ATHENS, Ga. — As far as first practices go, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart loved the energy his new collection of Bulldogs brought to Tuesday’s action in Sanford Stadium. But perhaps not much else.
“We had a really good energy level, intensity and intent to go prepare to scrimmage. It was not lethargic, ho-hum,” Smart said in his meeting with press after the practice. “I was worried about us starting fast and having good energy. We had that.”
But with a plethora of new additions on both sides of the ball due to transfer portal losses and additions, as well as new signees, Smart acknowledged there is plenty of work to do to get ready for the annual G-Day Game just 11 days away on April 13.
“We've got a lot to work on. We were very sloppy in terms of substitutions, getting guys on and off the field, communication, signals, just a lot of new people in the organization,” he said. “It was not as clean as most of our first scrimmages. Some guys did well, some guys didn't do too well, a lot of anxiety for mid-years.”
However, he is hoping the group as a whole will use the time between now and Saturday’s next scheduled scrimmage to show what they can do.
“Starting really today, we're moving towards, ‘how much can we improve from scrimmage one to scrimmage two?’” he said. “Usually, you see immense improvement in guys that just got here because they aren't as nervous.
“It was their first practice in the stadium, so I'm hoping to see some of that growth this week and into Saturday."
