Kirby Smart will tell you one of the biggest threats to his team isn’t some opponent his Bulldogs happen to face next year. It’s complacency.

That’s not meant as disrespect to teams on Georgia’s schedule. Smart just knows one of the worst things that can happen to a program coming off success is the feeling that what you did last year is a reason to coast.

If Georgia wants to harbor any hopes of winning a third straight national title, his Bulldogs will need to practice and prepare with more determination than ever before.

As the Bulldogs enter their fourth week of spring practice, Smart’s been keeping a close eye out for signs of the disease. A few weeks ago, he found some at inside linebacker where Smael Mondon and Jamon Dumas-Johnson weren’t quite adhering to Smart’s company line.

“(Dumas-Johnson) and Smael started out the spring in a curious position,” Smart said. “Last spring, they had a chip on their shoulder. Nobody knew who they were, everyone was questioning them, so they were out there hungry, eating off the floor. They both had good seasons.”

But after some early practices, Smart was triggered. He did not like what he was seeing.

“I had to call them in at one point because I didn’t think that they were practicing with the same ferocity that they would’ve been practicing with last year," Smart said. "I showed them some clips and said ‘Here’s your last spring. This is the way you were practicing when you had something to prove, and here are the first four practices of this spring. Is that the same two guys?’”

Fortunately for Smart, they were. Since that talk, both players are back to where they should have been all along.

"I think they both acknowledged that it probably wasn’t where it needed to be, and that’s the disease that’s out there. Since that conversation, they’ve both really picked it up and been great leaders. It wasn’t that there was anything wrong, it’s just that they weren’t doing it right enough.”