Kirby Smart Responds Indirectly to Rebuilding Years Comment from Nick Saban

Nick Saban made waves in the media on Wednesday, saying 2021 was a rebuilding year. Kirby Smart addressed those comments indirectly on Thursday.

Nick Saban made headlines on Wednesday when he said that his 2021 Alabama season was more of a rebuilding season. This sent social media ablaze, and of course, on Thursday, when Kirby Smart faced the media, he was certainly asked about it. 

To be clear, before we get any further into this article, Kirby Smart was asked the following question. 

"Kirby, yesterday Nick (Saban) was talking about rebuilding at Alabama, what does a rebuilding year look like for Georgia?"

This is obviously in response to Nick Saban's comments from Wednesday where he said 2021's Alabama football season was a rebuilding year. 

Last year, we had kind of a rebuilding year, so we should have nine starters back on offense and nine back on defense but six guys go out early for the draft. So now we have five back on offense and seven back on defense - Nick Saban

Indirectly, Smart addressed what he feels is a "rebuilding" season at Georgia: 

We are not sure. I don't think you ever look at a rebuilding year in the front of it. I certainly think you can look back in retrospect and say think of things that way. But I don't think you'll ever find a coach that goes into the season thinking that way. So, I don't exactly know what it looks like here. 

You can hear the question and response starting at (7:17) in the below video. 

Some would say that this year is indeed a rebuilding year for Georgia. With the amount of talent and depth that was lost from last year, there are plenty of questions left to be answered on both sides of the football. However, in quintessential Kirby Smart fashion, you'll need to search through the coach speak. 

Smart isn't taking a shot at Saban, nor was Saban trying to demean Georgia's title. Smart said shortly after the national title that 2021 was "Nick's best season as a coach yet." That he certainly overcame quite a bit, and in retrospect, perhaps it was indeed a rebuilding year for Alabama. 

A rebuilding year that culminated in their fifth Heisman winner and yet another SEC Championship, and a shot at a national title. Not bad for rebuilding. 

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