UGA's Smart makes a favorite visit to Macon, talks Bulldogs, football, life, and legacy

Georgia head football coach Kirby Smart spoke at the Macon Touchdown Club's year-end jamboree, and touched on many topics in his speech and Q&A.

Video: Michael A. Lough/The Sports Report of Central Georgia, www.centralgasports.com

By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

          The season has been over for two months, spring football doesn’t start for two weeks, and the 2020 season’s kickoff isn’t for six months.

          Kirby Smart filled that void Monday night, for himself and more than 500 others, by speaking at the Macon Touchdown Club’s year-end jamboree at the Methodist Home for Children and Youth on Pierce Avenue.

Photo: Michael A. Lough/The Sports Report of Central Georgia, www.centralgasports.com

          Smart spoke to one of the largest crowds in club history, a pre-event sellout that included almost 50 people on the upstairs walking track, looking down upon about 500 people on the gym floor.

          The gathering included the club’s Super Seven, consisting of state players, and plenty of local and Central Georgia honorees.

          Smart has become all but locked in as the jamboree speaker each year, in part because of a growing connection with the Methodist Home.

          The home suffered a fire recently, and worked to get the facility ready for the jamboree, but there were virtually no signs that anything was wrong.

          Smart joined in the praise of home president and CEO Alison Evans.

          “I want to make sure you understand,” he said. “She’s impacting lives. They talk about ‘stars’? She’s a 10 star. She’s changing lives.”

Super Seven All-State
David Daniel, Woodstock
Terrence Ferguson, Peach County
Shawn Hardy, Camden County
Amarius Mims, Bleckley County
Micah Morris, Camden County
Zamon Ross, Schley County
Elmo A. Richardson Player of the Year
Brock Vandagriff, Prince Avenue Christian
Bobby Pope State Coach of the Year
Jeff Ratliff, Gatewood
 
Ortho Georgia Co-Back of the Year
Dexter Williams, Mount de Sales
Ortho Georgia Co-Back of the Year
Jaylon Barden, Westside
Ortho Georgia/Bill Turner Lineman of the Year
Jerome Denson, Southwest
Ortho Georgia Special Teams Player of the Year
Elizabeth Rodenroth, Howard
Marvin Davis Co-Coaches of the Year
Mike Chastain, Jones County
Keith Hatcher, Mount de Sales
Bobby Gene Sanders Memorial Scholarship Awards
Wesley Allen, Tattnall Square
Harrison Bonfim, First Presbyterian Day School
William Deal, Stratford
Conner Gilbert, Mount de Sales
Britton Jones, Jones County
Christian A. Lane, Central
Kieran MacKinnon, Stratford

          He said the Kirby Smart Family Foundation has targeted the Methodist Home as one of the organizations in the state it helps.

          “We’ve seen directly what they do for kids in this community,” he said. “It’s tremendous what she does. And (VP of facilities) Lonnie (Bivins) has the best pork chops in the state.”

          That segued into Smart’s points to the players in front of him, from the commits and recruits to locals, and in general toward all high school athletes.

          Basically, he told them to aspire to be more than just a football player, or athlete.

          “Whey you read these things,” he said, holding up a sheet with players’ resumes, “when it’s all said and done, they’re going to say a lot more about you when they say things like, ‘he had unbelievable community service hours’ (and) ‘he gives back to his community in every way possible’ (and) ‘his GPA is going to affect him for the rest of his life.’

          “You won’t take any of those stars with you when you go leave college, when you go to the combine, or when you go out to the real world. They’re not going to get you one thing. What’s going to get you anywhere you want to go is what you do between now and then.”

          The first four African-American players in UGA history, in 1971, recently spoke to the team, a meeting that moved Smart.

          “I’ll tell you, it was probably the most moving 30 minutes. I’m engulfed in the University of Georgia. It’s all I’ve known.

          “To hear these four men, who’ve paved the way for so many athletes, it was incredible to hear the things they were able to do, the things they were able to come in to. And the questions that our players asked.”

Bleckley County head coach Von Lassiter and standout lineman Amarius Mims.

Photo: Michael A. Lough/The Sports Report of Central Georgia, www.centralgasports.com

          Smart then re-visited a topic he broached after the Sugar Bowl win over Baylor, a sense of entitlement overall but in particular at Georgia.

          “Nobody owes you anything. They owe you an opportunity, is what they owe . What you do with it and how you embrace it and what you take advantage of … Because the resources that will be given to the young men in this room … what you’re going to do with that is going to define who you are.”

          Coaching players out of that mentality is a daily difficulty, he said.

