One thing you can say about Kirby Smart’s refusal to dip into the transfer portal — it’s made Bill Connelly’s job easier.
Connelly appeared on The Solid Verbal podcast for Tuesday’s episode and discussed several topics in the lead-up to the 2022 season, including his SP+ projections entering the new year. The Solid Verbal co-host Dan Rubenstein asked Connelly which teams is Connelly the most sure of based on the amount of data Connelly has to work with, and Connelly immediately pointed to the Bulldogs.
“I mean, no transfers. They didn’t take a single transfer this year. I mean, the defensive coordinator [Dan Lanning] left, so there is that, but you know the offense — we kind of know what that offense is going to be,” Connelly told Rubenstein and co-host Ty Hildebrandt. “And we trust even with the defensive coordinator gone — the last time they lost a defensive coordinator [Mel Tucker], they got better defensively. So, I’m not real worried about that side either. Like, they have really, really good pieces to replace. They’re projected third in SP+, a hair behind Ohio State and Alabama, but I feel we’ve got a very, very good read on them. Alabama too, if we’re being honest.”
And that’s with 15 players gone to the NFL draft. Reloading for the win, baby!
Get The Picture 
Finebaum can have him on and do nothing but take calls from butt-hurt Bama, Auburn and Florida fans for the rest of the week.
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Eh…Bama Erik is more trustworthy than Bill. Just ask him.
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I’m still surprised that we haven’t taken any transfers to help out in certain spots, but I also know that we were already over the 85 scholarship limit so I think that either Kirby is convinced that the team as comprised this year is going to be able to compete for an SEC championship again this season and has a chance to reach the playoff, OR he believes we will be in that position in 2023 or 24 with the guys he’s got on the roster and the guys he expects to get in the next few recruiting cycles and doesn’t want to run off any of the guys he’s got in order to make the run this year. I think it’s more likely to be option 1, but either way the national title mug I’m drinking from makes me fine with both.
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Alex, “What is roster management for a thousand, million dollars”…GO DAWGS!
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Mr. godawgs1701,
Kirby ain’t going to skip a year. He is not looking to 2023 or 2024.
I think he just likes the hand he has dealt himself.
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There’s also the possibility that there is no one in the portal that meets Kirby’s standards whether we need help or not.
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Add to this the guy(s) he wanted rumored to be entering the portal didn’t. I can think of a certain WR at an ACC school whose younger brother is a top 2023 recruit.
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“When I find myself in times of trouble
Coach Kirby comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom
Let it be
And in my hour of darkness
He is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom
Let it be”
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That was cool, Frozen!
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And I trust Connelly. I’ve followed him and S&P+ (I like it better with the ampersand). His stats snd analysis is ver very good.
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Bill’s good. He was a lone voice saying that 2019 UGA’s offense was going to be blech, while the rest of us were saying “upperclassman QB, DSwift, terrific OL, what could go wrong?”.
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Why must these peeps through the proverbial “Alabama too, if we’re being honest.” against the wall, the conversation was about UGA football, true UGA football can and most likely will face the bammers at least once going forward, if not twice and on that rare occasion, 3 times in a season…UGA football isn’t tied at the hip with the bammers, a couple more meetings in the title game and this might become a rivalry…in the mean time, fuck ’em…GO DAWGS!
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It’s been mentioned here before but lack of inbound portal movement has to be a positive for traditional recruiting. Especially when the parents and high school coaches look at it and translate.
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