Peyton Manning shares amusing recruiting story about Kirby Smart and Steve Spurrier
Published:
Kirby Smart and Georgia moved to 8-0 this past Saturday with a 42-20 win over Florida.
The Bulldogs and Gators have been rivals for a long time, but beating Florida might have even extra meaning for Smart.
Former star Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning recently revealed the reason in an interview with Ivan Maisel.
According to Manning, he and Smart were on a recruiting trip together to Florida.
During the trip, Smart was informed by Steve Spurrier that the Gators weren’t going to offer him a scholarship and that they were interested in him as a walk-on.
That conversation was not well-received by Smart.
“I remember he was so angry after his meeting,” Manning said, per DawgNation.com. “I guess it was with (Steve) Spurrier because they didn’t offer him. They wanted him to walk-on. He was so mad. He and I went and drank a lot of beer.”
???
Peyton Manning shared an amazing story on a meeting between Kirby Smart and Steve Spurrier: https://t.co/dN04nvhIgr pic.twitter.com/jMd7FarXas
— DawgNation (@DawgNation) November 2, 2022
Smart ultimately went to Georgia and Manning to Tennessee, but the two have become friends through the years, according to Manning.
Things have certainly worked out well for the Bulldogs. Not only was Smart a solid player, he’s now turned Georgia into a national power.
And he’s also 5-2 as a head coach against the Gators.
"Chris Wallace covers college football for Saturday Down South. He has covered college athletics for multiple newspapers and also worked previously for Rivals.com and GolfChannel.com."
