One important change Kirby Smart brings to Athens

Kirby Smart brings one quality to Georgia Football that was absent during the Mark Richt Era, and this will hopefully put the Bulldogs over the top.

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That is an attention to detail. Kirby Smart has brought that to Athens. After all, he spent nine years with Nick Saban at Alabama. Nick Saban is a control freak and is obsessed with every detail of his program. That’s one of the reasons why he’s won four national championships in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

This obsession with detail is evident as Kirby Smart is very hands on with the program during practice, controls the noise that comes out of his program, etc. This is different from the Mark Richt regime. This attention to detail helps determine a good team from a great team or losing a close game to winning it.

Attention to detail was definitely absent during the Mark Richt era. Mark Richt didn’t keep a closed lid on the program, and for the most part, he wasn’t a hands-on coach particularly during the second half of his coaching career at Georgia.

Also, his lack of attention to detail was evident on the field as well. Where that was most evident was on special teams. For whatever reason, Richt didn’t put much emphasis at all on this side of the game. He was stubborn. He never got a special teams coordinator though most head coaches use one.

The special teams problems were evident even to the casual fan. Something connected to the kicking game always seemed to be going wrong including missing field goals at key moments. The kick coverage teams were absolutely horrendous, and it was always a fear that special teams would somehow let Georgia down. They certainly did time and time again.

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Richt’s decision-making and attention to detail certainly bit Georgia in the foot more often than not. He always had excellent talent at Georgia but always seemed to underachieve. He seemed to be a weakness of the team.

Although his lack of attention to detail was evident on the field numerous times, several plays stand out. First was the 2012 SEC Championship Game. Remember, the game that finished with Georgia mere yards away from a national title berth.

As you remember, then #3 Georgia was down 32-28 to #2 Alabama deep in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Aaron Murray threw a pass to Arthur Lynch, complete for 26 yards to the Alabama 8-yard line. There were fifteen seconds on the clock as it was stopped due to a first down.

Murray and fans alike expected them to spike the ball and at the least, have two more plays to work with. Instead, we all know what happened. The ball was tipped by C.J. Mosley of Alabama, caught by UGA receiver Chris Conley in bounds on the four, and time simply ran out. Georgia didn’t seem fully prepared for this moment and that falls on Richt for lack of attention to detail.

Well, maybe that can be explained away from poor execution of a play that was maybe worth a shot. Multiple other examples of lack of attention to details under Mark Richt occur on the field.

However, probably the most glaring example is the squib kick play (see special teams struggles above) against Georgia Tech. Paul Johnson decided to squib kick against Georgia. Georgia didn’t look prepared for some strange reason, and the Yellow Jackets pounced on the ball.

It was simple mistakes like this that always snuck up during Richt’s tenure at UGA. If more attention to detail was taken by Richt, these situations could have easily been avoided.

Kirby Smart hopes to change that, and it certainly would be refreshing to the Georgia fanbase. That seemed to be a big reason why Georgia could never manage to get over the top and be truly great.

Kirby Smart said in his opening press conference at UGA that he would be involved in every area of the program and basically implied that the details are of extreme importance. He has seemed to back this up in his coaching and seems to be involved in every aspect of this Georgia team.

If Smart can can iron out the discrepancies, tie up all the loose ends of this Georgia program, and continue to focus on the details like he has promised and done so far, it will go a long way to determining if Georgia can get to the next level. Many believe he will do just that.