Kirby Smart at 2025 SEC Media Days: Key points from Georgia coach, what they mean entering 2025 season

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If it was up to Kirby Smart, college football would be centered around “fire, passion and energy” and none of these landscape-altering changes the sport has endured over the last few seasons. The Georgia coach is a football-first guy, after all, forced to concern himself with new norms of personality changes and player entitlement because he’s seen it inside his own elite program.

The two-time national champion and reigning SEC winner made several broader points Tuesday at SEC Media Days, pointing out how much college football is continuing to evolve with NIL and revenue-sharing and the stress it puts on building a championship-level team.

“You can say what you want, but there’s people more in college football today, especially in the SEC, that are comfortable with where they are,” Smart said. “This is a pretty good life. ‘I’m earning $200k a year. I’m very comfortable.’ And you don’t reach your goals being comfortable. You don’t attain great success.”

Here’s a few of Smart’s key points during his time at the podium and breakout rooms and what we think it means for the Dawgs in the 2025 season. 

Georgia seeking coachable, elite talent

Question: Fire, passion and energy are pillars of the program. Can you name players that have exhibited it thus far and why have you added that this offseason?

Smart’s answer: “Why is it important to identify it now? Because the culture in college football is slowly changing. You’ve got to remember, I was part of a nine-year program and a nine-year run (at Alabama) that was one of the greatest ever in college football, OK? And now I’m at a place that’s doing it right and competing on a really high level. I’ve seen what it looks like to have fire, passion, and energy, and I’ve seen guys that were really hungry and I go back to (Alabama’s) Dont’a Hightower, Rolando McClain, Julio Jones and Trent Richardson and Mark Ingram all the way to (Georgia’s) Roquan Smith to Nolan Smith, to Jordan Davis, to George Pickens, to Jake Fromm … D’Andre Swift. You know what they had? They had a love for the game and fire, passion and energy. That’s not the same as it used to be.”

Translation: If you’re coming to Athens looking for a hefty payday and unwilling to work, Georgia’s probably not a fit. Smart, who’s had more first-round NFL Draft picks (20) than losses (19) during his time at Georgia, has had to adjust his recruiting approach just a bit in recent years with other programs offering sizable NIL guarantees with elite-level prospects. He reiterated the same point Tuesday he’s made ad nauseam throughout the offseason: signing with the Bulldogs is a play toward future earnings. He mentioned several former first-round picks as guys who saw the bigger picture and weren’t simply “satisfied” with being a high-level SEC football player.

On Georgia’s QB decision

Question: What has Gunner Stockton accomplished since the end of last season that made you bring him here to SEC Media Days?

Smart’s answer: “He does it the right way. He commands the room and works his butt off. I say all that because Ryan (Puglisi) does a great job too, and those guys are going to continue competing. Gunner’s one of the leaders of our team. You saw that in response last year when he came in after halftime (of the SECCG) and laid it on the line for our team. Gunner’s been a tremendous passion and energy guy, and I’m excited to see him grow and get better.”

Translation: Heading into fall camp, Stockton is Georgia’s QB1 based on what he showed during spring practice and as Carson Beck’s backup last season. Smart selecting Stockton as one of the Bulldogs’ three player representatives in Atlanta signals his trust in the fourth-year player. That said, Smart has not told Stockton he’s going to start in the opener against Marshall and he still has to put his best foot forward in August to lead Mike Bobo’s first-team unit.

Enough Nick Saban speculation

Question: The hot rumor yesterday was Nick Saban coming back to coaching. I was wondering if you could share your reaction?

Smart’s answer: “I heard all the scuttlebutt and everything about it. I almost laughed. It was like somebody needed something interesting to talk about, so they chose to go to Coach Saban to do it. The game’s better with him involved. He is involved. He’s passionate about it. His brilliance in many ways is around football. Around scheme, another way to do something to stay ahead of the offensive minds. Make no mistake about it, the boss at home is making that call for him, not him.”

Translation: Don’t believe anything you hear and only half of what you read. Smart’s a skeptic — he doesn’t think Saban is interested in a return to coaching unlike Greg McElroy’s “source” from earlier in the week. Smart joked that he called Saban and offered him Will Muschamp’s vacated position on staff, but he was overqualified. Smart spent nine years on Saban’s staff at Alabama, including eight as his defensive coordinator, and the two still speak often about defensive game plans and schematic details.

Georgia’s weaknesses — what are they?

Question: What’s a position group on both sides of the football that you’re expecting to be better this year compared to last season or needs to be better?

Smart’s answer: “Yeah, I don’t like the question, I’m sorry. There’s not one position group that we don’t need to get better at. I mean, just me being frank with you, we’ve got to get better at each one. You can say that’s coachspeak, but if I pick one, I’m leaving someone out. We’ve got to improve all around.”

Translation: Georgia — currently with the third-best odds to win the College Football Playoff, according to DraftKings Sportsbook –is not where it needs to be right now if the Bulldogs plan on returning to Atlanta, the CFP and, potentially, the national championship spotlight. Do you think Smart was going to conceptualize two specific areas of improvement from his football team? This is the same coach who, like Saban, insisted to meet with his coaching staff two years ago the day after beating TCU by 58 points in the finale to formulate a recruiting plan since the Bulldogs were behind. The only thing that makes Smart happy is improvement and not resting on position groups perceived as stout entering the season.

Rematch with Alabama will be sweet

Question: Just curious to know your overall analysis of Kalen DeBoer and his first year at Alabama.

Smart’s answer: “I’m not qualified to give analysis of another head coach in our league who I have tremendous respect for … Anytime you come into a situation that he came into behind Nick in transition, it’s going to be a new deal. Think he’s a tremendous coach. Obviously, we played at his place and they did an outstanding job jumping all over us. Lot of respect for Coach DeBoer and the job he’s done.”

Translation: No bulletin board material will be had at 2025 SEC Media Days, at least not from the Georgia locker room. Alabama’s 9-4 finish last season under DeBoer fell well short of preseason playoff expectations, but one of those nine wins did come against the Bulldogs in impressive fashion. Smart mentioned Tuesday that he’s looking forward to hosting the Crimson Tide in Athens but stopped short of any guarantees or game plan details. Like he managed to do previously with a question centered around a showdown at Auburn, Smart was complimentary of his rivalry foe and did not go further.

No shortcuts when building the two-deep

Question: How do you view change within your organization, speed up developing depth with the impact of the transfer portal and NIL?

Smart’s answer: “First of all, you don’t speed up development. That’s a misnomer. If you want to speed up development, you’re probably looking for shortcuts that don’t exist. We can’t replicate reps faster. We can’t speed up a guy’s transition. The transition it takes to become a good football player is different for every kid, and I’ve been fortunate the last 19 years in college football to learn that.”

Translation: There’s no remedy or magic potion used to fill roster holes when trying to develop and build depth in the two-deep, especially from the portal. There’s a reason the Bulldogs have been transfer-selective under Smart and haven’t signed as many transfers as other elites within the top 10. Georgia hasn’t been as development-minded with recruits as, say, Dabo Swinney at Clemson, but the message is clear from Smart: portal additions have to be the perfect fit between the hedges to work.

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