In Kirby Smart’s perfect world, complete and consistent effort by every member of his football team would never be a problem.

Unfortunately, human nature doesn’t always allow that to be the case.

It’s an issue college football coaches struggle with year after year. Georgia is no exception.

With what on paper looks to be one of his youngest teams in his nine previous seasons as head coach, Smart and his staff are trying their best to close that gap as much as they can.

But it’s not easy.

“Yeah, I mean, I don't know that there's a remedy for getting the middle or bottom of the roster to work like the top,” Smart said. “I don't know that you'll ever achieve that. I mean, the goal is to improve the roster and get them to move towards that, but some people, they're just not driven like others, right? And our job is to find the right ones.”

To hear Smart say it, his Bulldogs have some work to do.

In his first press conference this spring, Smart lamented that the standard he demands was not being adhered to in the manner he expects.

“We have to coach it. I mean that's what they get that's what they pay us to do,” Smart said last week. “They have to be willing to receive coaching and, on the whole, preach after the practice. We got a lot of guys that put their hands up. They're offended when you coach. I'm not talking about the freshmen. I'm talking about in general.”

Smart’s tune Tuesday was a bit more upbeat, noting that he was starting to see “more progress” than he was the week before.

Still:

“Somebody said to me the other day, like, ‘Are you a good motivator? Can you motivate players?’ I'm like, ‘Well, I'd rather get the ones that I don't have to motivate because they're self-motivated,’” Smart said. “It's the greatest kind of player to coach, and we're trying to air on that side more and more.”

Ultimately, Smart feels the programs who find more players with passion and desire will be the ones who have the most success.

“If there was one thing that I had to say outside our four DNA traits that we think was missing, I mean, I'm not saying as a whole. We have players that have passion and fire, but I think that's missing across some of college football, and so, like, who's going to find that the most?” Smart said. “We’re trying to find guys that have passion, fire, and, like, it matters to them, you know? Like, they want to compete so hard … it matters to them, and we're rewarding that every day with video and showing them.”