Georgia football is prioritizing safety, and preparing for a season, during pandemic

There were many ways Kirby Smart tried to pass the time during a 14-day quarantine period. It didn’t involve a role as the family’s at-home elementary school teacher, however. He couldn’t pass that test.

His patience with a 100-man roster of football players doesn’t quite transfer to instructing his 7-year-old son, Andrew. Mary Beth Smart, his wife, probably wouldn’t allow the homeschooling duties even if Georgia’s fifth-year head coach tried.

“My frustration level exceeds any ability to have the patience to do that,” Smart said Tuesday. “I have a lot of respect for teachers — even more for those who teach first through fourth grade. These young kids, my 7-year-old. Wow.”

Smart was required to shelter-in-place after returning from a spring break trip to Costa Rica. He spent much of his time outside — walking, jogging or anything possible to maintain his physical health and get exercise. He had to avoid going stir-crazy as most of America has done during the COVID-19 outbreak.

When indoors, Smart had an itch for a TV show and tried to fulfill it with the uber-popular “Tiger King” documentary on Netflix. He couldn’t get past two episodes, and needed more of a plot. The new season of the locally-filmed thriller, “Ozark,” became closer to Smart’s liking.

This period of unrest creates unique feelings for everybody, but even more so for Smart. His frantic emotions on the gameday sideline mimic his day-to-day routine as the director of Georgia’s proverbial feature film. Smart always looks ahead, rarely takes a moment to rest from March to December and grows a few more gray hairs from late nights and an on-the-go approach.

There’s not much of a standstill to be had. But now, all Smart can be is still.

“We’re trying to get used to a new normal, at least a new normal for right now. It’s an adjustment for everybody out there,” Smart said. “No. 1 thing is the well-being of our players and the students. Some of them are concerned about being in shape. That’s not the primary concern right now. The primary concern is the well-being of our communities.”

Georgia has been shut out of spring practice, but a semblance of football must continue.

All coaches are working from home, players can’t be given a workout mandate and the lone group interaction comes by way of a two-hour-per-week team meeting on Zoom. The individual coaching staffs — offense, defense and special teams — have meetings to discuss planning and installation just as if it were spring practice.

For the Bulldogs, the timing of the vast shutdown across the state’s universities didn’t work to their favor. Some programs had time for an exit-strategy meeting, but Georgia players and coaches were scattered throughout the world on spring break. There were some teams — such as Clemson and Georgia Tech — that had as many as four practice sessions before the pandemic began to hit the nation.

“It’s been probably the most different three to four weeks that I’ve ever experienced,” Smart said. “It’s hard to compare it to anything because we really have never experienced it.”

Georgia had some team-wide interactions, but it came only in the form of offseason walk-through sessions. Graduate transfer quarterback Jamie Newman engaged in unstructured 7-on-7 periods (Smart thinks a lack of spring practice has the biggest impact at quarterback) to gain familiarity with his wide receivers.

Otherwise, Smart has had to get creative without crossing the line — keeping safety the top priority.

“The biggest advantage you can have is to have good leadership,” Smart said. “If you have a veteran team, it doesn’t matter if you have spring practice or not. When you don’t have that, it’s tougher. ... We’re trying to act like we’re going through spring practice right right now. We’re doing it with our players virtually but with only two hours a week.”

Georgia finds itself in a period of trying to emulate spring practice, but those live reps at the Woodruff Practice Field can’t be matched. Football is put on the back burner, and that’s a seemingly-unfathomable concept for one of the nation’s premier programs in pursuit of a national title.

Scott Sinclair, Georgia’s head strength-and-conditioning coach, posts daily workout videos to Twitter and some players have taken on the challenge by responding with videos of their own. But once more, nothing can be mandated and on-field instruction feels an eternity away from returning.

Zoom has become college football’s best friend. Georgia prepares with the optimism of being back on the football field — and finally out of the house again.

“But hell, nobody knows when that is,” Smart said.

Georgia 2020 football schedule

▪ Sept. 7 Virginia (Atlanta)

▪ Sept. 12 ETSU

▪ Sept. 19 @ Alabama

▪ Sept. 26 UL-Monroe

▪ Oct. 3 Vanderbilt

▪ Oct. 10 Auburn

▪ Oct. 17 @ Missouri

▪ Oct. 24 Open Date

▪ Oct. 31 Florida (Jacksonville)

▪ Nov. 7 @ South Carolina

▪ Nov. 14 Tennessee

▪ Nov. 21 @ Kentucky

▪ Nov. 28 Georgia Tech

This story was originally published March 31, 2020 at 12:32 PM.