National Championship is just the beginning for Georgia football

Georgia football finally broke through and captured a national championship for the first time since 1980, but fans won’t likely have to wait another 40 years to see it happen again.

A title does not get won by accident, and given Georgia’s pure dominance throughout the 2021 season, expectations of a title began to become more prevalent in the fan base. Now that the ultimate goal has been achieved, title expectations should only grow stronger for Georgia fans.

Head coach Kirby Smart has built the Georgia football program into a powerhouse by recruiting at an elite level and developing the talent brought in, regardless of the narratives pushed by rival fans.

Georgia has been close before under Smart. Painfully close. As hard as previous losses were to handle at the time, they are the framework responsible for everything coming together this season.

Smart took his lumps and learned from them as he tried to figure out how to be a head coach early on. Mistakes were corrected over time, and some lessons were learned the hard way, but as we watched the confetti fall Monday night, one thing became abundantly clear: Kirby Smart has figured it out.

Georgia football just won its first national title in 40 years and they’re just getting started.

The Dawgs remained focused and disciplined all season long and ignored the noise from the outside. The media rightfully hyped the defense week-to-week, and rather than listening to it and becoming complacent. The unit used the hype as further fuel to prove the small circle of doubters wrong every game.

Stetson Bennett was the most polarizing figure on the team all season and rarely ever had the support from the fans that he deserved, but he kept his head down and played every game with confidence. This confidence was instilled in him through his coaches and teammates, whose beliefs never wavered.

The mindsets exhibited by the players set a cultural precedent for what should be expected at Georgia. The Dawgs play for each other rather than for themselves individually, and that type of cultural foundation is vital to sustained success in a program.

On top of that, multiple key contributors throughout the season and the national championship were freshmen. Brock Bowers set a new standard for the tight end position that has never been seen at Georgia and was responsible for a pivotal touchdown late in the title game.

Adonai Mitchell scored in both games of the College Football Playoff, including his incredible 4th quarter catch with an Alabama defensive back draped all over him.

Kelee Ringo played a key role on defense during the season, and his game-clinching pick-six will be played countless times for years to come.

The immediate impact that these young players made on the team show just how well Coach Smart has been able to recruit and also bodes well for what is to come for this particular Georgia team in the next few seasons.

Though there are multiple star players that Georgia will lose to the NFL or graduation, the high level of recruiting that Smart has done over the years has the team in a position to reload rather than rebuild.

Now that Smart has a national title under his belt, his recruiting will only improve from the top tier level that it already is.

The foundation that Smart has built at Georgia will lead to sustained success for years to come. Other programs have noticed over the years of the program that Smart was building, evidenced by the multitude of assistants that have already been hired as head coaches elsewhere.

It might seem difficult even to begin to think about future seasons considering how fresh the national championship still is on fans’ minds. The highlights will continue to be viewed endlessly for weeks to come, and this feeling is one that fans should cherish and hold onto as long as possible.

Rest assured, though, fans might not want to think about seasons to come quite yet, but Kirby Smart never stopped. Georgia finally conquered what once seemed so unattainable, but the focus in the program will quickly shift to doing it again.

Considering the foundation of what Smart has built Georgia football upon, fans should be able to look forward to enjoying many more celebrations like they currently are in the years to come.