When former Texas A&M receiver Ainias Smith looks back at his career with the Aggies, new Georgia receivers coach James Coley is someone to whom he’ll always be grateful.

“I hate that I wasn’t able to play the complete season with Coach Coley as my coach,” said Smith, who broke his finger in Texas A&M’s regular-season finale against LSU and missed his team’s bowl.

“But he definitely helped me become a better technician, a better route runner, and how to be more comfortable running my routes,” Smith said. “I give a lot of praise to Coach Coley for what he did for us in the receiver room. He also helped me as a leader, so I’m very grateful.”

Smith made his comments Friday morning during an interview at the NFL Combine.

The speedy receiver - who caught 53 passes for 795 yards and two touchdowns his final year – said Georgia is getting a good one.

“I know when he was at Georgia before, they were going crazy with guys like George Pickens, Mecole Hardman, and a lot of guys that he had brought up,” Smith said. “But Georgia is getting somebody that is very intelligent, smart, and somebody willing to win.”

Smith said Coley also helped him through a very difficult 2022 season when he missed all but the first four games after breaking his leg.

“He helped me when times were tough. At the beginning of the season, we were looking pretty good, but after I got hurt, that’s when the season seemed like it started going down,” Smith said. “But I had to realize I had a bigger purpose on the team, and he helped me through that. He kept me inside, kept me in the room, and made sure I was still around the guys. He’d have me upstairs in the meeting rooms, learning different things about film, and how to watch film.”