SEC Media Days: Georgia HC Kirby Smart Cautions 'Humility is a Week Away' in SEC

Bulldogs' head coach Kirby Smart meet the press on Tuesday morning, cautioning Oklahoma and Texas to not overlook any opponents on their schedules.

Georgia coach Kirby Smart / John E. Hoover / Sooners on SI

DALLAS — On Tuesday, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart took the podium at SEC Media Days.

While Smart's team won't line up against Oklahoma in the regular season this year, Georgia's head coach acknowledged that adding the Sooners and Longhorns to the SEC will make schedules tougher for the entire conference.

Georgia meets Texas on Oct. 19, just one week after the Red River Rivalry in Dallas, for what should be a an exciting matchup with huge SEC implications. While Smart admitted that he has respect for Steve Sarkisian and his team, the Bulldogs' head coach emphasized that every week in the SEC is a tough matchup and that no opponent should be overlooked.

"When Texas and Oklahoma came into the conference, every schedule was going to get harder. We embrace that. We look forward to it. We are excited for the challenge to go to some really tough places," Smart said. "Every team we play is the best that week. Please understand that. In the SEC, humility is a week away."

As OU and Texas begin their journey in the SEC this season, they have significantly more difficult schedules that will test each team nearly every week. The Sooners play four teams in the top 10 and six teams in the top 15 of ESPN's post-spring Top 25 list during their inaugural year in the conference.

Following two consecutive national titles, the Bulldogs were excluded from the College Football Playoff last season after falling to Alabama in the SEC Championship Game. Still, UGA demolished Florida State in the Orange Bowl to finish a 13-1 season.

Over the past three seasons, Smart and company have accumulated a whopping 42-2 record.

This year, Georgia seems poised to compete for another national title as the Bulldogs return star quarterback Carson Beck and a number of talented players on defense, including Mykel Williams and Malaki Starks.

All three of the aforementioned players made the trip to Dallas to represent their squad at SEC Media Days.

While Smart's team is bringing back plenty of talent, UGA will have to replace two talented offensive players after Brock Bowers and Amarius Mims were selected in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft. Overall, Georgia had eight players selected in April's draft, including three defensive backs.

Despite having to rebuild the team's DB rotation, Smart seems confident that his group has the makeup to be elite once again.

We got some good young players in the secondary. It's going to be really important they grow up fast. They are going to go against a really high tempo offense in Clemson to start. Our job is to prepare them. Get to go against a really good offense day in and day out with Carson Beck, so I'm excited about the guys we have in that room. They'll step up to play. We have some experience in the safety position between Dan (Jackson) and Malachi (Starks), but it will be nickel position and the depth at those positions that's really critical."

With one of the highest blue chip ratios in the country, the Bulldogs should have no problem finding plenty of talented players to step into bigger roles. Blue chip ratio measures the amount of former 4-star and 5-star recruits on a program's roster.

Georgia's recruiting prowess has helped keep the Bulldogs on top of the college football food chain and seems to be maintaining momentum, meaning UGA could be a fierce competitor for OU in the SEC for years to come.

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