Kirby Smart on players who leave due to Georgia's emphasis on physicality: 'We like to play them'

Kirby Smart sent a message on Saturday with Georgia’s 35–10 demolition of Texas. It was a victory built on relentless physicality and a dominant 21–0 fourth quarter.

But after the game, Smart made it clear that what the country saw on the field wasn’t a one-week surge, or a matchup-specific performance. It was exactly what Georgia football is built on, from spring workouts to fall camp to every practice rep in between.

He didn’t hesitate to call out what he sees as the growing “money-first” mentality that runs counter to the Bulldogs’ culture: “Yeah, it’s the approach we take,” Smart said postgame. “We’re gonna validate it in the fourth quarter. It’s what we build our core culture around, being the more physical team. You have to recruit physical players, and they have to buy into that process.”

Then came the line that turned heads: “I don’t know that a lot of these kids nowadays — they want the check. They don’t want physicality. When you have the check and no physicality, you end up with nothing. So you’re not just getting checks at our place. We’re hitting people.”

Instead of walking that line back on Monday, Smart doubled down when asked how he handles players who want to transfer out because Georgia practices too hard or demands too much physicality. His response was vintage Kirby, as he was blunt and confident.

“We schedule them,” Smart said. “Those ones that want to leave? We schedule them. We try to get them on the schedule.”

Smart wasn’t finished either: “When they want to leave because they’re not physical, that means they’re probably going to a place that’s not physical. We like those places. We like to play them,” he said. “We prefer them, actually, if you can get them on the schedule.”

As you can tell, Smart’s message was unmistakable. Georgia isn’t changing, and anyone running away from physicality is only helping the Bulldogs long term: “You don’t run from hard in life,” Smart proclaimed. “You run from hard in life, you’ll find more hard.”

Through words and subsequent results, Smart’s made his point over and over again. While NIL may tempt some players, at Georgia, toughness still defines the program. Anyone unwilling to embrace it may eventually have to line up across from it.

— On3’s Alex Byington contributed to this article.