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Why the Maurice Smith saga has a much deeper meaning

By Jay Hawkins

Oct 4, 2014; Oxford, MS, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide defensive back Maurice Smith (21) reacts after a touchdown by Mississippi Rebels running back Jaylen Walton (not pictured) during the second half at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 4, 2014; Oxford, MS, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide defensive back Maurice Smith (21) reacts after a touchdown by Mississippi Rebels running back Jaylen Walton (not pictured) during the second half at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Maurice Smith ordeal has a much deeper meaning than it seems.

Related Story: Linebacker Tim Kimbrough to leave Georgia Football team

Smith is now a Bulldog in case anyone has not heard. Nick Saban said to heck with it and released Smith without any conditions. Smith’s case was looked at by the SEC, and they granted an exception in this graduate transfer’s case and let him transfer to fellow SEC school Georgia and play right away.

It is all well and good for UGA that Smith is now a Dawg, but this has a much deeper meaning than just picking up an experienced defensive back. Make no mistake, this was another battle in the ever-brewing Nick Saban vs. Kirby Smart coaching rivalry.

After all, Georgia’s biggest recruiting rival is Alabama. That much should be clear. They are the main team that loves to syphon the top talent out of the Peach State and have gotten away with it for a while.

The teacher and his apprentice are in an off-field battle for future SEC supremacy. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
The teacher and his apprentice are in an off-field battle for future SEC supremacy. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports /

That all changed when former Alabama defensive coordinator and UGA alum Kirby Smart was brought in to replace Mark Richt as the head coach in Athens.  He took Alabama assistant Glen Schumann and arguably Saban’s best offseason hire the previous year in defensive backs coach Mel Tucker, who shored up a unit that had been a weakness for the Tide over the past few years, with him to Athens.

Then, Georgia flipped Alabama commit Tyler Simmons right before signing day in February. From there, Georgia flipped 2017 4-star quarterback Jake Fromm from the Tide to the Dawgs in March and also got a commitment from 4-star offensive guard and recent Alabama decommit Netori Johnson. Both prospects were from the state of Georgia, and since Kirby Smart’s arrival, the Bulldogs have shorn up their past recruiting woes in the home state (12 of their 15 2017 commits are in-state).

Georgia is trying to become the hot program in the SEC and eventually dethrone mighty Alabama, and Nick Saban does not like it especially since his former student has turned on him. It is undoubtably a personal issue why the Maurice Smith situation was such a big deal.

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Just take a closer look at the situation. Maurice Smith was not a starter at Alabama in 2015 and most likely would not have been this year. Smith and his family expressed wanting to transfer from the program, and Saban’s strong reluctance to do so and the general classless way the Alabama program handled it was puzzling indeed.

Combine that with the fact that Saban had handled a similar situation with Chris Black to Missouri in the opposite way has to lead to the conclusion that there was definitely more to it than was on the surface.

It was just the latest battle in the Saban-Smart rivalry, and Smith just happened to get caught in the middle of it. Saban did not want to open the door for things like this to happen in the future and was being the reactive one.

The Saban-Smart tensions have definitely made the offseason more interesting, and it is only beginning. Smart has been winning the battles so far, but will he win the war? Only time will tell.

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