Georgia football: Breaking down the Justin Fields aftermath

Kirby Smart can’t keep everyone happy… yet.

After the Sugar Bowl meltdown, I find it funny how few people forget that Kirby Smart is still a young head coach. Having just finished his third season, he’s still got plenty to learn and we’ve seen that throughout the season. Whether it was the fake field goal against LSU, the fake punt against Bama or the general lackluster performance on Tuesday, he’s not Nick Saban. Yet.

One of the lessons that Smart needs to take from this is that keeping these elite recruits happy is hard. I still don’t believe that Kirby Smart did not have a plan for Fields, but I do think the plan was not particularly good. I also think that whatever the plan was was complicated by the fact that Fields was clearly not happy about not being the starter as early as week 2. It’s hard to get someone to buy in to the team if he’s already complaining about his role.

Georgia still has a ways to go to become the team that many fans want it to be. Part of that growth means taking the next step and having everyone buy into the program. That’s what Alabama have. Najee Harris was the top ranked player in his class and he’s the 3rd string running back two years later. Is he transferring? Is he hell. He’s bought into the Alabama program and Georgia still has some work to do to get the culture at Georgia where Kirby Smart wants it to be.

Now, there is hope for the future. There are lessons that can be learned from this Fields situation. Lesson one is be damn sure that the guy is the right fit for your teams culture. It’s not unfair to say that he didn’t enjoy Georgia’s culture of competition as much as he thought he would. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s an important thing for Kirby and his coaches to realize. When they sign their 4th 5-star QB, they need to make sure that he’s the right fit.