Georgia aware of challenge for 2023, talented enough to overcome it
LOS ANGELES — The dust has only somewhat settled from Georgia’s 2023 National Championship Game victory Monday night over TCU, but in this day and age of College Football, attention turns quickly. Kirby Smart and his coaching staff will have recruits on campus this weekend for the championship celebration. The next few days and weeks will be filled with draft decisions and announcement posts on social media. Then, before long, the team will gather back and begin working out to start getting ready for spring practice.
Smart is already on the record in saying that he thinks next year’s pursuit of a title will be even harder than this years. That’s because the majority of the 2022 team was new on the scene and hungry to leave their own legacy in Athens. Now that they’ve done that, those that return will have to find more motivation to chase the three-peat.
“The biggest challenge is the same as in the world we live in today, the society we live in – entitlement,” Smart said. “The minute you think you’re entitled to winning games and you don’t have to work hard – Coach Dykes and I were talking about it; the uphill battle for those guys is you think that you just inherit success. And I personally think next year is going to be a much more difficult challenge over this year because we had so many guys leaving last year. We got a lot of guys coming back. And unfortunately this one right here is not.”
Smart of course was talking about quarterback Stetson Bennett, the sixth-year senior who played his final game in the 65-7 win against the Horned Frogs. Bennett has started the last 25 games for the Bulldogs, but his departure means a new era for Georgia at the quarterback position. Carson Beck, Brock Vandagriff and Gunner Stockton were all three highly touted recruits coming out of high school. They’ll all compete for the job, something that excites Smart to think about.
“We’ve got some good quarterbacks in there,” Smart said. “We got one that took a black jersey off and took hits all week so he could be Max. Gunner Stockton said, ‘Coach, take my shirt off. I’ll take the hits.’ And Brock Vandagriff is down there learning all year. Carson Beck got a lot of playing time and has a lot of composure to come back and be able to play. So those three guys will get to battle it out. And they’ll learn a lot.”
Whoever ends up at quarterback won’t be alone in Georgia’s offense though. Kenny McIntosh may be on his way out, but Kendall Milton has already announced he’ll be back while Daijun Edwards, Branson Robinson and Andrew Paul are all expected to return. The pass catchers won’t be bad either with the likes of Brock Bowers, AD Mitchell, Ladd McConkey and a pair of wide receiver transfers all running routes.
All that talent is on the offensive side of the ball, and the future for the defense may be even brighter. Georgia’s top three tacklers – Smael Mondon, Jamon Dumas-Johnson and Malaki Starks – are all back. A trio of true freshmen recorded sacks in the championship win – Mykel Williams, Bear Alexander and Jalon Walker. They’ll be back alongside key contributors like Nazir Stackhouse, Kamari Lassiter and Javon Bullard, who was named Defensive MVP in each of Georgia’s two College Football Playoff games.
“This team has the opportunity to continue to accomplish things that have never been done,” Milton said. ” … I’ve got three-peat on my mind, so when we get back, got to get back to work and everybody that’s coming back next year, we know what the standard is. We know what’s the expectation.”
“Man, the future is bright for the University of Georgia,” departing senior Nolan Smith said. “The future is bright, the present is bright, and Coach Smart is gonna keep it going.”
