Georgia football head coach Kirby Smart is known for his ability to prepare and motivate his teams each season.
Whether it’s coining a saying like, “better never rests,” or a lesson in history about Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortés telling his soldiers to “burn the boats” as they headed into battle, Smart conveys the message effectively.
This past offseason, he’s been preaching about wanting players who possess FPE — “fire, passion, and energy.”
Smart wants players who lead and hold others accountable.
The message has been well received by Bulldog players, including junior inside linebacker Raylen Wilson, heading into his third season with the program.
“I feel like everybody’s more bought into the fire, passion, energy thing because I feel like nowadays college football, mostly people care more about money and here we make sure that’s not the biggest issue,” Wilson told reporters last week on the first day of fall camp. “We focus on the passion and the love for the game.”
Georgia’s back-to-back national championship rosters in 2021 and 2022 had outspoken leaders.
Despite winning the SEC Championship and making the College Football Playoff last season, the Bulldogs appeared to lack some of that strong leadership.
Tight end Oscar Delp has returned to Georgia for his final season. He’s seen what it takes to win a national title. Delp acknowledged that he and veteran players like Wilson have preached that message to the younger guys.
“I know how it was when we won games and we won national championships.
I was here for that, so I just share with them the standard and what those older guys were holding me to when I was younger,” he said. “I try to keep it the same. The standard is the standard. You’ve got to do it a certain way to win championships.”
This season’s roster is young. Smart acknowledged in July at SEC Media Days that this team is mostly made up of firstand second-year players.
However, the 10th-year head coach believes this young group is “hungry” to win.
“We are young … but we are hungry. We’ve got a team that’s fun to coach.
We go out to practice each day, and they’ve been enthusiastic,” Smart said.
“They’ve been out there working out, just doing all the things you ask.”
Smart also recognizes FPE in his staff, which includes veteran coaches who have been with the program for a long time.
“I feel it every day, because if you don’t have it, it’s hard to be successful,” Smart said. “You can’t keep up. Our staff has it.
Our staff has great juice.
We’ve had a chance to reenergize.”
Georgia’s been practicing in the heat over the last week, but Smart highlighted his players are still bought in.
“I see it in the players every day. And it starts with 110 heat index last week, seeing them out there running in that and facing it. They don’t always have it all the way through that … but they do push and challenge each other,” he said.
“That’s what I’ve enjoyed about this team so far, is they’re not afraid to hold each other accountable and get after each other, because they know that they’re stronger together than they are apart.”