Kirby Smart continues to express concern over one position group

Kirby Smart has done his best to hit reset after Georgia won the national championship, making it clear that the new unit must improve across the board to compete again in 2022. However, one position group has stood out as a concern in his comments, making them a focus throughout the spring.

During his spring game press conference following G-Day, Kirby Smart talked about the progress he has seen from the wide receivers and the need to continue building ahead of the season.

“Yeah, I think we got better,” said Smart. “Like we got younger players better. We still aren’t where we need to be. Like I really feel good, Ladd (McConkey) and AD (Mitchell), they’re SEC wide outs. They can compete at a high level.

“But when you go past that, you’ve got Marcus (Rosemy-Jacksaint) who’s done a tremendous job. Marcus is extremely smart and he can play all positions. We don’t have like, okay, this guy has got a hamstring, who’s going in. We don’t have that. We’ve got to grow that. We’ve got to get Arian (Smith) and (Kearis) Jackson, CJ (Smith), De’Nylon (Morrissette) up to speed and days like today get them closer. But they’re not there yet. We’re not there yet. We have to continue to grow. You look at Arian has an elite trait and we try to use that elite trait as much as possible, but we’re not where we need to be at wide out, and we’ve got some more guys coming, so we’re going to get some guys to help out.”

As the wide receivers continue to work toward the place Kirby Smart wants, they have insurance in the former of a deep tight end room and several capable pass catchers out of the backfield.

Kirby Smart on Stetson Bennett

Kirby Smart went on The Paul Finebaum Show on Friday and assessed where Stetson Bennett is right now. He talked about where the quarterback has shown signs of improvement in the passing game. After listing out some of the positives Bennett provided in 2021, Smart is looking for some safer decisions.

“Well the expectations are high for me because there’s no more forcing the ball into bad areas, making poor decisions, lack of ball security, not changing the proper play,” Smart said. “With the extra time and the experience, he’s really bought into studying that part of the game. He’s always had talent to make a play with his legs and he made some really critical plays. He got us out of trouble against Michigan. He made an incredible run against Tennessee for a touchdown.

“He’s done some really good things but the biggest thing now is the decision-making with the ball and not putting us in tough situations.”