Nolan Smith explains what angers Kirby Smart most at practice

It’s not easy to win national championships. Because of this, it’s not easy to play for a coach who demands that kind of success. As former Georgia Bulldog and currently Philadelphia Eagle Nolan Smith explained, there are certain things you can get away with in a Kirby Smart practice.

Smith explained this to Chris Long during an appearance on his show, Green Light with Chris Long.

“If you don’t jog to the ball,” Nolan Smith said before coming up with another answer. “Forget the rest of everything, if you don’t thud. If you don’t touch somebody during a defensive play, he’s gonna take you out. 100%.”

Smith emphasized that Smart is particularly tough on the defense, which makes sense given that Smart was a defensive coordinator before becoming a head coach. So, he puts a ton of emphasis on the defense being physical in games and practices.

“If you have a white shirt on that Georgia and you don’t touch anyone, from like a DB, anybody, he’s gonna take you out of the game or take you out of practice really.”

Ultimately, regardless of what position you play on the defense, Kirby Smart wants his players to always be physical.

“He wants somebody to hit people every time, every play, every time that ball is snapped.”

There’s no denying that this approach has worked on the defensive side of the ball. Georgia has won two national championships in a row, largely on the back of an elite defense. On top of that, Georgia has had 14 defensive players taken over the past two seasons. Five of those drafted, including Nolan Smith, were taken by the Philadelphia Eagles.

Nolan Smith on Bloody Tuesday practices

At Georgia, Nolan Smith and the other Bulldogs had to deal with Bloody Tuesday practices. These incredibly difficult practices were a key part of the team’s success, and they were known for being incredibly difficult and physical.

“It was real bloody,” Smith 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.”