Bulldogs adopt Nike-inspired mantra for spring practice

Kirby Smart didn't come up with Georgia's newest mantra on his own.

Georgia's head coach is close with Nike founder Phil Knight. The two have gone on trips together for six or seven years.

That's where the program's latest slogan, "Assume nothing," came from.

"I have so much respect for him and his wife and what he's done with his business that I thought it was really cool when the opportunity came up to study their success," Smart said. "You want to be successful, study successful people, and they have certainly been that. So that's really where that came from, from outside sources."

The mantra means different things depending on who you ask.

Linebacker Jalon Walker took more of a metaphorical approach.

"We’re focusing on their longevity of being a great company," Walker said. "Here at the University of Georgia, we’re focused on our longevity of being a successful football program. Watching them and learning what they did and watching what they did over the years, it’s just a model that we can follow. This is a great model that we can follow because half the world wears Nike. You might not know, but you have Nike in your closet every single day."

Other players apply the slogan more literally.

Center Jared Wilson, for example, said you can't make any assumptions at his position. One wrong guess can blow up a whole blocking scheme.

Outside linebacker Chaz Chambliss has won a pair of national championships during his time at Georgia. He sees "assume nothing" as the best way to get a third.

"Everybody's saying, you know, this team can get three or whatever. It's not about the past," Chambliss said. "Right now we're just assuming that nothing is given to us, which we know we get everybody's best. Just taking every single detail that you have and can take advantage of, and not assuming that the person beside you knows what they're doing and holding them accountable, too. It's just paying attention to all the little details and not taking anything for granted."

As for Smart, he wants his team to focus on getting better day by day this spring. By assuming nothing and keeping the focus small, Smart feels things have gone pretty well so far.

"Don't go out there without a purpose," Smart said. "I try to have the coaches each day go in and give a few points of emphasis because, if we're not careful right now, there's so many things to correct that you can't see the forest through the trees. It can be overwhelming to a young player, so we try to narrow their focus on small things. We've got 15 opportunities to get better."