Kirby Smart says players ‘were definitely hungrier’ before modern era of CFB
By Ethan Stone
Published:
College football has fundamentally changed. As Georgia head coach Kirby Smart put it on Saturday, “it’s a different day and age.”
Smart was asked about the carnage of the SEC in terms of injuries and physicality (or lack thereof) following the Bulldogs’ 27-8 win over rival Florida. The Bulldogs head coach admitted that the uptick in injuries is a bit of a headscratcher. “Everybody is practicing less, but everybody’s getting injured more,” Smart noted.
Smart delved a little further into that line of thinking. While he didn’t seem to want to speak definitively on the subject, Smart posed that the difference in just the past couple of years may be motivation-based.
“I think about the teams we had in 2021 and 2022, how physical they were and how they practiced. We can’t even get close to that now,” Smart said. “Is it different culture that guys don’t want to as much? I don’t know. They were definitely hungrier, because there was a motivation to make it. A lot of these guys, honestly, they make more than I was making until I was 40. So it’s just a different day and age.”
Hear Smart’s full comments below:
Smart’s logic certainly tracks. Before the NIL days, players had to push themselves to make a profit playing football. There were less options available to them, and the NFL offered the only way to make legitimate money. What’s left to do but put your head down and work?
Now, though, there’s less motivation for players to push themselves with guaranteed money on the table and a starting spot (and even more financial motivation) available somewhere in the transfer portal. Why risk further injury in these conditions?
It’ll be interesting to put this theory to the test in coming years as the Playoff expands to 24 teams.
Ethan Stone is a Saturday Down South News Editor and an advocate for the return of the Seattle Supersonics.
