The Journey Begins

How excited is Kirby Smart for the start of fall camp Monday afternoon?

You be the judge.

“Absolutely. I’m ready for football. I think if they’d let you play football year-round I’d go for that. It keeps you pre-occupied, it keeps you busy, your mind’s in the right place and you focus on the things that matter a lot more than on the things that don’t,” Smart said. “I’m fired up.”

He’s not the only one.

Georgia fans everywhere are no doubt eyeing the upcoming season with a renewed sense of enthusiasm with Smart now at the helm after taking over for Mark Richt back in December.

While it’s impossible to predict exactly what will ultimately unfold – questions abound on both sides of the ball – Smart can’t wait to get to his first game as a head coach: the season-opener in the Georgia Dome against North Carolina.

“The players will be prepared, confident and ready to go. I think for myself, there will be a lot of anxiety, just excited about getting out there and representing my alma mater and our state,” Smart said. “That’s the excitement for me. The players, it will be business as usual for them. They’re excited, they’re rip-roaring ready to go now. We’ve just got to control that enthusiasm and make sure we use it in the right direction.”

Count tight end Jeb Blazevich sounds ready to go as well.

“This year I think fans do expect a lot, you could see that from our spring game, 93,000 and probably more. I am sure a lot more people could fit into those stands, so that is a unique environment,” Blazevich said. “I think the fans are ready, we’re ready, so I think they should expect a lot and that is the culture we want around here. A culture of high expectations because we surely set it for ourselves so we want our fans to expect the same.”

On Monday, the journey begins.

The storylines – you should know them by now.

Sometimes over the next three-plus weeks, Smart will decide whether Greyson Lambert, Brice Ramsey or Jacob Eason will be the starting quarterback.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before.

“We're going to play the best player that gives us the best opportunity to win football games. And I don't know who that is. If I knew, I promise you, I would tell you. I would give you the information. But I don't know that,” Smart said. “And I think that a lot of those 28, 29 practices that we have will tell us that. We’ll be able to have to show the improvement and leadership that each guy has.”

That won’t be all Smart will be looking for.

“I think a lot of that is how he, that person, affects the rest of the offense. Does he make every player on the offense better? That's hard to measure,” Smart said. “You know, that's a decision you got to make subjectively as a coach. Coach Chaney and I will sit down and we'll make that decision hopefully sooner than later.”

Of course, there is the defense too.

Subjects such as limited options on the defensive line, youngsters in the secondary and overall defensive depth are sure to be bandied about over the next few weeks.

You can expect daily questions from folks wondering about the progress of running back Nick Chubb, who by all accounts has made unbelievable progress since tearing up his knee last October at Tennessee.

Smart has already said that Chubb will immediately be able to take part in all non-contact drills, but don’t be shocked if the Cedartown native jumps right in the fray when the full pads go on later in the week.

That would certainly be great news for the Bulldogs, since Sony Michel is on the shelf after suffering an open-arm fracture following a fall off an ATV a few weeks ago.

Finding some additional personnel to step up at wide receiver and getting the offensive line squared away will be other challenges for Smart and his staff to answer.

“I actually feel better now than I felt going in the spring. I think that's because I just know more. I don't think you're ever comfortable,” Smart said of his offensive line. “If you ask any coach in the SEC if he's comfortable with his offensive line, nobody has enough tackles. There's just not enough of them. You want a 6-foot-4, 6-6 guy, they're hard to find.”

Let the fun begin.