Pressure indeed a privilege for Kirby Smart
“Pressure is a privilege” has become a theme at Georgia’s athletic complex. Head Coach Kirby Smart first used the term during SEC Media Days to qualify the mindset he hoped would be adopted by his Bulldog football team.
It even recently made the rounds in NASCAR; driver Chase Elliott noted Smart’s comments served as motivation for winning last Sunday’s race at the Glen.
The general idea behind the saying is that one can either choose to be an underdog, or embrace being good and do whatever it takes to be successful.
‘’Billie Jean King said it, she talked about it a long time ago. I probably should’ve given her credit at the SEC Media Days, but I wasn’t thinking about it then. It’s certainly a great statement, and it’s so true that it really is a privilege,” Smart said. “She told [Maria] Sharapova that, and we even showed the players a tape of it. That message is always there, so you can choose to be one of two things: you can say you’re the underdog, or you can say that being good under pressure is a privilege. It really is a privilege, and I would much rather be in that situation.’’
It’s a message the Bulldogs hear daily.
Smart believes they’re paying attention.
‘’I don’t know that they look at it as what I said, or that message from that game. I think they’ve bought into the fact that if they do things the right way, they’ll have success,” Smart said. “The biggest thing we’ve preached to these guys is that pressure is a privilege. It’s not Superman’s fault if he can fly and he doesn’t take advantage of it.
"My whole point is that you have an advantage—your advantage is that you’re a really good player. Use all your skill set. So, if Superman can fly, I say, ‘Fly.' That’s an advantage he has, right? So, our guys, if they can play here, we should play here. We shouldn’t play down to here in practice, and then try to go up.”
Smart says that goes for every single player on the team.
“The standard’s been set to where we should go. The expectation is, if you’re whoever—Jonathan Ledbetter, Jake Fromm, it doesn’t matter," he said. “You play to the level that you need to play to in order to make yourself better, and the rest will take care of itself. That’s what last year’s team did. They practiced the same way they played in the game, and I think that’s hard to find. So many people want to take it off, take it easy, and you can’t do that.’’
Left tackle Andrew Thomas agrees the players have bought in. They saw last year what can happen when full attention to detail is given.
“We just know that last year, what made us a great team was how we came in and attacked practice every day,” Thomas said. “We practice hard; we practice physical. The game isn’t easy, so that’s what we’re trying to make it this year.”
That’s just what Smart hopes is the case. ‘’The biggest thing is that everybody understands that it’s not going to come because of what you did in the past. So this year’s completely independent of the previous,” Smart said.
“We’ve got to go out there and practice the right way. We’ve got to develop talent. We’ve got to be able to avoid injuries. But if we have injuries, do we have backups prepared to come in and fight and compete? That’s what camp is about. Camp is about toughness, being physical, striking people. You may have some injuries in camp, but we’ve got to find out what the makeup of this team is. We’re still really early in that process.’’