          Smart said that increasingly a higher priority in recruiting is to find out more about somebody than just their playing skills, which are already fairly evident.

          Work ethic is huge, and a tough thing to measure based on limited visits.

Peach County’s Terrence Ferguson.

Photo: Michael A. Lough/The Sports Report of Central Georgia, www.centralgasports.com

          “When our coaches go to a school, they don’t go to coaches. They’re gonna go talk to the principal, guidance counselor, the janitor, the bus driver. . I want to know who you interact with. I want to find out ‘what is this kid really about?’

          “Not many coaches are going to tell you the correct truth, because they don’t want Momma and Daddy coming down on them.”

          Georgia lost a load of players to graduation and early departures to the draft – four, for the second straight year - including Houston County grad Jake Fromm.

          “It was a very emotional conversaion,” said Smart, who started recruiting Fromm to Alabama when the quarterback was a sophomore. “I’m very proud of everything he represented.”

          Fromm was offered by Georgia after Smart arrived.

          “It’s a challenge, now. When you take on being a quarterback at a large university, you’re under the watchful eye, and everybody watching every move,” Smart said, noting moreso away from the field. “I’m talking about when he goes out to eat. I’m talking about when he goes on a date with his girlfriend, and he can’t go to a college party because everybody’s taking pictures of him.

          “There’s a lot of pressure involved in that.”

          And then with a nod to TD Club state player of the year and Georgia commit Brock Vandagriff of Prince Avenue Christian, seated to Smart’s right: “Yeah, I’m talking to another guy in this room about that, too, because he’s going to be a part of it, too.”

          Smart said that and lot of criticism throughout Fromm’s junior season wore down the quarterback.

          Who the quarterback will be for the 2021 opener against Clemson is anybody’s guess. Smart said Clemson inspired the discussion for a game to strengthen a schedule that had some in 2019 wondering if the Tigers had done enough – even undefeated – to earn a shot at the playoff.

          “The bottom line is they wanted a stronger strength of schedule,” Smart said. “There was a concern on their part that they could win every game and not make the playoffs. We know we could probably lose one and still make the playoffs.”

          Smart, like virtually everybody involved at both programs, loves the matchup, a recruiting bonanza for both programs.

Six of the Macon Touchdown Club’s Super Seven, with state player of the year Brock Vandagriff on the stage to the right.

Photo: Michael A. Lough/The Sports Report of Central Georgia, www.centralgasports.com

          “I’ve been wanting to play them since I got there,” he said. “The kids want to play the big games. Next year, first game, open it up, we play at Charlotte against Clemson?

“Every kid in the country wants to be a part of that.”

          Smart said injured wideout Dominick Blaylock is working out with straight sprints but no cutting, and will miss spring but is expected back for preseason camp.

          Quarterback D’Wan Mathis had brain surgery upon reporting to Georgia and missed all of 2019.

          “Our medical staff did an unbelievable job; you think about sending your son off to college ... ,” Smart said. . Quarter-sized (cyst) out of his cranium, emergency surgery to get that out. Saved his life.”

          He said the transfer portal is a little misunderstood, and is not a big deal for him. If a player misses class and doesn’t want to deal with the punishment Smart promised his parents would be handed out for missing class and now wants to leave?

          “See ya,” Smart said. “Bye. … If you don’t want discipline, don’t come to Georgia.”         

          He does wish players would think a little more before transferring from Georgia, even if their football dreams don’t come true. He cited the school’s academic reputation, and the increased ease of employment with a degree. All that with the realization that if you’re transferring from Georgia because you’re not playing, you don’t need to think about the NFL.

          “Usually, if you’re not gonna be able to play at Georgia, if you’re struggling to play at Georgia, you’re probably not gonna play in the NFL,” he said. “You need your degree. Your degree matters. A degree from Georgia is worth a ton.”

          As with just about every public appearance since he signed the contract, Smart was asked about Georgia and Florida in Jacksonville.

          And his answer hasn’t changed much, his only problem with losing a “home” recruiting weekend every other year, with the teams alternating as the home team each year.

          “Every other year, what’s our greatest home game if we had home and away?” Smart asked. “It would be Florida.”

          The situation hasn’t appeared to have much of a negative impact, with Smart’s recruiting classes at Georgia ranking in the top five each year.

          He noted losing the economic impact on the state.

          “But there’s a lot of passionate people in South Georgia, there’s a lot of passionate people in Jacksonville that want that game there,” he said. “What I won’t let it do is divide Bulldog Nation, because that’s what I came in to, a divided group.

          “What I want is what’s best for the greater whole, best for the opportunity for us to win a national championship, and that’ll play out over time.”