Coming off best performance of season, Maurice Smith’s pleased with transfer decision

Maurice Smith came to Georgia for a chance to start on defense.

It was never guaranteed when he decided to transfer from mighty Alabama, where he had been predominantly a special teams player. While he came out of the spring as Alabama’s starting nickel back, there was still some concern as to whether he would actually contribute.

So he decided to transfer and ultimately received an SEC conditional waiver to do so in the conference. Smith has since started every game and has been a major contributor through the first five games of the year.

In Georgia’s 34-31 heartbreaking loss to Tennessee on Saturday, Smith put in his best performance with the Bulldogs. He forced and recovered a fumble near the end of the first quarter and came up with an interception in the fourth quarter.

Smith finished the game third-best on Georgia with seven tackles and also added a pass breakup. But the end result put a damper on what should have been an uplifting game for the graduate transfer.

“It was definitely one of my best games,” Smith said. “I was proud of myself, but at the end we should have won. I think I can put my personal achievements away and look forward to getting a win instead of that. I think that’s bigger than my achievements.”

Smith’s now a part of a Georgia squad with a 3-2 record following consecutive losses to Mississippi and Tennessee. During three years at Alabama, he was never a part of a team that lost more than once during the regular season.

Understandably, Smith was asked whether he had any regrets of leaving Alabama, the undefeated No. 1 team in the nation through five weeks of football, for Georgia, which is still finding its way in year one of the Kirby Smart era.

“You can look at it both ways. You came from a national championship team to a team that’s not winning,” Smith said. “But honestly, I don’t look at that. I still think we have opportunities in the future that can come and still be a great team.”

Smith said he has bonded with his new teammates, which has helped reinforce that he made the best decision to transfer. After all, the reason to transfer from Alabama was due to his desire to see the field on defense during his final football season.

“Winning wasn’t anywhere in my thought process,” Smith said. “It was really getting somewhere that I could feel comfortable, have a chance to play, make tremendous statement and help the team out.”

Smith said he liked what he saw in Georgia’s improvement during the past two weeks, especially after an embarrassing 45-14 defeat to Mississippi. While the Bulldogs have lost two games in a row, Smith believes there’s more his new team can accomplish, even after such a devastating defeat to Tennessee.

“I’ve learned a lot,” Smith said. “We obviously have dealt with a lot of adversity, especially coming from that last loss against Ole Miss and how many points we lost by in the deficit, and just how much we learned in film (study). But coming into the game two days ago playing Tennessee, we were hungry. There are a lot of young kids that can play. Just to show the type of stride and hunger for success, we’re not the typical 3-2 team. I think we have a lot we can improve on in the future.”

This story was originally published October 3, 2016 at 5:50 PM with the headline "Coming off best performance of season, Maurice Smith’s pleased with transfer decision."