Georgia’s Kirby Smart handles transition the only way he knows how: recruiting
The first three years of Kirby Smart’s tenure as Georgia’s head coach were marked with enthusiasm fueled by on-the-field success, stability and continuity.
The past few months have been marked with angst fueled by underachieving play, turmoil and turnover.
Through it all — the high times and the lows — has been one constant.
Recruiting.
Well, more accurately, exceptional and relentless recruiting unparalleled in school history.
Yes, Georgia has long been regarded as one of the top recruiting schools in college football, going back to Ray Goff’s days. But much of this was more hype than substance. Jim Donnan hit some home runs — Champ Bailey, Quincy Carter, Jasper Sanks — and Mark Richt took recruiting to a new level.
But none of them ever recruited on Smart’s level. The Bulldogs recently received a verbal commitment from Colquitt County running back Daijun Edwards. That propelled them into the No. 1 spot in both Rivals and 247 Sports rankings with signing day looming Wednesday.
If that holds out, this will mark the third consecutive year in which Georgia finished first in the Rivals rankings and second time in three years in the 247 Sports rankings.
Quick disclaimer here: I know nothing about Edwards or any of the other recruits aside from what I’ve read, which, to be truthful, is very little. I’m not wasting any time trying to evaluate the merits of some high school kids, no matter how talented they may be. I can do without the pompous signing ceremonies.
Second disclaimer: Some of these kids will never pan out. Injuries, transfers and attitudes have a way of weeding them out.
That said, recruiting is the lifeblood of every college football program. The rankings are more often accurate than not, or at least close.
The rankings themselves are meaningless. Players still have to be developed and teams still have to be built. But there’s an undeniable correlation between recruiting rankings and winning.
A strong recruiting year has never been more important to Smart and Georgia than this year. The Bulldogs have gone 33-3 in the past three regular seasons, 36-7 overall. But they did so with one quarterback (Jake Fromm) and three NFL-caliber running backs (Nick Chubb, Sony Michel and D’Andre Swift).
Fromm and Swift opted to forego their senior seasons and enter the NFL draft. That’s only a small portion of the turnover that Smart has had to deal with this offseason.
It was basically a given that Swift and left tackle Andrew Thomas would leave early. But then came the surprising news that Arkansas hired offensive line coach Sam Pittman to be its head coach. Pittman was a huge part of that recruiting success. His departure was the first of many, all of which may have been related.
Right tackle Isaiah Wilson, then left guard Solomon Kindley entered the draft. Right guard Cade Mays, the likely replacement for Thomas at left tackle, transferred to Tennessee. Then came the news that Kevin Mays, Cade’s dad, was suing the Georgia Athletic Association over an accident two years earlier in which the elder Mays lost part of his finger.
Pittman was quickly replaced by former Ole Miss head coach Matt Luke. Jamie Newman, a senior transfer from Wake Forest, was signed to replace Fromm.
Then came the rather surprising hire of Todd Monken as offensive coordinator. It was a surprise not so much because Georgia needed to revamp its passing game, but that Smart actually admitted as much after repeatedly insisting that the only way to win in the SEC was with a strong running game. Of course, Smart also repeatedly said before the SEC Championship Game against LSU that Swift was “fine,” even maintaining that stance after Swift spent most of the game on the sideline with his injured shoulder.
It might be a stretch to call the aforementioned changes a crisis. But compared to the previous three years of stability, the pressure was on Smart to rebuild his coaching staff and his offense.
Smart has answered the challenge the best way — maybe the only way — he knows how. That is by assembling yet another sterling recruiting class.
There are many critics who think the Kirby Smart era peaked with the national championship game appearance in 2017. Marginalize him at your own risk. This roster is still loaded and will remain loaded for the next few years.