Kirby Smart did not get to be a successful head coach by allowing himself to feel comfortable with the depth on his football team.

Pick a position, it doesn’t matter. Smart will never publicly admit he feels good about the status quo.

That’s certainly true in regard to this year’s wide receivers, a position where several of its inexperienced members are going to need to step up if the Bulldogs want to have the kind of depth Georgia’s head coach desires.

“I feel good that we have some good young receivers, but they’re not experienced,” Smart said. “We’ve got to get them enough experience, valuable experience, in the early part of camp, so those guys are productive at the end of the year.”

It’s not for a lack of bodies.

However, when Smart does a head count in his wide receivers room, there are only three returnees – Ladd McConkey (31-447, 5 touchdowns), AD Mitchell (29-426-4) and Kearis Jackson (16-194-1) – who caught more than 16 passes last year.

Of course, this does not include the fact tight end Brock Bowers led the team with 56 catches for 882 yards and a school-record 13 touchdowns, or Jermaine Burton’s transfer to Alabama. Nevertheless, when you consider that in Smart’s perfect world his wide receiver corps would be 7-8 deep, then it’s easy to understand his concern.

At least it’s not like there’s a shortage of candidates.

Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint has started before, and it appears that Dominick Blaylock and Arian Smith will each go into the start of fall camp healthy and hopefully will be ready to give the team meaningful reps.

Sophomore Jackson Meeks is someone else who the coaches hope takes the next step in his development. Freshmen C.J. Smith, De’Nylon Morrissette, Dillon Bell, and Cole Speer are among those position coach Bryan McClendon will push to have ready as quickly as possible.

During last week’s SEC Media Days, Smart even mentioned walk-on Mekhi Mews as someone who potentially could contribute.

“Last year, A.D. Mitchell was not a guy anybody talked about, but he got a great chance in spring camp because of injuries to George (Pickens) and (Burton),” Smart said. “That helped A.D. Mitchell make the plays that he made at the end of the year, which were critical. We have to have more guys like that who played in the spring or in fall camp and they’re ready to go by week 7, 8 or 9. Because it’s not realistic to think a guy that just got here can be ready to go by Game 1.”

Until that happens, don’t look for Smart to act too giddy until he sees some results. Staying healthy will be a must, too.

Last year, seven different Bulldog receivers missed time with various injuries, a concern he will always be cognizant of.

So the next time anyone asks Smart if he feels comfortable with a certain position, expect a similar answer.

“Let’s be clear, you can never say you’re comfortable with the depth at any position. I’m not comfortable with the depth at tight end,” Smart said. “We had two or three tight ends that got every rep in the spring because Darnell (Washington) was out, Brock was out, and we had other guys get all the reps. And I’m still not comfortable with it because I think you can’t ever have enough in a sport that’s very physical, very tough. We have a lot of tissue injuries, which goes to your point at receiver. We had a lot of soft tissue injuries last year. Soft tissue is the number one reason NFL players miss games. That’s the leading cause for us. So, we’re constantly trying to monitor that.”