Control what you can control.

If you’ve ever been around Kirby Smart or attended one of his press conferences, there’s a good chance you’ve heard that statement uttered more than just a few times. With Smart, it’s a conviction. It's what he truly believes.

There’s simply too much going on when it comes to building a winning football program to worry about outside forces or put those concerns above anything you don’t have the ability to control yourself.

That’s exactly the approach former Bulldog linebacker Tae Crowder is using when it comes to preparing for next week’s NFL Draft.

“It would have been nice to have pro day but you can’t beat yourself up and sit around just because you couldn’t have one,” Crowder said in a telephone interview with UGASports. “You’ve got to try and find a way to keep working, keep pushing and do what you can do - control what you control.”

Crowder thought everything was going according to plan.

Shortly after Georgia’s Sugar Bowl win over Baylor, Crowder headed to Frisco, Texas, with teammate J.R. Reed, where they trained at the EXOS performance center, before returning to Athens on March 1.

According to Crowder, he continued his training at Georgia with inside linebackers coach Glenn Schumann, with the plan to do so all the way up until March 18 when the Bulldogs’ Pro Day was scheduled to take place.

Covid-19 changed all that.

But Crowder, as he proved at Georgia when he shifted from running back to one of the better linebackers in the SEC, was capable of adjusting.

“We’ve been doing interviews over the phone, setting up Face Time stuff like that,” Crowder said of his contact with NFL teams. “It’s just like an interview. We’re going over plays, going over film, stuff like that.

“I’m just blessed to be here. Taking things day by the day. Waiting for everything to get started on the 23rd.”

Depending on what you believe, Crowder is projected to either be a late-round pick in the seven-round draft, or a free agent, which many believe will be his most-likely path into the NFL.

Whatever happens, Smart has no doubt Crowder has what it takes to make it happen.

“Oh, I have no question that we'll probably have three to four guys that will be either late draft picks or free agents and make a team,” Smart said. “Their league is comprised of non-drafted free agents, that you come in and make it for two to three to four years, maybe get that second contract. One of those guys is going to do that. I don't know which one, but one of those guys or a couple of those guys may pull it off.”

Jonathan Ledbetter (Miami) and Natrez Patrick (Rams) are two examples.

“It gives me a lot of motivation to see what Natrez did,” said Crowder, who talks to Patrick regularly. “It was a special moment for him; I was very happy for him.”

Crowder said Patrick has given him some advice.

“Mostly, we just about small stuff, but he just tells me to work hard,” Crowder said. “Nothing ever comes easy. He just tells me to keep pushing. That’s what I plan to do.”

With NFL teams limited in what they can do as a result of COVID-19, scouts are having to use film more exclusively than they’ve done in the past.

The way Smart sees it, that should benefit players like Crowder and other Bulldogs who did not get to attend the NFL Combine back in February.

“They've got good tape. It's not like they don't have good tape. We're in a really competitive league. The NFL people, they know that. They know that when they turn on the tape and see Michael Barnett going at nose guard for three years as a productive player, they know he's a good football player,” Smart said. “They've reached out, and those guys will get their opportunity. They're going to get plenty of opportunities when we back on the field, and if they get into a training camp this fall and are able to do it, those guys are going to have a chance to show what they can do on the field.”

For players like Crowder, a chance is all he wants.

“This has been my dream since I first started playing football at four,” he said. “Nothing’s come easy, but I trust God first and I’ve put in the work. God’s led the way.”