College football’s premier head coach, future Hall of Famer, affectionately known by a grateful Bulldog Nation as Coach King Kirby Smart, was a tremendous football player for his alma mater back in the 1990s.
Smart is one of the top defensive backs to ever play for Georgia. And that’s saying something.
There was Joe Tereshinkski I, Charley Trippi, Jake Scott, Bill Krug, Scott Woerner, Jeff Hipp, Chris Welton, Mike Fisher, Terry Hoage, Jeff Sanchez, Charlie Dean, Darryl Jones, John Little, Ben Smith and so many more before his playing days. For Smart’s last three seasons at Georgia, 1996-1998, he played with one of the greatest football players ever, Champ Bailey. So many great ones have donned the silver britches since, including Thomas Davis, Sean Jones, Bruce Thornton and Greg Blue. Then there are the numerous dynamic players coached by Smart: Eric Stokes, Tyson Campbell, Lewis Cine, Chris Smith, Javon Bullard, Derion Kendrick, Kelee Ringo, Kamari Lassiter, Dan Jackson and Malakai Starks.
I’m going to have to issue numerous apologies to so many tremendous defensive backs that aren’t listed above.
And how about these five safeties for Smart’s Bulldogs from 2021- 2024, a championship-laden four year run: Cine, Chris Smith, Bullard, Jackson and Starks. Think for a moment, joyfully, of all the enormous plays those five made in their magnificent Georgia careers.
Trippi, Scott, Woerner, Hoage and Bailey are all in the College Football Hall of Fame. The Red and Black Eight Ball predicts several more will join this illustrious group.
Smart’s 13 career interceptions puts him inside the top ten in Georgia history, tied with Woerner, Sanchez and Ben Smith for the sixth most in school history.
Two of Kirby Paul Smart’s best games as a Bulldog came against the Kentucky Wildcats, the first of which was the first of memorable back-to-back performances for Jim Donnan’s outstanding 10-2, top 10 team of 1997.
Kentucky and Georgia had both been down.
Coming off a stretch of winning six or fewer games six times in an eight year period between 1989 and 1996 – cue my favorite professional wrestler of all-time, The American Dream Dusty Rhodes …. “Hard Times Daddy” – the Bulldogs of ‘97 sparked a resurgence of Georgia Football. Both Robert Edwards and Hines Ward announced they would return for their senior seasons. Smart and Bailey highlighted an outstanding secondary. Linebackers Brandon Tolbert and Orantes Grant, a stout D-Line (featuring freshmen Richard Seymour and Marcus Stroud), Mike Bobo, Corey Allen, Olandis Gary, Matt Stinchcomb, Chris Terry – and a whole bunch of other great players that space wouldn’t allow me to list, this team was really good.
So was Kentucky.
Hal Mumme was brought in from Valdosta State to run the “Air Raid Offense.” His offensive coordinator was Mike Leach, who came with Mumme from Valdosta State. Just a couple of years later by the way, Smart and Will Muschamp were on the Valdosta State coaching staff, working for Chris Hatcher, a record setting quarterback for the Blazers.
Well the pass happy coach had the perfect quarterback in Tim Couch. The top prep prospect in the country by several recruiting services, Couch split time with Billy Jack Haskins as Bill Curry didn’t tailor the scheme to the talents of this elite prospect. Kentucky did beat Georgia that year in 1996, so I guess it worked that night for the Wildcats.
Anyways, Kentucky also made a big jump. With Couch the trigger man, the Wildcats suddenly boasted one of the most dynamic offenses not just in the SEC, but in all of college football.
Well, on a rainy October Saturday in Athens, the Bulldogs beat Kentucky 23-13. Edwards broke loose on a long touchdown run, Ronald Bailey had a pick six in the closing seconds of the first half to give Georgia a 14-7 intermission lead, and Smart twice intercepted Couch.
The next week in Jacksonville, 19-point underdog Georgia beat defending national champion Florida by 20, 37-17. It was the first time in the decade of the 1990s, and it would be the only time in the decade of the ‘90s, that the Bulldogs beat the Gators.
Edwards was tremendous with four touchdowns. Ward was sensational, his typical jack of all trades. And Kirby Smart, he intercepted two more passes against Gator quarterback Doug Johnson.
The next year in Lexington, the Bulldogs took a 28-26 thriller, as the Wildcats muffed the exchange on the snap for a potential game winning field goal. Smart was the Bulldogs defensive Most Valuable Player, once again twice intercepting Couch, who the following April would become the first overall pick in the 1999 National Football League Draft.
It didn’t take long for Smart to make an impact. The first scrimmage of his freshman year of 1994, on a hot August day at the Butts-Mehre practice field, Coach Sonny Smart’s (of Bainbridge) blue chip son went 100 yards for a touchdown. Kirby’s dad tells the story that Kirby called home, and said “Dad, I don’t think I’m going to see the field, I’m behind this guy Robert Edwards, and he’s unbelievable.”
At the time, Edwards was playing corner, he moved to tailback in 1995.
Smart redshirted in 1994, and then made an immediate impression across the SEC in his first two games of 1995.
The redshirt freshman safety sacked the mulletted South Carolina quarterback Steve Tanneyhill three times in a 45-23 Georgia victory. Edwards ran for five second half touchdowns that day, setting the Bulldogs school record.
The next week in Knoxville, Edwards was running wild but got hurt. Georgia hung tough and was tied with Tennessee late in the fourth quarter. That redshirt freshman defensive back came through again, intercepting Peyton Manning to set up a potential winning score. Alas, victory was not in the cards, as Tennessee won on a last second field goal.
Manning, who you may have heard of, went on to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 1998 NFL Draft.
That’s five picks against two record setting QBs who went on to be No. 1s in the draft.That’s a nose for the ball and tremendous instincts combined with outstanding speed and talent.
Football, especially the secondary, it’s in his blood. Driven for excellence, winning it’s in his blood. Before the back-to-back national championships, three SEC crowns, numerous record winning streaks, and an active stretch of eight straight top seven finishes, before his stints working for a slew of iconic coaches, it was crystal clear that Kirby Smart was an instant impact Bulldog.