Kirby Smart 'thrilled' to see Nick Saban enjoying his opportunity on TV after retirement
Kirby Smart won’t see Nick Saban on the field during the game Saturday. But the Georgia head coach loves where the former Alabama coach is now: television.
That’s not to say he wouldn’t love to compete against the GOAT one more time. But Smart has to worry about Kalen DeBoer’s version of Alabama this weekend in Tuscaloosa.
Saban will still be there though, just hosting on College GameDay is all. Smart for one, is glad to see his former boss enjoying what he does.
“He’s extremely thorough and enjoys what he does,” Smart said. “I’m thrilled that he gets an opportunity to do what he wants to do and being with who he wants to be with, with his family and enjoy that. I’m really happy he’s still part of college football because he makes college football better.”
Smart wasn’t the only one to praise Saban on ESPN’s iconic pregame show. Host Rece Davis called the former coach’s work “phenomenal.”
“He’s been phenomenal, Paul,” Davis said to Paul Finebaum on the latter’s show. “The thing that I’m not surprised by, but very impressed by, is the level of his engagement. He’s in our meetings during the week, and we’ll talk to him aside from the meetings.
“He’s all in, constantly learning, always wanting to be great and be perfect. And not one time has he come across in such a way that he’s like, ‘Hey, look at my seven championship rings and everybody listen to me.’ He would certainly have the résumé to do so and the credentials to do so if he wanted to. But he hasn’t approached it that way.”
Smart can’t afford a loss this weekend, at least that’s what Finebaum says. Nonetheless, Saban or DeBoer, Smart’s team has to worry about the players on the field.
That starts with Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe, a Heisman contender in 2024.
“Yeah, if you can simulate this guy, then he would be in the transfer portal somewhere,” Smart said. “Because he would be playing. He would be on a team somewhere playing, because there is no simulation. I think that’s the problem.”
And Smart has also seen what Milroe can do to the Georgia defense, as he helped carve up the Bulldogs in the 2023 SEC Championship Game. Milroe finished that game 13-of-23 for 192 yards and two touchdowns and no interceptions.
“He can go as fast backwards as he can go forward, I’ve seen him get out of jams straight ahead, backwards, elite quickness,” Smart said. “When you see him in person on the field, he’s very thick and very hard to tackle, but yet has a bazooka for an arm, so there is no simulation.”