Kirby Smart trying to match talent with high expectations

Kirby Smart had a very interesting comment in his Monday preseason news conference. It’s one of those comments that seemed orchestrated to send a message to his fan base.

Smart was asked about the difference between his first and second season as the Georgia head coach. It was one of those natural, logical questions for a coach in a setting like that. Smart probably expected someone to ask how this season, his second, would be different than his first.

The answer was as much about last year as anything, and it explained why Smart had his job in the first place.

“I knew the expectation didn’t meet the quality of players that were here,” Smart said.

Let’s analyze that comment. First, we know the expectations of Georgia fans are usually out-of-whack. It’s not a surprise as most college football fans are unrealistic. They all drink the Kool-Aid more than fans of any other sport.

Georgia fans have the habit of thinking their program is better than it actually is, and that’ll win me fans on message boards. But it’s true. Georgia hasn’t won a conference championship in 12 years or a national championship in 37 years, but you wouldn’t know it by listening to its fan base.

There’s no harm in that, but it does lead to unrealistic expectations at times. I’ve been guilty of it a time or two in this space. It also has been the natural reaction of buying what we’ve been sold, as the tone from Athens has historically been that, “We’re getting ready to be really good.”

Good, but not great. That has been the problem. That’s why Smart was hired.

Smart admitted the program he inherited didn’t have the type of players to warrant such high expectations, which again, has been part of the problem. The talent has been good, and it has resulted in good seasons. But the expectation has been there would be more great seasons than the Bulldogs have had.

Some may think Smart may have been throwing some of his former players under the bus, but he was being honest about the talent level of last year’s team. Someone once said, “You are what your record says you are.” Georgia was 8-5 last season, with an almost loss to Nicholls and an embarrassing home loss to Vanderbilt. And even with a first-year head coach, the Bulldogs still can’t beat Florida.

They just weren’t very good. They had a player walk into Athens from Rhode Island last summer and practically be handed a starting job at offensive tackle. Championship programs never have that happen, but Georgia’s offensive line had been neglected for so long that’s what the Bulldogs wound up with last season.

That’s really all you need to know what Smart inherited. And now, Smart must make that talent better. He must make the quality of the players in Athens better, with more consistent recruiting, less hits and misses in February and better player development.

Smart mentioned that a lot Monday. He talked about developing players. A program must regularly make a three-star prospect a four-star player and a four-star prospect a five-star player. Either do that, or do what Alabama does and just recruit and sign every five-star prospect in the country.

Georgia has a better team, at least on paper, for this season. Smart’s two recruiting classes have added depth and bulk on the lines of scrimmage. That’s the first step in trying to make Georgia live up to the expectations of its fan base.

Smart obviously learned a lot in his first season as a head coach. He was around the best coach in America for years, but now that he has been in those shoes, that corner office, Smart knows plenty more. And Smart’s comment should make the fan base know he’s trying to improve the quality of the players, so that one day this program will meet their high expectations.

This story was originally published August 1, 2017 at 11:52 AM with the headline "Kirby Smart trying to match talent with high expectations."