ATLANTA — Georgia head coach Kirby Smart took the main stage’s podium on Wednesday at SEC Media Days and started his press conference off with a nearly nine-minute opening statement.
He talked about a wide variety of topics before giving one of the more chilling quotes of the four-day-long event. It was a response to an inquiry that Smart has gotten a lot since the Bulldogs toppled Alabama, 33-18, in the CFP National Championship game back on Jan. 10.
“People ask the question, how does it feel to be hunted?” Smart said. “Well, we will not be hunted at the University of Georgia. I can promise you that. The hunting we do will be from us going in the other direction. We're not going to sit back and be passive about (it).”
The seventh-year head coach admitted that he expects that his squad is going to get everyone’s best shot next year, especially after bringing home the program’s first title in over four decades. Smart is used to that since he and the Crimson Tide won several national championships during his tenure at Alabama as its defensive coordinator under head coach Nick Saban.
Before Georgia’s second matchup with the Crimson Tide last season in the national championship game, he told the story to his team of Hernan Cortés. Smart talked to the players about how the 16th-century conquistador told his soldiers to "burn the boats,” indicating that there would be no turning back as they tried to invade and conquer Mexico.
According to Smart, the Bulldogs have since tried to turn the page and move on to a new chapter.
“Our guys have asked questions, and we've done a lot of studies on how the mighty have fallen,” he said. “We have skull sessions, 15-minute meetings, 20-minute meetings and breakout groups. We talk about how the mighty have fallen. I'm talking about in business, sports and history. You learn from the mistakes of others. For us, it really steers down to one cultural belief: That we have a connection that's greater than our opponent.”
He added that this current team’s belief is about getting better and not riding the coattails of last season’s championship squad. This group wants to leave its legacy on the program and rewrite history in its way during the upcoming 2022 season.
“We're all going to be tough, we're all going to be physical in the SEC, but can we be better connected together?” Smart said. “Can we have one plus one equals three? For us - one plus one equals three - means we get more together than we do apart. This team believes that.”
Despite losing 15 former players to the 2022 NFL Draft, Georgia is expected to be back in the four-team playoff at the end of next season. The Bulldogs return a lot of talent on the offense, including quarterback Stetson Bennett and tight end Brock Bowers.
Georgia had five players selected in the first round of the NFL Draft - all of which were on the defensive side of the ball. Still, the Bulldogs return defensive tackle Jalen Carter, edge rusher Nolan Smith and cornerback Kelee Ringo, who can all help lead on the field.
Smart eluded to the fact that his players have been instrumental in not getting “complacent.” It’s been something that he’s been preaching since the start of off-season workouts.
“I talked about it earlier. There's a hunger among this group,” he said. “A lot of guys want to prove that they can replace the other guy. They don't want to be the other guy, they want to be the next guy. You look across the board, we had some high-profile players on defense and offense. When you count the backs and receivers, we have to replace those guys. The hunger comes from the opportunity the talented players behind them have. I'm excited. Complacency is something that happens to people; they don't look at what's going on. We don't have that problem. There's not a day we don't wake up and think about what we can do to make our program better, and our players are doing that right now.”
Smith, who enters his senior season, said he’s noticed a sense of “humility” amongst his teammates.
That is one of the big things that we took last year to move a step forward,” Smith said on Wednesday. “Connect with your brother and be humble. Don’t have an ego. That’s another thing here, the past is your ego. We can’t control last year. We can’t do anything about last year. We can only look forward. Be where our feet are at, and that’s now.”
Bennett looks to take on a bigger role as he enters his sixth and final season of eligibility at UGA. He seems confident the Bulldogs can repeat but doesn’t display an arrogant demeanor, which shows signs of leadership. Bennett also doesn’t take anything for granted.
“I think with the way this program is going now, we expect it,” he said. “We expect to win every game we go play. We try to look at each opponent as nameless and faceless. We’re going to leave this (SEC Media Days), go workout, throw and try to be 100 percent. That’s what we’re going to do today. And then we’re going to take another step.”
Smith has also observed that he has grown - as both a person and player - over the last few months.
“It’s more of him demanding from both the offense and defense,” Smith said. “I think he is being more vocal and taking on his leadership role. People see him as a quarterback. “
With those principles in place, it seems like Smart doesn’t have to worry about his players getting complacent. He knows that the standard has been set and the Bulldogs will follow the new blueprint about “not being hunted at the University of Georgia.”
“We didn’t build this program on hoping for one-year-wonders or hoping for one opportunity,” Smart said. “We built the program to be sustained. You sustain it by what you do every single day. This program was built to be here for a long time.”