Report: Kirby Smart father, Sonny, hospitalized ahead of Sugar Bowl matchup vs. Notre Dame

The father of Georgia football head coach Kirby Smart is reportedly recovering in a New Orleans hospital after a fall outside his hotel Tuesday afternoon, according to UGASports’ Radi Nabulsi.

Sonny Smart, the elderly father off Kirby Smart, was reportedly admitted to a local hospital where he’s expected to undergo hip surgery after his fall, per Nabulsi.

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Sonny Smart was in New Orleans with his wife, Sharon, to watch their son coach the Georgia Bulldogs in the Sugar Bowl College Football Playoff national quarterfinal, which has been rescheduled for 4 pm ET Thursday following the tragic New Year’s Day terrorist attack on Bourbon Street.

Smart’s fall was unrelated to the early-morning terror attack, where 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a U.S. citizen from Texas, allegedly drove a pickup truck into a crowd of NYE revelers, killing at least 15 and injuring more than 30, according to local officials.

Sonny Smart is a Georgia High School coaching legend after more than two decades coaching at multiple schools in the state, including at Kirby Smart’s alma mater Bainbridge and Rayburn County High.

Georgia football team sheltering-in-place amid ‘act of terrorism’

ESPN’s Laura Rutledge provided an update on what the Georgia team is doing around 1 p.m. ET in New Orleans. She revealed the Bulldogs are currently sheltering-in-place inside the team hotel. Police presence around the hotel has increased too, attempting to protect both teams ahead of the game.

“I spoke with the spokesperson for Georgia’s athletic department, Steven Drummond,” Rutledge said on ESPN College GameDay. “He said currently at the team hotel, Georgia has a shelter-in-place, so they are locked down at the hotel, nobody leaving that area. And they’re going to continue to do that as they gather more information.

“Right now, the College Football Playoff, as well as the Sugar Bowl officials, are meeting. They’re meeting with FBI. They are meeting with police here in New Orleans, trying to figure out exactly what’s going to be safest moving forward. And I can tell you, there is an extreme police presence here. They’ve added a lot more when it comes to police presence around New Orleans, doing everything they can to keep everybody safe.”

Griffin McVeigh contributed to this report.