Kirby Smart sets record straight about narrative surrounding '7-5' motivation

Georgia managed to repeat as national champions in 2022 despite losing a host of talent off its 2021 title-winning squad. But explicit motivation after some projected the Bulldogs to go 7-5 didn’t necessarily come from Kirby Smart.

Smart denied that he used those projections to motivate his team last year.

“Yeah, so funny you say that because I’ve never brought that up to our team,” Smart said at SEC Media Days. “I think our team would laugh at me if I said we were going to go 7-5. So there’s a mistake out there somewhere that that’s ever been brought up by me.”

That’s not to say that the idea didn’t permeate the locker room to some degree. After all, Georgia did lose a plethora of talent following its first national title in 40 years.

At least some used the perceived doubt and 7-5 motivation as fuel for the fire.

“I’ve heard quotes from players that have said that,” Smart said. “They might have read it somewhere, they might have believed it, but it never came from me because I’m a big self-confidence coach.”

In fact, Smart’s motivating ploy was quite different. It had nothing to do with his team being doubted or deriving motivation from 7-5 projections. In fact, he was trying to build them up the opposite way.

You see, Smart needed some key players to emerge.

“So the entire offseason last year I told them how good they could be, because all they heard about was how many players they lost,” Smart explained. “And I pumped that through and through that we had a tremendous team and we were going to be a really good team and they’re going to go out and play competitive football.”

So what will Smart’s motivational tactic be this year, one year further removed from that first title and with more talent headed out the door again after the 2022 title? The 7-5 motivation, whether coming from Smart or not, sure seemed to be effective.

What will prove effective this year remains to be seen.

Don’t expect Smart to be looking for any doubters to add fuel to the fire, though. Not his style.

“I don’t get into the narratives, because once you start using that to motivate your team you’re going to struggle,” Smart said.