Kirby Smart backs state of Georgia as pound-for-pound best NFL-talent producer

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart recruits from all over the country, but backed the Peach State as the one that produces the best NFL talent year-to-year.

Smart joined On3’s Andy Staples to discuss that notion. While when Smart was in college, most schools prided themselves on keeping the in-state talent home, and most still do.

But with more access comes nationwide recruiting, despite Smart’s claims about Georgia.

“There’s a lot of transient athletes and these kids are not afraid to travel,” Smart said on Andy Staples On3. “They travel as part of their youth. You know, these kids are growing up playing all over the country. And now every kid I’ve talked to is like, well, I go to Orlando, I’ll play in California. I mean, there’s kids we’re recruiting next year that have little brothers that are traveling to play every weekend. So the traveling part doesn’t bother them.

“Social media has brought them closer to other kids. They know about kids in Washington and Cali as well as they do 30 minutes down the road because they interact with them on social media.”

High school kids, heck even youth kids, travel nationwide for camps as well as the elite high schools going during the season to play out of state teams. Smart gets to see a lot more action around the country.

Kirby Smart loves in-state talent, Georgia proves NFL success

Still, it’s hard to replace good ole fashioned Georgia talent that comes through the ranks and eventually makes a splash in the NFL.

“So kids travel a lot more, you have access to see a lot more HUDL tape,” Smart said. “You see kids from all over, you used to not be able to do that. So I still will argue that our state supplies the highest NFL players per capita because we have such great football in our state.

“And it’s one of the things that haunts me all the time of who are we missing that is going to develop into a great player from our state that we may be missing out on? And that’s hard. There’s no exact science to that.”

So to capitalize on that elite talent in-state that can sometimes be overlooked, Smart has his staff in every nook and cranny they can find.

“I mean the relationships, those are the same guys who were developing kids in our state and know the other kids in their area,” Smart said. “They might say, hey, this kid over here, this place has a really good player and we value their opinion. We think the best evaluators in all of recruiting are the high school coaches who interact with kids every day. 

“They’re giving us the real truth, not the made up truth and so I enjoy listening to them and I will trust and we will come to help get their players to our place.”