DESTIN, Fla. – Kirby Smart only spoke for just over 13 minutes during his session with the media on Tuesday’s opening day at the SEC Spring Meetings.

While most of the questions dealt with subjects such as the NIL, transfer portal, and the public spat between Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher, Smart did field a couple of questions about his Bulldogs, who will soon report back to school to begin summer workouts.

For Smart, putting last year’s championship run behind it and focusing all its energies on the season ahead are the team's priorities.

“The pats on the back, the kids get them, everywhere they go,” Smart said. “Every time you go out in your communities, you get that; you use that for energy, but that story was last year.”

Once players arrive, Bulldog strength and conditioning coach Scott Sinclair and his staff will quickly take care of any lingering championship hangovers.

Smart believes the players he has returning are ready to work.

“A lot of those guys are no longer part of this team, but you’ve got a group of young men who were a part of the team, and I’m extremely excited about going out and playing football games with them,” Smart said. “Everybody thinks you have to be a certain age to be a performer on the football field, but if you are talented enough—we’ve got some talented guys, we just don’t have a lot of experience.

“They’ve bought in. They’ve done a tremendous job in the offseason and are ready to come back in the next couple of days and get back to the grind.”

With Oregon first on the docket for the fall, Smart knows his Bulldogs had better be prepared.

Coached by former defensive coordinator Dan Lanning, Smart feels the fact the Ducks are first on the schedule should help the summer focus for his team.

However, he also knows Lanning will be doing everything in his power to pull the upset in Atlanta.

Smart spoke highly of his former assistant when asked Tuesday morning. When asked how Lanning made the climb to being a head coach so quickly, Smart said the answer is simple.

“Hard work. He’s slept on floors in offices, he drove thousands of miles to get job opportunities. He was a high school coach who had a dream, and he realized the dream because of his hard work,” Smart said. “I’d like to think in our profession that if you work really hard, and you're smart, you catch on with the right people that you can be successful. Dan has paved his own way. He’s done more for the people he worked for than the people who worked for him. He’s really an incredible worker, enthusiastic, buys in, and he has a great family story.”