How Kirby Smart took Georgia Football to the No.1 ranking

It’s not just a culture change, it’s leadership:

Talking about a culture change at Georgia has become commonplace over the past few months. There’s no doubt that Kirby has changed the culture at UGA and things are being approached differently. However, the reason his changes have succeeded is not that he’s right. It’s because he has leaders on his team and they are translating his message and ensuring that it’s executed.

Smart has handed over a lot of his messaging to the team’s leadership committee. This is an in-house group that isn’t talked about much but is made up of seniors and other leaders on the team. They hold each other accountable and ensure that everyone remains focused on their goals.

This isn’t necessarily rare, these sorts of things exist in some form in all teams, but there’s no doubt that the one at Georgia is special. Georgia has a great group of seniors right now who all set the right example for the rest of the team. They have guys in every position group leading others and motivating them to be better.

A lot of seniors came back because they took up Kirby’s challenge of building something lasting in Athens. Guys like Chubb and Carter want to establish a culture that is passed down to Georgia players for years to come.

Next: Letter to Georgia Football fans

Smart deserves a lot of credit for empowering them to do just that. But he couldn’t do it without having those leaders throughout his roster, guys who are prepared to teach young player while still learning themselves. That leadership is why this team works so hard and hard work what took this team to No.1 in the country. Hopefully, it won’t be the last time UGA is in that spot this year.