Georgia Football: Every job up for grabs right now
Sports Illustrated stopped in to Georgia Football spring practice and found that Kirby Smart really doesn’t play favorites.
For those of you looking for a great read today, I highly recommend Andy Staples recent column about the time he just spent in Athens. He visited the Georgia Football team to see how they were responding to their 2018 challenge. How do you move on from a season as good as last year? More importantly, how do you replace the leadership you just lost.
Staples puts up a few great examples of of how Kirby Smart and his coaches are going about this. Rather than picking captains themselves, they are instigating challenges and events, forcing players to step up. This was happening right through the pre-camp weight program and it is helping them find those next leaders.
One of the most interesting bits of the article to me however was Smart’s continual focus on competition. Even established players are not safe in their jobs in camp right now. This quote from JR Reed summed up how nobody can take it easy:
"“It just brings the best out of everybody. If you have no competition and people think their spots are secure, they get lazy. They start to get complacent and practice starts to get sloppy. Here, you’ve got guys that are fighting for positions. Practices are going to be great.”"
That’s a pretty telling quote to me. Reed is one of the most experienced player on UGA’s defense. He’ll likely be a leader for the unit and the team overall. Yet he’s looking forward to taking on and beating him teammates and winning his job. Nobody gets anything handed to them at Georgia these days. These guys have to fight for everything, even losing in a team weight lifting competition results in punishments.
A lot of coaches talk like this, but few programs seem as committed to pursuing their mission as UGA. Kirby Smart has changed the mindset around the program and there’s no doubt that it’s working. We saw just how mentally and physically tough the players were last season.
Georgia’s spring camp sound like a damn grind in comparison to many others. No easy walkthroughs or assignments for these guys. Every damn day is a battle to win your rep, hold your spot or move up. If you don’t like it, too bad, because someone else does and they are coming for you.
Next: UGA Baseball is on a 6 game winning streak!
What’s exciting is that statements from guys like Reed show that this is what UGA’s players actually want. They’re thriving on the pressure and the competition. Having seen the results last year, they know that this works and they crave those wins. All of this keeps me feeling warm inside when it comes to the 2018 season. The more I think about it, the more I agree with what Kirby Smart said after that painful loss in Atlanta. The University of Georgia is here, and we really are not going anywhere.