New leaders emerged in Spring Camp

It was the first practice after Georgia’s initial scrimmage of the spring. Right tackle Warren McClendon remembers it well.

As he recalls, head coach Kirby Smart was not a happy man.

“It was just a hot day, everybody came out kind of sluggish; we were kind of tired from the scrimmage before,” McClendon said. “We just didn’t play to our standard. To get better every day, we can’t practice like that. We just had to get everybody on track, get everybody back on one line and get to work.”

Naturally, Smart is going to have concerns when it comes to his Bulldogs. Heading into the spring, leadership was one.

When he no longer had the likes of Jamaree Salyer, Jordan Davis, Devonte Wyatt, Zamir White, and James Cook to show younger players the way, Smart spent the early part of the spring wondering who among this year’s players would step up and fill the void.

Seeing his team respond with a poor practice after its initial scrimmage did not help his feelings.

However, to Smart’s delight, the leadership void he feared took a positive turn. After wrapping up spring practice with G-Day on Saturday, perhaps that is one worry Smart can cross off his list.

“There was some really good accountability in terms of holding each other accountable this spring that I was shocked by,” Smart said. “I was like, man, there's going to be a void in leadership, how can we create leadership opportunities? And from day one they were pushing each other, they were cheering each other on the sideline. I'm like, man, it's almost like they wanted to emulate those other guys (from last season’s team).”

Kearis Jackson is one of the players attempting to fill the void.

Jackson was among those who spoke up that day.

“Kearis stepped up, Stetson (Bennett) stepped up, Nolan (Smith) stepped up,” McClendon recalled. “A bunch of them in the position groups stepped up.”

Jackson agreed. Yet he's not alone in attempting to establish a similar culture enjoyed by last year’s national championship team.

"Most of the guys who have had a lot of experience on the team, (Sedrick) Van Pran, you have Warren (McClendon), you have Stetson. We have a lot of older guys who have played many reps for us, being able to lead,” Jackson said. “We even have loudmouth people like Nolan (Smith). Nolan has the loudest mouth on the team pretty much, but the stuff he says gets guys going and that's what we need on this team."

One of the reasons Christopher Smith decided to come back is because he wanted to play a role in ensuring the Bulldogs did not experience a drop off in leadership from the season before.

He wants to make sure last year’s lessons are not forgotten.

"I tell them that it's not about the talent. It's about how you attack the game and things like that. That's the main thing that I try to push,” Smith said. “Tackling it mentally and physically every day, that's something that those guys brought. Of course, they have God-given talent, but they're also hard workers, and they kept themselves mentally in the game every time. That's one of the main things I try to push."

Smart said that’s all he can ask. So far, he loves what he’s seen.

“They can't emulate what some of those guys do on the field. They can emulate the standard, though, and I thought they really did that for 14 of the 15 practices. Man, I was like, dude, they had a great attitude, they worked really hard, and we made it tough, and they did it,” Smart said. “We're going to have to have a little different personality. We're going to have some grit, some toughness, because it won't just be talent. We were really talented last year, and not that were not talented now, but we're going to have to win in different ways.”