Georgia fans have been dying for the offense to catch up to the defense in recent years. Now that the offense has done just that, Kirby Smart is working hard to get the defensive side of the ball to play catch up this spring in Athens.

Now entering the second season in Todd Monken’s offense, and the first spring camp under the offensive coordinator, Smart said he can’t even compare the progress the team’s quarterbacks have made in the offense during the last calendar year.

“I don’t know how to measure that. They’re light years ahead of where they were [at this time last year],” Smart said on Thursday. “We didn’t have this last year so I can’t answer that question, because we didn’t know anything last year.

“We didn’t know who we were, we had no identity, we didn’t even know who J.T. Daniels was right now. We’re a lot different offensively, they’re doing things they didn’t do until maybe halfway through the season last year and they’re doing lots of them.”

It isn’t just the quarterbacks that are more advanced, as Smart was quick to point out the team’s receivers have begun to learn multiple positions in the offense, as opposed to just mastering one last season.

“There are just so many little things that they’re so much further ahead as far as knowledge,” Smart added. “Since I’ve been here, it seems like we’ve had a very experienced defense a couple times, and a really experienced offense one year when [Jake] Fromm was back, but we didn’t have our wideouts back. It’s pretty unique to have that much experience on offense. It’s shown for two days that we’ve been behind defensively and ahead offensively.”

When asked specifically about J.T. Daniels, the Georgia coach made an interesting observation. Considering how unusual last season was due to COVID and the quarterback’s injury status, Daniels managed to find so much success despite the fact he didn’t even really know his teammates.

This offseason, the development of those relationships have continued to grow, which will certainly help the product on the field this fall.

“J.T. is a really good leader and I think the fact that he has come back, and he has had a little more time – you know he never got a chance to really get to know these guys,” Smart shared. “I mean, he showed up and we are in COVID, then he wasn’t playing, then he was playing, and then the year was over. So, he is just now kind of embracing the relationship with those guys.”