Kirby Smart gives Bama young buck a lesson in tradition

Georgia football and Alabama know each other very well. They have played each other nine times during Kirby Smart's 10 years at Georgia which is quite a lot for teams that were in different divisions up until 2024. All of these matchups have left these programs no choice but to become rivals, and that has caused bad blood to start bewing between them.

Earlier this year Alabama beat Georgia in Athens. During the Crimson Tide's celebrations quarterback Ty Simpson was captured taking a piece of Georgia's hedges on his way back to the locker room.

This obviously did not sit well with anyone at Georgia, and Smart made sure to let Simpson know to never do that again after UGA beat Alabama in the SEC Championship game.

“I went up to Ty Simpson and told him he was a great player and all that, but not to ever touch our hedges again,” Smart said via ugafootballlive.com.

Kirby Smart went after Alabama QB Ty Simpson for disrespecting Georgia tradition

The above quote was reportedly said by Smart to his team in the locker room after their SEC Championship victory. Smart is not the type of person to go after an opposing player for something as small as taking a piece of their headges, but at the same time he couldn't let it go unaddressed.

The most likely scenario is that Smart said this in a somewhat joking manner to Simpson after the game, and the SEC Network may have caught the moment that it occurred.

Smart probably has nothing but for respect for Simpson, so there is no chance he is actually that upset at him. But Smart made sure to use that moment from their first matchup to motivate his team, and after winning the SEC Championship he couldn't help but say something to Simpson to defend his home field and one of Georgia's most storied traditions.