Although many questions remain regarding the status of college football as it pertains to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart and his staff keep plugging along.
But safety first.
“The first and most important thing is, we want everyone in our country and our communities to be as safe as possible,” Smart said during a radio interview on the ESPN College Football Podcast with David Pollack and Kevin Negandhi. “The health and well-being of not only our student athletes, but the people who are in our inner bubble, let’s say—our coaches, our staff, everything. There are so many people involved in our program outside of our players that we have to keep safe. That’s an important part, and despite this recent spike in numbers, I do think our staff has done a tremendous job.”
Under the leadership of head trainer Ron Courson, Smart believes his program couldn’t be in better hands.
Not only has Courson taken the lead in Georgia’s response to the pandemic, but he’s also one of the conference’s leading authorities, someone who has helped guide the entire SEC through the current situation.
Still, while Georgia does not release any information regarding positive COVID-19 tests regarding the team, Smart indicated there have been some.
“We’re getting up-to-date information, day-to-day. We do a great job getting information on who has been involved. We’ve got guys over weekends who may have gone somewhere or been exposed, and contact tracing has gone really well as far as protecting guys,” Smart said. “So, we’ve got a set of protocols that Ron has done a really good job of communicating. That, for us, has worked really well. We’ve had good lines of communication and it’s worked really well for us.”
Questions remain, though. Among them, how will contact tracing look when players are actually out on the field?
On July 15, players will begin mandatory weight training and conditioning with head strength coach Scott Sinclair, before coaches are allowed to lead six hours of walk-throughs on July 26. Fall practice is set to begin Aug. 9, in preparation for the season-opener Sept. 7 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“There’s still a lot of questions as far as how we’re going to be able to practice, where we’ll be able to put the players. What does contact tracing look like from a practice standpoint? Because right now, it’s who have you been within six feet of, for 15 minutescan be subjective at times, so how is that going to work when we get out on the practice field?” Smart said. “It is forcing us to be innovative, it is forcing us to think outside the box with who guys room with. How do you practice? Do you practice ones and threes or twos and fours so you can keep some depth? It’s going to be a unique situation.”
In the meantime, Smart said making sure his players understand the pandemic's seriousness is another priority.
“The No. 1 thing we have to do is continue to educate ourselves and grow. In just the amount of time, which has not been long, these things have changed. We’ve been told one thing and we’ve been told another. This has been said, that’s been said, tests are still being developed,” Smart said. “We know that inaccuracies have been involved with the testing protocol, so there are a lot of things that have to happen before the season comes about, but they’re also making progress really fast.”
Players have been allowed to voice their respective concerns.
“We give our players a voice. We talk to them; we listen to their concerns. They actually clean the weight room themselves, because we believe that makes them understand the importance of it,” Smart said. “Now, that doesn’t mean we don’t have it professionally cleaned, we have it professionally cleaned on top of them. But I think making them aware that I’ve got to clean this—when they go home it’s the same thing. When they step out of our building, when they’ve got to have masks on, when they don’t, that’s very unusual. A lot of our players think they’re beyond harm, and that’s not the case as we’re seeing with this pandemic.”
Of course, dealing with the pandemic hasn’t been the only point of discussion.
Today’s social climate has also made it very important for Smart and coaches across the country to listen to their players more than ever before.
Smart himself said he’s learned a lot.
“The No. 1 thing has been to listen. It’s been an incredible educational process,” Smart said. “There are so many things I’ve learned that I didn’t really pay attention to before, or maybe didn’t know the great detail of.”
Smart credits assistants Del McGee and Cortez Hankton for playing a pivotal role.
“Del McGee and Cortez Hankton have done a tremendous job of providing me with the ability to lead, and giving me information on how to do things better,” Smart said. “The No. 1 thing they’ve told me is that two-thirds is listening, and the other third is moderating. And we’ve listened to our players. We want to take action and not just talk. We’ve taken some action on items and really attacked them. I’ve been very pleased with our team on how open they’ve been.”
