Kirby Smart knows how Georgia can overcome not having ‘highest-paid players’

ATHENS — Kirby Smart made a rather startling admission while discussing Georgia’s first scrimmage of the spring.

“I don’t know that we have the best players or the most talented players or the highest-paid players,” he said Tuesday.

Georgia has recruited at an elite level in recent seasons, but name, image and likeness and the transfer portal have changed the way talent is accumulated.

So, the Bulldogs are working to overcome their current situation.

“But we will have the players that get the most reps and get the most improvement and the most coaching and most development,” Smart said. “And that’s what we sell.”

The Bulldogs have completed 11 of their spring practices. It has been a critical period for the team, as it has been able to drill down on the basics and focus on internal improvement.

The Bulldogs have four practices remaining this spring, and two of them will be scrimmages. They will have a chance to not only go good-on-good but also give meaningful reps to players farther down the depth chart.

“We got 19 offensive linemen, and not all of them can play,” Smart said. “But we got guys out there getting reps. We have guys that are improving. That’s the only way to get better, is go out there and take your reps. When you’ve got that, you’ve got the ability to do multiple things in practice and get a bigger body of work.”

Smart has been told other teams don’t practice the same way as his team. Georgia conducts physical practices, as opposed to the shorter and more tempo-based ones that Indiana’s Curt Cignetti prefers.

Coming out of Georgia’s first scrimmage, Smart liked what he saw. The defense had a better day than the offense, specifically the defensive backfield. Tyriq Green had multiple interceptions; cornerback Ellis Robinson came down with one, too. Khalil Barnes had a strong day as well at the STAR position.

Smart is interested in seeing how his wide receivers respond, especially when it comes to creating explosive plays. That has been a focus all spring.

“We had some explosive plays in the pass game,” he said. “We had some in the run game. We had some turnovers. We had some penalties — holding penalties and things on DBs.”

Georgia didn’t have transfer Isiah Canion, who is expected to be the team’s top wide receiver. Talyn Taylor was also limited during the scrimmage, but he’s expected to be ready to go Saturday.

Georgia’s final scrimmage of the spring comes April 18. With G-Day, it’s a different setup than what Georgia does during its closed-door scrimmages. In addition to having fans in the stands, there’s a greater focus on situational football.

In a time when more programs are tweaking how they do spring practice, Smart said he wants to keep Georgia’s structure close to the way it always has been.

It has been a successful recipe for Georgia. Even with the changing times in college football, Smart said he is confident he still knows how to get Georgia prepared to win a national championship.

“We’re very, very fortunate to have the ability to practice like we do,” he said.