Kirby Smart has seen the kind of coaching overlap that will happen this week in Athens before. Shane Beamer is simply the latest example of one of his former assistants becoming a head coach.

Beamer brings his South Carolina team into Sanford Stadium 3 years after he was on Smart’s original staff (2016 and 2017) at Georgia, and Smart during his Monday press conference was asked about their relationship. Smart said he’s known Beamer for a long time as they’re around the same age, and they grew up together as graduate assistants.

“We got to be friends and have always been close ever since,” Smart said. “Got a lot of respect for his family and his dad, and we both have been around Lake Oconee in the summers, and always spent time together. So his family is friends with our family and happy and excited for him to get the opportunity he got at South Carolina.”

While Beamer was mostly involved in Georgia’s special teams as an assistant at Georgia, Smart said he always had leadership qualities that would make a good head coach.

“I think he took the job at Oklahoma so he could get an opportunity like this and that’s what he’s done,” Smart said.

The game is set for 7 p.m. ET on Saturday on ESPN.