HOOVER, Ala. - Kirby Smart and his Georgia Bulldogs didn’t spend a lot of time trying to come up with some sort of nifty new slogan, a catch-phrase to put on t-shirts to galvanize the team for the upcoming 2019 campaign.

No, they decided to keep it simple: Do more.

Oh, so apropos.

Safety J.R. Reed summed it up quite succinctly. “You take what you did last year and you do more. You do extra,” Reed explained. “You see what you can do to get ahead.”

Junior left tackle Andrew Thomas, who already sets the proper example for teammates, takes the Bulldogs’ new mantra seriously as well.

“For me, it’s just about things I need to work on,” he said. “I feel I need to work on pass pro, work on my hands. Those are things I can do after practice. I just want to try and get better. That’s something we all want to do.”

So, too, does Smart.

For the Bulldogs to reach the program’s ultimate goal--a national championship--there’s obviously more that Georgia still needs to do.

Knocking Alabama off its perch as the top team in the SEC is certainly Job 1.

The Bulldogs have come so close--much to the chagrin of fans--only to see the Crimson Tide break their collective heart.

However, when Smart talks about doing more, he’s not actually talking about finding ways to knock Nick Saban and company off the catbird’s seat on the SEC mountain.

It goes much deeper than that.

“Our mission is to bridge that gap, you know, by the actions we take, hence the words, ‘Do more.’ Those words require action. I read a quote coming in this morning that really grabbed me, and I'm not a big quote guy, but when I heard that quote, I thought that's something that our players can relate to,” Smart said. “Life has no remote. You got to get up and change it yourself. If you think about that, so many of us want to take the easy way out, whether it's changing the channel with the remote or anything else, not doing the work that has to be done; we want to do more at the University of Georgia. We're not complacent in what we've done, and we know we need to take that next step.”

Does Smart feel pressure to make that happen? Of course he does. But he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“For us, pressure is a reflection of ambition. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves day in and day out,” Smart said. “The stress and pressure we feel emanates from our building, from our coaches, from our players putting it on each other, from our university. We apply it every day. We're always looking for the aggregate of marginal gains.”

Confidence is another word that apparently applies. One thing this Bulldog team does not appear to lack.

“Confidence is a word I think about a lot this time of year. Confidence is not about speaking, about words. It's really about actions taken by someone. It's not given to anyone. It's earned,” Smart said. “That's something that we want to do with each and every year and how we build up the season. It's year four for our staff and our program. That fact excites me, that it's year four for us.”

Bulldog fans should be equally excited.

Yes, the schedule is harder. Notre Dame, Florida, Auburn, and Texas A&M are four games that jump out as quite the potential tussles.

Questions? Sure, there are some. Always will be.

For example, when Smart was asked if the lack of experienced depth at wide receiver was his biggest concern, he raised a skeptical eyebrow. When you’re the head coach of a major program like Georgia, there’s always going to be something with the potential to go awry.

“I feel like we made great strides in each season in the way we teach, in the way we learn, in the way we develop players. It's been tremendous for us to grow,” Smart said. “You don't have to have experience to excel, but it's an invaluable teacher. I came into this job after working in many different environments.

"Those each gave me good perspective, but I also acknowledged that the last three and a half years have been a great teacher as well. Those last three and a half years have been a tremendous experience for me.”

Now, Georgia just needs to do more.

“It's a great theme, because it's simple,” Smart said. “We like it because we understand how close we've been to taking the next step. And although 24-5 the last two seasons is good, it's not good enough. It's not where we expect to be at the University of Georgia.”

Let the journey begin.