"I don't think Kirby Smart now would recruit Kirby Smart then": Georgia HC turns reflects on his playing days at the Bulldogs

Georgia coach Kirby Smart has shaped the Bulldogs into one of the top teams in the country. He took over the program in 2016 and led them to two back-to-back national championships (2021 and 2022).

Before becoming a football coach, Kirby Smart was a player. Coming out of Bainbridge High School, he played as a defensive back for the Georgia Bulldogs from 1995 to 1998. In an interaction with SEC Network, Smart reviewed his own film from his playing days with the Bulldogs.

In the video, the Georgia coach critically analyzes his plays and interceptions on the field against rivals like Florida, Auburn and others. In the end, Smart was asked whether he would recruit himself from the past to play for Georgia in the present time.

"Those plays were good. So I could be positive about those and say, you know, keep doing what you're doing. But I don't think Kirby Smart now would recruit Kirby Smart then," he said.

During his four-season stint as a defensive back for Georgia, Smart recorded 13 interceptions while getting the opportunity to play with some of the program's greats, like Antonio Cochran, Champ Bailey, Hines Ward and others. He was also selected first-team All-SEC during his senior campaign.

After going undrafted in the 1999 NFL draft, Smart signed as a free agent with the Indianapolis Colts. But he was cut from the team right before the start of the season, following which he began his coaching journey.

---

Kirby Smart gets real on Georgia's depth issues after first fall camp scrimmage

Last season, the Bulldogs lost their chance of three-peating the national championship after losing the SEC title game to Alabama, thus failing to qualify for the playoffs. However, Smart hopes to turn the tide this upcoming season and clinch his third natty with the program.

Despite the optimism, he still believes that the team has a lot of improvement to make. While speaking to the press after the first scrimmage of fall camp, Kirby Smart talked about the issues of depth on the roster and how it poses a problem to their standard of play on the field.

"We got a long way to go as a football team," Smart said. "We are nowhere near close to where we need to be. I feel like we have less depth than we've ever had. And that's kind of a common thing talking to other coaches I talk to.

"I call it 'the deterioration of football' because every year we've been here, I feel like we've had more players capable of going in and play winning football and every year that goes down. We got to keep working to increase that number."

The Georgia Bulldogs have a tough schedule for the upcoming season. It remains to be seen if Kirby Smart can have them qualified in the new 12-team playoff format.