Smart is Starting to See Players Step Into Leadership Roles

How is Georgia filling the void in leadership so far this spring?

Ever since the beginning of the spring, Smart made it known that last season’s national championship is not going to be the identity of this year’s team. Smart went as far to say that they don’t even talk about the national title win because this is a new team, and a new year. 

Georgia is halfway through the “identity” phase of the offseason. As Smart said from the very beginning, they will be using the 15 practices this spring to find out what type of team they will have in the fall. 

“Is it going to be supreme talent with great character, great leadership? Is the leadership and character going to outweigh the talent? We’re trying to figure out the team’s identity completely independent of the previous years.”

- Kirby Smart

Not only did Georgia have really good players a season ago, but they had a number of exceptional leaders. Despite losing over 14 guys to the NFL this offseason, on paper Georgia looks like it has the talent to reload, but that doesn’t account for whether or not the leadership is strong enough among players. 

In speaking with the media on Thursday, Smart indicated that he is starting to see a number of players step up and embrace the role of being a leader. 

“I think we have a lot of guys stepping up. I think [Jamon Dumas-Johnson] is doing a great job stepping up. Sedrick Van Pran, Warren Ericson are guys that continue to lead upfront and Broderick (Jones) has tried to take on a little bit bigger role, Kearis (Jackson) continues to do that. Nolan (Smith Jr.) has been tremendous at being vocal when things aren’t going right, Kelee (Ringo) has done a good job with that. Really a lot of guys you can just see them trying to assert themselves and encourage more than discouraging.”

It is not a coincidence that a majority of the players mentioned above are expected to be major contributors in the fall. As much as Georgia will need talent to win another national championship, they will need strong leadership.

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