Following the 2023 season, Georgia fans were left with mixed emotions after dominating Florida State in the Orange Bowl for the Bulldogs’ fifth straight season with a New Year’s Six Bowl victory, but ultimately falling short of the standard that has been set, which is appearing in the College Football Playoff.
Before the Bulldogs open the 2024 football season in Atlanta on August 31 against the Clemson Tigers, Coach Kirby Smart has implemented the “get better’ mindset into his team’s practices this spring to help keep his players focused on the small details ahead of the offseason that will help define the team’s identity.
Smart, when asked about what the phrase means for his team, said “Being detailed in what we are attacking each day. Don’t go out there without a purpose. I try to have the coaches go in each day and give points of emphasis.” Purpose and attention to detail at this point in the offseason are two areas that the Bulldogs will have to focus on, as they won’t see any type of scrimmage aside from split quad games, including the G Day Game on April 13.
Certain players have mentioned specific areas of their game that they want to improve before the coming season. Junior defensive back Mykel Williams discussed his areas of improvement this offseason: “I’m trying to improve my hand, my hand speed, my pad level, my get off and really just certain things that I’ll need to be successful at this position.”
Heisman Trophy hopeful quarterback Carson Beck also mentioned a few of his areas with needed improvement, saying “I think the biggest thing for me is just continuously building my confidence level, and then, working through reads faster knowing when I can take the big shot and then when I need to check it down and play it safe.” While it will be important during offseason practices for the team to bond and build an identity as a whole, players will have to take accountability and improve their own traits ahead of the regular season.
Georgia’s multi-versatile receiver/running back Dillon Bell is capitalizing greatly this spring in getting better, which will only help the wide receiver unit.
“He’s continued to develop and continues to get better. He’s still a work in progress,” Smart said. “He played high school running back. He played 25 percent running back last year. The kid has worked his tail off at receiver to get better, but there’s a lot of route running things he can get better at. The good thing is he’s got a quarterback the caliber of Carson to get him throws, get him 50/50 balls. I’m proud of the way he leads in practices. He’s taken on more of that Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint, Ladd McConkey role of being the guy that’s the workhorse in that group, that never complains, is really physical, practices hard and sets the standard for the others. I think him, Rara, Arian and Dom have taken ownership in that.”
When discussing his younger players, Smart said “It can be overwhelming to a young player, so we try to narrow their focus on small things.” Smart and his staff realize that for a program to be complete up and down the roster, he will need to prep his newcomers so that they are settled in by the time the regular season arrives.
After the team’s first spring scrimmage, Smart said “We’ve got a lot to work on. We were very sloppy in terms of substitutions, getting guys on and off the field, communication, signals, just a lot of new people in the organization. It was not as clean as most of our first scrimmages. So, from scrimmage one to scrimmage two, starting really today, we’re moving towards how much can we improve from scrimmage one to scrimmage two.” He also highlighted the “15 opportunities” that his team gets this spring to practice before the summer, and said that he has “full expectations” that they will continue to have “intentions of growing and getting better.” The upcoming G -Day Game will be the perfect opportunity for the Bulldogs to showcase not only their talented roster for their fans, but also to continue to develop the “get better” mindset into the team ahead of the much anticipated upcoming season.