Kirby Smart's first year surrounded by uncertainty

Day 2 Updates | Kirby Smart whooped Muschamp at basketball

HOOVER, ALA.—Georgia went to an SEC Championship game four years ago, it hasn’t finished lower than third in the SEC East since 2006 and the Bulldogs haven’t lost more than two conference games in six of the last 10 seasons.

So why are they going through a coaching change?

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“Fans do expect a lot,” tight end Jeb Blazewich said. “And you can see that from our spring game; we had 93-thousand—probably more fit into those stands. They expect a lot and that’s the culture around here.”

That culture forced Mark Richt out after 15 seasons and brought in Kirby Smart, the big name assistant from Alabama.

Richt went 145-51 in Athens, a winning percentage of .739. The now-Miami head coach took the Bulldogs to five SEC Championship games and won two of them (2002 and 2005). Under him, Georgia had four straight 10-win seasons (2002-2005) and went to 15 bowls in during his tenure.

The only problem was he didn’t win enough. Georgia finished last season with a 9-3 regular season record before he was fired, giving way for the Kirby Smart era.

Expectations from the fan base didn’t change, coaches did. Now, Smart’s ready to embrace those lofty goals.

“My expectations are way greater than anybody else’s expectations of what we should do. I’ve always felt that way. I’m a competitor, I want to win,” he said. “You’re able to recruit good people. And when you do that, you should have high expectations. And we do. We do everything we can do to answer the bell with expectations.”

Smart will have to win with an unproven offense missing its top two running backs right now due to injury. One of last season’s Heisman favorites Nick Chubb is trying to recover from a torn ACL and backup Sony Michel fractured his forearm July 4.

And with opening day quickly approaching, having either back is still uncertain.

“I’m not sure what’s going to happen next year,” offensive lineman Brandon Kublanow said. “I know they’re rehabbing hard, and if not we have other great backs. We’ll be just fine.”

Last season there was a revolving door at quarterback between transfer Grayson Lambert, Brice Ramsey and Faton Bauta. The coaches brought in five-star quarterback Jacob Eason, who is projected to be the starting quarterback as a true freshman.

They had to replace eight starters (three on offense, five on defense) and now have to keep pace with more experienced teams like Florida and Tennessee in the East. And he’s trying to take what he learned from five-time national champion coach Nick Saban at Alabama.

“We’re charged with doing the best job we can each year with the group of individuals we have,” Smart said. “And if we do the best job we can with our power, that’s all we can do. Maybe that’ll be good enough, maybe that won’t be good enough for some people, but it’s the best we can do.”

Georgia starts their season Sept. 3 in Atlanta against North Carolina, a top-10 team last year that was in the conversation for the College Football Playoff. Then five of the Bulldogs’ next six games are SEC games.

“We have players who are all working hard, but the problem is we have to go out and beat everybody else who’s working hard,” Blazewich said. “So that’s the challenge we have before us.”

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