Sports

Kirby Smart defends Georgia’s recruiting approach at SEC Media Days

Dawn of the Dawg · Jul 21, 2026 23:00 · 3 min read

Kirby Smart defends Georgia’s recruiting approach at SEC Media Days — Georgia Head Coach Kirby Smart speaks at the 2023 SEC Football Kickoff Media Days at the Nashville Grand Hyatt on Broadway, Tuesday, July 18, 2023. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Kirby Smart isn't going to change how he runs Georgia no matter what anyone else says.

In terms of average age, there is no team in college football younger than the Georgia Bulldogs.

And, despite the wealth of experience that recent national title teams like 2025 Indiana or 2024 Ohio State possessed, that youth is the way Kirby Smart wants it.

“We're gonna be young every year because we still believe in a high school model,” Georgia’s head coach said at SEC Media Days this week.

In a world where college football rosters see more year-to-year turnover than was previously even fathomable, Georgia has remained steadfast in its approach. The Bulldogs are going to cultivate and develop their own homegrown talent, and they will always do things Smart's way.

“We just keep thinking that if we pour it into our guys, that our development is going to be better than taking a guy that’s second, third, fourth year, that somebody else developed,” Smart said.

Kirby Smart will continue guiding Georgia in the way he think is best

Smart said the Bulldogs have 27 freshmen, 27 sophomores and 26 juniors on their roster. Georgia’s average age on the roster of 19.81 years old is the youngest in FBS football.

But the youth shouldn’t be confused with inexperience. Fifth-year senior quarterback Gunner Stockton is back for his second year as the starter, and the Bulldogs return their top two leading rushers in Nate Frazier and Chauncey Bowens and the offensive line is bringing back four of its five starters from last season.

Defensively, the Bulldogs return seven players who started multiple games for them last season, and several others who played in nearly every game including linebacker Chris Cole and defensive lineman Elijah Griffin. It’s the kind of continuity the Bulldogs want to cultivate.

“I knew last year when I sat here and said we're really young that we'd be really young this year, too,” he said. “Now, I don't think we're as young this year as we were last year, but on paper we are. It's just in different spots.”

It can be frustrating for Georgia fans watching the Indianas and Texases of the world swing big in the transfer portal every offseason and walk away with highly-touted, ready-made NFL prospects. Especially when the Bulldogs haven’t won a College Football Playoff game since 2022, losing to Notre Dame and Mississippi in the quarterfinal each of the past two years.

But Smart remained adamant that there is no systemic issue with the way Georgia runs its program, and threw a shot at the long layoff the Bulldogs have dealt with in each of the past two seasons as a result of receiving a first-round bye.

“You look at those two games, I don't look at them as, "Oh God, there's something wrong," he said. “I look at it more of, how do we keep the continuity of going with what we do? We're a grind you out, hard-nosed culture team. We're physical. We're better when we're playing in rhythm. When we have week after week after week and we have to rebound and play somebody. The breaks have probably affected us some.”

Plus, it doesn’t sound like Georgia is afraid to spend. It just does it in different ways than you tend to see from the proverbial blue-bloods of college football.

Smart said he has never had an issue with asking University of Georgia administration for resources in pursuit of a particular player, whether it’s out of the portal or from high school. The reason they don’t always go for the highest-profile transfer portal players is because they’re more partial to developing high school prospects as a program.

“High school players nowadays aren’t any cheaper than portal players,” Smart said. “Especially good players. But we put our money where we think it’s best, and to put the best product we can on the field.”

With all of the continuity it’s enjoyed this season, 2026 is a critical season for Smart’s high school-based approach. A playoff win is almost certainly a major goal as the Bulldogs aim to prove they can still build up a program the old-fashioned way.