As Georgia gets ready for the start of the early signing period that begins on Dec. 16, the Bulldogs, like a lot of teams, will do so in the midst of preparing for a game later that week.

Fortunately, head coach Kirby Smart said he feels pretty good about where his class stands, at least as far as whom he expects to sign.

“This is unique—we do feel like we have a good understanding of who all is going to sign,” said Smart, who currently has 19 players committed, the majority of whom are expected to sign at that time.

It's believed that a large portion of the group would be able to come as early enrollees.

Normally that is a good thing. However, this year the numbers are dicey.

“Yeah, the problem is, if you have a lot of mid-year enrollees, you have to have available spots. Well, that's controlled by a lot of things out of our control—juniors early-declaring, and seniors who have an opportunity to stay,” Smart said. “So, when you start looking at the numbers, you can’t fit more numbers into fewer spots than you have—but you don’t know how many spots you have.”

Adding to the uncertainty is that this year, due to the NCAA’s blanket waiver, seniors are now able to return.

“You can say, ‘Well, you should know (how many spots you have).’ I mean, no, you don’t know this year, because you don’t know every senior that's decided to stay, or juniors that have decided to stay,” Smart said. “Their decisions are later, and the mid-year decisions are earlier. I don't think people understand the difficulty there. It really only arises if you have an abundance of mid-year enrollees that want to come. We have a unique year when we have more guys that may want to enroll early than we’ve ever had, and you have to find the spots for those.”

Smart has his fingers crossed that three of the team’s key injured players will be able to return against Missouri.

That groups includes running back Kendall Milton (knee), safety Richard LeCounte (concussion/ribs), and nose guard Jordan Davis (elbow).

“We are hopeful on all three. All three are going to be able to go out and do some things in practice,” Smart said. “Kendall is probably going to be in a black shirt. Richard will probably be in a black shirt, non-contact. But they're both going to be able to do some things. They progressed last week and had some good GPS numbers—have been healthy and moving around.”

LeCounte and Davis have missed each of the past three games, while Milton has missed the last two.

“With Jordan, it’s kind of unrealistic to say a black shirt because of where he plays, there’s not a lot of no contact in there. But he’s going to be able to do more than he’s done in the past weeks, and we’re hopeful that all three guys are able to play,” Smart said. “We’ll know a lot more after today.”

In the weeks which have passed since Georgia and Missouri were originally scheduled to play on Nov. 14, the Tigers’ offense has improved.

During the weeks that followed, Missouri defeated South Carolina 17-10, before piling up 91 points in victories over Vanderbilt (41-0) and Arkansas (50-48), respectively.

“Their quarterback (Connor Bazelak) is playing at a high level. He understands coverages and looks. Eli (head coach Eli Drinkwich) does a great job of having passing-game situations where, based on the look he gets, he can get really easy, soft-zone throws,” Smart sad. “He does a good job completing those, and they get yards after the catch. He does a good job of shots down the field, which they've been able to hit off their play-actions.”

Against the Razorbacks, the redshirt freshman Bazalek earned SEC Freshman of the Week honors by competing 32 of 49 passes for 380 yards.

“I just have a lot of respect for the quarterback, because he’s got great composure and accuracy,” Smart said. “He just does a really good job in the pocket. He throws a very catchable ball.”

The Tigers can also run the ball.

Missouri ground out 273 rushing yards against the Razorbacks, led by the talented Larry Roundtree III, who rushed 27 times for 185 yards and three touchdowns.

“They have become very efficient in running the ball. They’ve got really good backs,” Smart said.

Who does Missouri remind him of? Smart replied, “I can’t say one team specifically. I certainly know we’ll see some overlap from some of the teams that have had some success on us, but that’s what good coaches do.”

Monday marked the five-year anniversary for Smart at Georgia, who officially took over as the Bulldogs’ head coach on Dec. 7 of 2016.

During Monday’s Zoom session, he was asked what lesson he has learned that stands out.

“Grown a lot, learned a lot. (I’m) trying to figure out what’s important and what’s most important every day,” Smart said. “I came in with a mantra of ‘What’s important now?’ and I don’t think that’s changed.”

For Smart, taking it day by day will always be the key.

“It’s about dealing with the problem or issue that’s at hand, not trying to look too far down the road, and knowing that every day is going to be different. Those are things that, day one to day now, whatever number it is, continues to grow. If you stop growing as a coach, then you probably need to give the business up, because we’re always growing and adapting to the changes that are happening in college football.”

Kearis Jackson on his role as the student representative on Georgia’s advisory committee to select a new athletic director: “I do know what role I’ll have, but I’ll keep that on the low right now, and just hope we pick someone who's going to be best for our university.”

Smart on Shane Beamer, the former Bulldog tight ends coach who was named the head coach at South Carolina: “Well first off, I wouldn’t take credit. Shane is a good friend of mine, and we've been friends for a long time. I certainly appreciate what he did for the University of Georgia while he was here. He worked really hard to help shape and build our program. He did the same, I'm sure, at Oklahoma with Lincoln. He's done a good job where he's been; I'm not taking credit for that. He’s earned this opportunity on his own merit.”

...Junior punter Jake Camarda, redshirt sophomore place-kicker Jack Podlesny, and redshirt sophomore linebacker Azeez Ojulari have been included as semifinalists for national individual awards. The Bulldog trio joins senior Monty Rice and sophomore Nakobe Dean, who were announced recently as semifinalists for the Butkus Award, which is given to the nation’s top linebacker.

According to a press release from UGA: "Camarda is one of the 10 semifinalists for the Ray Guy Award, which is given to the nation’s top punter, Podlesny was selected as one of the 20 semifinalists for the Lou Groza Award, which is given to the country’s top place kicker, and Ojulari is one of 18 semifinalists for the Chuck Bednarik Award, which is given to the nation’s outstanding defensive player of the year."