Kirby Smart names a problem area after Georgia’s first training game
Kirby Smart names a problem area after Georgia’s first training game
- Kirby Smart says the ‘deterioration of football’ has affected Georgia’s depth. That may be true, but I have no sympathy for the Bulldogs.
- Georgia remains largely homegrown and has a dominant recruiting machine, but transfers have helped programs like Ole Miss become more competitive.
- This is probably not Kirby Smart’s best team, but he doesn’t have to play against his previous teams.
Georgia’s third offensive guard is not what he once was.
At least that’s my belief after Kirby Smart recently evaluated his squad. If you listen to the Georgia coach, the Bulldogs are coming through just fine.
“I feel like we have less depth than we’ve ever had,” Smart recently told reporters. “That’s a common theme when I talk to other coaches that I talk to. I call it the deterioration of football.”
I call it a slight increase in parity in college football, thanks to transfer movement coupled with NIL.
Before the paradigm shift in college football rules occurs in 2021 and limits players’ transfer and earning opportunities, recruiting hotbeds like Alabama and Georgia could hoard a collection of talent.
The prevailing logic (only slightly exaggerated) in the SEC used to be that Alabama’s reserves were the second-best team in the SEC. Back then, reserves had less incentive to transfer. Transfers were subject to rules that required them to sit out a season.
Additionally, before NIL, players couldn’t enter the transfer portal and start a bidding war for their services. Now that they can, it’s a little harder for talent-rich programs to retain their backup players. That benefits other programs.
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Take Kentucky, for example.
In the past, Mark Stoops would have likely started a junior college failure as his starting quarterback. Now he has Brock Vandagriff at the helm. Vandagriff, a former five-star recruit, would never have signed with UK out of high school. But instead of spending a fourth season as a backup at Georgia, he transferred to Kentucky and became a starter.
I can’t blame him for that.
Linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson is another top performer for Kentucky, also from Georgia, one of several former Bulldogs who found new homes at other Power Four programs this offseason.
Although Georgia lost more transfers than it gained, the portal does not just take. It also gives.
Georgia’s running back capacity would not be as good without the signing of frontline tailback Trevor Etienne from Florida.
Smart’s program is largely homegrown and driven by his recruiting machine. Transfers fill in the gaps, but they don’t fuel the engine like they do at programs like Ole Miss, which wouldn’t be among the bookies’ favorites to win the national championship without NIL or the transfer wave.
While I agree with Smart’s assessment of his roster depth—it’s not what it was a few years ago—he still has an incredibly talented roster.
Smart’s crocodile tears don’t fool me. His criticism is a motivational tool, a tactic to refocus his team and get them to stop gnawing at their flowers after the Bulldogs finished first in both major preseason polls.
Georgia’s roster is full – just not as full as 2021 or 2022, but the ’21 and ’22 Bulldogs are not on the schedule.
Only Ohio State’s lineup (No. 2) is comparable to Georgia’s, but you won’t find that out by listening to Smart.
“I feel like every year we’ve been here, we’ve had more players capable of playing winning football,” Smart said. “Every year that number goes down, and we have to keep working to get that number up.”
In the meantime, he will work to win his third national championship with a squad that 99% of coaches would envy.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s SEC columnist. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer.
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