Kirby Smart explains how Georgia is using Jordan Davis to illustrate the importance of patience, development

As Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs prepare for the National Championship, their main focus is on defeating the TCU Horned Frogs and repeating as Nation Champions. But not every Bulldog will be able to suit up and contribute to the teams’ title hopes, and Smart spoke the importance of practice and player development of younger players during the postseason.

“A lot of the same. I said this yesterday at media day, and I hate to repeat myself, but I really think a lot of the reason we were able to turn our roster over from last year to this year was the practices and preparation we had at this time of year,” Smart said.

Smart is no stranger to having his teams practice in January, as he explained how last year’s practices around this time of year have contributed to the Bulldogs’ back-to-back seasons of sustained success.

“As we were finishing the year last year, we were getting really high-quality work out of about, I would say, seven or eight kids starting for us. Right now in the game, tomorrow night, we’re — scout team players or 2s — and the way we do our reps as the year goes, our 2s get a little more volume and our 1s get a little less knowing that the 2s need the work and might be up for call as you have injuries,” Smart explained. “So the guys that are playing now that were 2s last year, in some cases 3s, they got a lot of work.”

TCU head coach Sonny Dykes brought up the point of bowl game practices, particularly for later bowl games, adding up on players over multiple years in the program. Which Smart agreed with, explaining how he manages the additional practices depending on the playing status of his players.

“And I think Coach Dykes is right; that cumulative effect — I’ve always said the states that have spring practices, their kids leave high school football one year ahead of states that don’t because they’ve had four spring practices from ninth grade to 12th grade. And our kids have had a lot of practices,” Smart admitted. “The counter thought to that is how much we do practice. We have a lot. And we target a lot of days for our kids to — the 1s go condition, and the 2s and 3s go get opportunity. And they literally go against each other and just play football.”

Smart concluded by harping on how the transfer portal impacts player development as a whole, and how former star players like Jordan Davis are proven products of patience and trusting the development process in Athens.

“And I think that does help in terms of getting your team prepared. I also think, we’re in the portal age, when kids feel like they don’t have a role, they’re quicker to leave. And we’re really selling the development,” Smart said. “We’re going to show Jordan Davis, from his freshman and sophomore year, working on the scout team, and say, hey, look where this guy was and look at what he became doing it this way. And selling that within your program becomes a selling point to them to stick and stay and truly develop and grow in the organization.”