Spring practice just recently got underway for the Georgia Bulldogs and head coach Kirby Smart, perhaps unsurprisingly, is already unhappy.
While speaking with reporters on Tuesday, Smart made it clear that some of his players need to do a better job of practicing to Georgia’s standard.
Smart told reporters that he feels like some of this players are “offended” by being coached hard.
“No we have to coach it, I mean that’s what they pay us to do, coach them,” said Smart when asked about getting players to step up. “They have to be willing to receive coaching. On the whole, my whole preach after the practice was we’ve got a lot of guys that put their hands up. They’re offended when you coach them. I’m not talking about the freshmen, I’m talking about in general.
“We’ve had multiple NFL coaches come through here, go to practice, and you know, they talk about how their players love to be coached, they love to be given a nugget, a technique that might help them play longer or play better. Some of our guys are offended by it. It’s like, you’re coaching me hard? You’re telling me I’ve got to play with effort? Some of them I guess they’ve never been held to that standard, but that standard is not going to change here.”
Smart was quick to point out that he doesn’t think the NIL era has anything to do with players being resistant to coaching, noting that players in the NFL get paid more than college players and they still manage to embrace being coached hard.
“Kids that want to be coached don’t care what they make,” said Smart. “I mean the guys in the National Football League make more than these guys and they still want to be coached. So it’s not a relatively new thing. I think it’s more prevalent than it’s been. It’s just not, it’s not new. Guys have always maybe not been used to being coached and being corrected — especially at the volume and level of which we do things. But I think they’ll get there. If they won’t, then somebody else will be in their spot.”
