Kirby Smart explains what led to Georgia not televising G-Day, why he still wants to have it

“In terms of TV, I think it was more about being controlled on what time and in terms of we like to have recruits there,” Smart said following Tuesday’s practice. “We like to have prospects come in. It’s a big event. We have official visits, so we want to control the timing of it more and we want to be able to play at our pace and not have to worry about the constraints of being inside a window.”

Smart did elaborate that he wants Georgia to have a spring game.

But the health of the team may go a long way in determining what that will look like.

“I want to have G-Day,” Smart said. “But again we went through practice four, so practice one I couldn’t say with certainty we were going to have it. Through practice four, I still feel good about it. We’ve been very fortunate on the injury side of things. We’re very deficient at a couple positions and if we lose one or two or three, it would convert into some kind of controlled practice, some kind of other format. But right now, we haven’t been through scrimmages.

Georgia has several key players out this spring due to injury, including Monroe Freeling, Christen Miller and Gabe Harris. At the moment, Georgia has just five healthy outside linebackers. Of those five, only sophomore Quintavius Johnson played the position last season.

The Bulldogs also have a number of injuries at the running back position at the moment, with Branson Robinson and Roderick Robinson dealing with injuries.

That makes it even more important that Georgia monitors how much it puts on sophomore running back Nate Frazier.

“It’s my first spring here,” Frazier said following Tuesday’s practice. “Man, just honestly just trying to be a leader, just trying to figure everything out as well. So it’s just everything that Trevor (Etienne) taught me, and Cash (Jones), watching how he practices and just watching how Branson practices and everybody who practiced before me, I’m just trying to follow their footsteps and stuff like that. And then just everybody else doing it, that’s it, yeah.”

Smart had bemoaned the number of new players going through spring practice, as this Georgia roster skews younger. Factoring in early enrollees, such as Elijah Griffin, Talyn Taylor and Juan Gaston, over 30 players are participating in their first spring practice.

“We are a work in progress,” Smart said. “We have the least number of players who have gone through three spring practices since I’ve been here. So that should tell you something. I asked the guys to stand up who have practiced at least three spring practices, so this obviously would make their fourth. There’s basically nobody standing. We just don’t, we have a very young, inexperienced group.”

Cornerback Daylen Everette is one of just 11 players who are entering their fourth season with the Georgia program.

The starting cornerback, who is limited this spring as he recovers from hernia surgery, admits it’s a little odd that he is now the old guy in the room.

“It’s kind of weird, because I don’t feel like I’m old, but on the field, I’m old,” Everette said. “I’m one of the oldest in the room, but just trying to take that on and try to be a leader for the young guys that’s coming in and try to point them in the right direction.”

To date, Georgia has had just four of its 15 spring practices. The Bulldogs are very much still a work in progress to this point.

The final practice, which is still set to be G-Day, is scheduled for April 12.

Kirby Smart still wants to have a spring game