Kirby Smart: National championship win for 'guys that have given so much'

Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart could do nothing but think of all the players that came together to clinch the national title on Monday night.

Thanks to an extra year of eligibility, the Bulldogs returned some veterans for the 2021 season and Smart credits those players as the driving force behind the championship run.

“The feelings inside, the emotion I have for these players and these young men, I’m looking over here at these young men, J.D. and James and these guys waiting to go, I’ve never been around a group of players that really wanted it so bad and wouldn’t be denied,” Smart said after the win over Alabama.

“Remember, a lot of these guys decided to come back and they bought in, and we changed a lot of off-season things. We cut out the indoor and we went to the stadium. We did a lot of things. The toughness, brought a lot more toughness back.

“I just can’t say enough about the leaders. I’m so happy for the Georgia people. I’m happy for the people that get this for so many years they’ve been without it.”

‘Just take a picture of this’

After a night that will live on in Georgia football lore for centuries, Smart told his players to capture the moment for posterity.

“But I told the guys in the locker room, just take a picture of this, because I think back to the ’80 championship picture and seeing all those players and the Frank Walkers and the Herschel Walkers and all these people that have reached out and said things,” Smart said. “Our guys have accomplished that, something special, and as they say, they’ve become legendary, and I want that for them.

“It’s not for me, and I know it’s for the Georgia people and all that, but it’s really for these guys that have given so much, and I certainly appreciate what they’ve done.”

The win on Monday night was Georgia’s first national title in 41 seasons, with Stetson Bennett leading the Bulldogs to a 33-18 win over Alabama. Kirby Smart joined the likes of Nick Saban, Jimbo Fisher, Mack Brown and Dabo Swinney as an active national title-winning coach.

Smart nets big bonus for win

On top of cementing his name in college football history, Kirby Smart locked in a nice bonus for winning the national championship on Monday.

Smart will get a $200,000 bonus for the Bulldogs winning the CFP National Championship over Alabama. He ends the season with $850,000 in on-field bonuses.

To put those numbers in perspective, the Bulldogs’ skipper picked up a little more than $3.03 million in bonuses over the last five seasons.