Kirby Smart considers future of spring game tradition amid changing landscape

On Saturday, Georgia held its annual spring scrimmage, which the program refers to as “G-Day.” Some fans were initially worried Georgia would cancel or alter the long-standing tradition this year since other programs such as Nebraska, USC and Texas did so.

Nonetheless, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart stuck with tradition and welcomed fans into Sanford Stadium for the beloved event. After the scrimmage, Smart discussed whether Georgia will have a spring scrimmage again next season.

“I don’t know,” Smart said. “I’d say it’s year by year. It probably has more to do with my team, the health of our team, the number of players in college football. I mean, we as coaches don’t control the numbers we have, so if we don’t have enough numbers we won’t be able to have the game. I mean, I think it’s a great tradition, but it’s more about what does our team need than just what Athens needs.”

The coaches of the programs that went away from the traditional spring game this year pointed to several reasons for their decisions. First, with the spring transfer portal window opening after most teams’ intrasquad scrimmages, the exhibitions give opposing coaches opportunities to scout and reach out to standouts from the event.

Moreover, even if opposing programs can’t entice talented players to enter the portal, they’ll have extra tape on them to help them prepare for when they meet during the season. Kirby Smart partly curved the latter concern this year by not broadcasting Georgia’s spring scrimmage.

Instead, only the nearly 40,000 fans in attendance were able to watch. Another concern coaches across the country expressed about spring games is the risk of injury.

By the end of spring camp, many players’ bodies are worn down and desperate to recover. Sometimes programs don’t even have enough healthy players to hold an internal scrimmage. Smart will take all of these concerns into consideration next season when he decides whether to renew Georgia’s G-Day but, for now, he’s happy with how the event went.

“I’m excited about the spring game. Got an opportunity to play a lot of guys today,” Smart said. “Got a lot of snaps in, probably more than we typically do. I liked the pace that it went at. We got done right at two hours and ended up getting about 15 or 20 more snaps than we’ve gotten in the past year. So it was good tempo.”