Champion Georgia not afraid of three-peat talk

Three-peat talk in Athens draws little reaction from Georgia head coach Kirby Smart, who has bigger concerns as the Bulldogs bid to win the national title for the third consecutive season.

"We've certainly looked at some three-peat scenarios of teams like the Bulls and different sports teams that they might actually know about," Smart said Tuesday at SEC Media Days in Nashville. "No offense to the Minnesota 1935 team, but I don't know if it's going to resonate with my audience.

"And I don't care about the three-peat, the two-peat or the one-peat. I care about complacency. If the focus is on that and the outcomes, I think the rest will take care of itself in terms of allowing our guys to focus on being the best they can be."

Smart said he and the administration have communicated and discussed hazing and related incidents with players since Pat Fitzgerald was fired at Northwestern. But already part of the program is Smart's introduction meeting in which he strictly shares team rules and roles.

"We do education," he said, recalling his freshman year having his head shaved and being told to carry meal trays for upperclassmen. "We do more of a brotherhood. Take this guy in. He's at your position. Can you go out and teach him and walk him through, embrace those guys and make sure they understand that hazing will not be tolerated, and if it is, they need to let us know.

"We do more of a brotherhood. Take this guy in. He's at your position. Can you go out and teach him and walk him through, embrace those guys and make sure they understand that hazing will not be tolerated, and if it is, they need to let us know.

As is custom in the SEC, Georgia won't have a cakewalk to a conference championship in 2023.

The Bulldogs don't go on the road until playing Auburn on Sept. 30, but travel to Florida (Oct. 28, Jacksonville, Fla.) and Tennessee (Nov. 18) with a shuffled roster. They replaced offensive tackle Broderick Jones, quarterback Stetson Bennett, defensive tackle Jalen Carter, linebacker Nolan Smith, cornerback Kelee Ringo and tight end Darnell Washington, all 2023 draft picks among the 23 players selected in the NFL draft the past two years.

Smart downplayed having been in three-peat mode at Alabama as defensive coordinator in 2012 and 2013.

"I'll be honest with you. I don't remember that next season or anything that carried over from that season because you're not thinking about the last season," Smart said of the 2014 season with Alabama. "I think sometimes as media you guys want to make it about, well, what are you going to learn, how are you going to combat this.

"All we're thinking about is the next 24 hours. Like how can we get better in the next 24 hours. I'm not sitting here thinking of some motivating factor. ... We expect to be good at University of Georgia. We want sustained success. So we have to do that by winning every day. That's not going to change whether we win it or not this year."

Georgia does have continuity on the coaching staff. Every full-time staff member with the Bulldogs for the 2022 title returns.

"Retention for us is the key to sustaining success. Again, retention is the key to sustaining success," Smart said. We can't do that without a supportive administration, and we sure as hell can't do that without a great culture of people wanting to be part of our program and pouring into our kids."

Smart briefly addressed the growing number of traffic-related tickets and speeding incidents the program has dealt with, including the fatal accident in January that claimed the lives of Devin Willock and Chandler LeCroy.

"It's very evident when you look at it, we've had traffic citations and incidents throughout the history of being at the University of Georgia. We actually don't have more now than we've had in the past," Smart said. "What concerns me most is the safety of our players, and when you drive at high speeds it's unsafe. We don't want that to happen. We're going to do all we can to take that out and make sure that's eradicated."