe I’m just an optimist now,” Smart said, perhaps trolling himself a bit.
“I don’t know. We’ve had good springs, and our kids practice hard. Our coaches work hard. People in the organization work hard, and I’m very thankful that they buy in and believe in what we’re doing. So I’m happy with the spring we had.”
