Nolan Smith details ‘Bloody Tuesday’ practices at Georgia

Ask most people within the Georgia football program, and they’ll tell you that Bloody Tuesday is a massive part of their success. The most difficult day of practice for the Bulldogs throughout the week, Bloody Tuesday earned its nickname in part because of the physicality.

Former Georgia linebacker Nolan Smith, who was selected in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft by the Philadelphia Eagles, credits the routine for helping build him into the player he is today. In an appearance on the Green Light Podcast, he broke down what all the day entails.

“It was real bloody,” he said. “We started from like, I’ll say the first drill, we flex. But then the first drill after flex and we warm up, we did this bracket drill. It was like a tight end and an OLB in the apex. Literally the tight end and the OLB are running into each other. Then we go into indy and the OLB, we was practicing closing. So if we had a run up for the day, if it was stretch, we’ll have our scout tackles down there.”

That was only the beginning, however, as things ramped up a notch when players moved from individual to team drills. Smith wasn’t limited to just the defensive action either, as he explained he also worked with special teams.

“Soon as period three, we’re getting into it,” he said. “By the time of period four, we’re on scouts. We’re about to go to the team period. Special teams is not even until period 13 and that’s really the worst period. We’re gonna practice kickoff. I was on all the teams. I was a team guy. I played all four teams.”

Smith was with the first team every drill except for one area, and that’s something he jokingly called out tight ends coach Todd Hartley about.

“I think the lowest I was on a team was two and that was on punt,” he said. “I was the left guard. I’m still mad about that. Coach Hartley, I’ll never f***ing forget that. Smael Mondon did not beat me out of that job. I took every step every day correctly.”

Ultimately, Bloody Tuesday helped Smith and others develop at Georgia as the Bulldogs claimed back-to-back national championships in 2021 and 2022. Now Smith will hope to carry those lessons with him to the Eagles, where he is one of three rookies from UGA on the roster along with Jalen Carter and Kelee Ringo.