Ad Disclosure
Kirby Smart comments on Dan Lanning being named semifinalist for Broyles Award, J.R. Reed being named finalist for Jim Thorpe Award
Published:
While Kirby Smart certainly recognizes and appreciates the accomplishments of those in his program that shine the brightest, the way Georgia’s coach sees it, individual recognition only comes when the team succeeds.
That was the consistent theme Smart relayed when asked recently to react to the news that his defensive coordinator Dan Lanning had been named a semifinalist for the Broyles Award, given to the nation’s best assistant coach each year. Smart may have praised the work Lanning has done this season but decided against lifting one of his assistants above the collection considering all that goes into the defensive gameplan each week in Athens.
“I think all of our defensive coaches do a tremendous job and he’d be the first to tell you that what he’s been No. 1, is due to the players, but also the defensive staff. So all those guys pull together to do that. He just has to be the leader and guy in charge of it all,” Smart said about Lanning during his most recent media availability. “He’s done a really nice job of motivating the players, he relates well to the players, the players believe in him and he’s done a tremendous job.
“All those coaches have done a tremendous job. Glenn Schumann is one of our co-defensive coordinators and he’s just as much game-planning as Dan does. He deserves just as much credit as Dan gets. Dan is just the guy that calls it on game day and he’s done a good job.”
Lanning wasn’t the only one in Athens recently recognized for his efforts this season as safety J.R. Reed was named one of three finalists for the Jim Thorpe Award, given each season to the nation’s best defensive back. While Reed deserves all the praise thrown his way, Smart once again shared his belief that only players on great teams receive such honors.
In Kirby’s mind, the better your team is, the more accolades the individuals on that team will start receiving.
“He’s a leader of one of the best defenses in the country, statistically, he’s the quarterback. He makes all the checks. He makes all the calls,” Smart said of Reed. “You guys know the stats better than me but he’s the one that sits back there and makes the decisions for a defense that has played really well this year. I’m proud of the way he’s played.
“I think part of getting awards is based on how your team does. I tell people all the time, ‘You want national awards? Win football games.’ Together everyone achieves more — TEAM, and when we do that, we’ve got guys for (Lou) Groza. We’ve got several guys out there for different awards. Andrew (Thomas) is up. You get those things when you have team success, and J.R. is no doubt a product of that team success and his hard work has brought that to him.”
Smart has a good point. There are plenty of outstanding individual players littered across college football but there’s a reason nearly all the finalists for the awards all hail from the nation’s elite, voters respect the players from teams that win first and foremost and history of awards prove it. Look no further than Paul Hornung’s 1969 Heisman Trophy, which is the only time that trophy has been given to a player that hailed from a team with a losing record.
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
