UT-Martin head coach Jason Simpson said he’s not the least bit surprised that Georgia defensive line coach Tray Scott has earned the reputation for being one of the top assistants at his position in the SEC.

Simpson gave Scott his first full-time coaching job when he hired Scott to be the defensive line coach with the Skyhawks back in 2013.

Scott served on Simpson’s staff for two seasons (2013-2014) before moving on to North Carolina, where he worked two more years before joining Kirby Smart’s staff at Georgia in 2017.

“I love Tray Scott. He’s a great person, a great family man, with a great wife,” Simpson said. “I was telling somebody the other day that, and I'm sure he's just like that at Georgia working with Coach [Kirby] Smart.”

Simpson said he’s not shocked Scott's reputation as a top recruiter continues to grow. Scott was recently named the 2023 Recruiter of the Year by Rivals.

“He was at Ole Miss with Coach (Ed) Orgeron, and he really had a great experience and learned how to recruit at a high level,” Simpson said. “I remember I’d be walking through the building, and Tray would be waiting for me. It might be 7 a.m., he’d be there with his cell phone. If you know Tray, he’s funny and animated. He was always hunting and recruiting, and he’d be putting the phone in my face and getting me on with recruits.

“He gets a lot of recognition for that, but you also look at his evaluation of the players, how much he knows the defensive line at Georgia, and how they’re developed. He did the same thing here. I’m very proud of Tray and think the world of him.”

Simpson, whose son Ty is one of the quarterbacks competing for the starting job at Alabama, understands the challenge his team faces on Saturday (6 p.m., ESPN+).

You’d have to be blind not to.

“Obviously, when you turn the tape on, you see the amount of talent. You see the high level of schemes, how well the kids are coached, their effort and physicality. Yeah, I see it. I’m sure everybody in the country does,” Simpson said. “That’s just a credit to Coach Smart, that program, how they’ve recruited and developed players there. But first and foremost, we have to make it about us, and do what we can to give ourselves a chance to be successful without beating ourselves before the ball is even snapped.”

Georgia is the ninth SEC school to play UT-Martin in Simpson’s 18 years as head coach. His Skyhawks do have an FBS victory to their credit, defeating Memphis in 2012.

A member of the Ohio Valley Conference, UT-Martin will receive $500,000 per contract between the two programs signed in 2019.

“You know the scoreboard. They can be unforgiving, but it doesn’t say this is the two-time national champion and this is an OVC team,” Simpson said. “There’s no forgiveness on the scoreboard. But you know, there’s so much opportunity to grow no matter the score, so there will be opportunities throughout the game for our team to get better, and that’s what my experience has been. There will be opportunities that help you the next week.”