Georgia Football: Team to move into renovated facility soon

The renovations to Georgia football’s practice facility are almost ready.

Ground broke on the new building being added to Georgia football’s Butts-Mehre athletics complex back in March of 2020. Phase I, as Josh Brooks calls it, is scheduled to be complete by mid to late April of this year. As of right now, it is planned for the team to move into the new building after G-Day, which will happen on April 17th.

"“So it’s timing up very well where we’ll get through spring ball and then move into those spaces,” Brooks told Chip Towers of the AJC."

The 165,000 square-foot building is costing the school $80 million and includes a 22,000-square foot weight room, locker rooms, equipment rooms, nutrition, sports medicine areas, and coaches’ offices. Phase II is scheduled to open in January of 2022. That is when even more offices, some dining areas and meeting rooms will be added.

"“The construction crew of DPR have been managing that jobsite phenomenally,” said Brooks, who’s fourth-floor office overlooks the construction zone. “Just from my standpoint, it’s one of the cleanest, most organized job sites I’ve ever been a part of. I’m really thankful for their work, even through COVID, as they’ve been pressing on.”"

Since Kirby Smart was hired to be Georgia football’s head coach in 2016 Georgia’s athletic department has invested more than $175 million in football-facility improvements. This is a major reason why Smart is able to recruit better than his predecessor. Smart knows what it takes to bring talent into Athens and he has proven he knows how to get that job done.

After having number one recruiting classes three out of the last four seasons, according to Rivals.com, he has proven that the money the school has invested in the program was well worth it. However, that won’t continue to be the case if Smart can’t get the program over the hump. With almost $200 million invested into Smart’s vision, on top of his $6.43 million annually, it’s time to produce.