Kirby Smart explains what he loves about his job

There are plenty of reasons of that coaching college football is appealing: Competing for a national championship, leading the program at ones alma mater and yes, the money. And while that all certainly applies to Georgia head coach Kirby Smart — who coached his alma mater to a title and earned a massive pay bump in the last 12 months — the thing that gets him going each day is simply the relationships and connections with his players.

These relationships are a varied and diverse as the players and their paths through college football. From getting to be with players as they grow and blossom from wide-eyed freshmen to NFL prospects to seeing walk ons live out a dream playing for Georgia, Smart loves that aspect of his job most.

“I love the relationships I have with my players. I love to opportunity to see a guy go from a freshman that doesn’t know what he’s doing, like Lewis Cine, to a first round pick. An opportunity for a guy like James Cook, who gave everything he had to this university, to go and become an NFL player. An opportunity for a walk on like Dan Jackson to come here and live his dream and go play for UGA,” Smart said. “That’s why I do what I do, not really anything else.”

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The good news for Smart is, after playing Georgia Tech in a rivalry matchup this weekend, he’ll get at least two more games with this Georgia team: The SEC championship game and (likely) at least one College Football Playoff game, or a bowl.

Smart recently discussed the growth of quarterback Stetson Bennett, too

After starting his college career at Georgia as a walk-on, Stetson Bennett transferred to the JUCO ranks. He then came back to Athens in 2019 to back up Jake Fromm — and the rest, as they say, is history.

Bennett, of course, helped lead the Bulldogs to their first national title in 40 years in 2021 and is putting together another strong season in 2022. But the biggest turn to the long and winding road that is Bennett’s college career is the decision to return to Georgia.

Kirby Smart acknowledged that part of Bennett’s journey from walk-on to starter, which he said is all about mentality. He noted Bennett’s competitive instinct and said that’s the biggest reason why he earned his current role.

“It takes a competitor,” Smart said. “It takes somebody to overcome the odds because you’re not given the benefit of the doubt. You have to earn it. You have to beat guys out. We, as coaches, did everything we could to not give him the opportunity and he just kept banging away at the door and he was very persistent.

“Thank goodness we decided to bring him back when we were sitting in a tough quarterback situation. Probably the best decision we made when you look back of bringing him back here in what was looking like it was going to be a backup role, but not to him. He saw it as an opportunity to come in and play, and he took advantage of it.”