Chip Towers:
It’s game week on the UGA Campus, but there’s a decidedly different feel than there has been the last couple of years.
It’s not about expectations. Those are through the roof again, as per usual. It’s more about anticipation.
Back-to-back defending national champion and preseason No. 1-ranked Georgia opens the season against Tennessee-Martin on Saturday (6 p.m., SEC Network Plus). This time two years ago, the Bulldogs were preparing to play a Top 5-ranked Clemson team in the Duke’s Mayo Kickoff. Last year, they were getting ready to face Pac-12 powerhouse Oregon, coached by former UGA defensive coordinator Dan Lanning and an old quarterback nemesis named Bo Nix.
This year, Georgia is readying an FCS team whose claim to fame is back-to-back Ohio Valley titles. Yeah, not quite the same buzz, but the Bulldogs are doing their best to convince themselves otherwise.
“It’s kind of like the same feel as last year,” two-time All-America tight end Brock Bowers said Monday. “We’re all excited to go hit somebody else, to play somebody else other than our defense. I’m sure the defense feels that way about our offense. We’re just excited to get our season going.”
From our selfish standpoint, it’s not hard to see the drastic drop in the quality of the opening opponent from last year’s to this year’s, which makes it a little easier to be skeptical about taking Bowers’ comment at face value. How could facing UT-Martin have the same feel as taking on Oregon? (Okay, Bo Nix aside…)
Well, we aren’t Kirby Smart, who’s taken an almost obsessive concern about complacency to new heights.
On a 355-acre tract of land outside of Greenville, South Carolina, the Georgia Bulldogs found themselves. Well, not all of them.
The idea of an annual two-day leadership retreat at Mill Pine included a core group of about 30 players. The concept was developed 2 ½ years ago, springing from the minds of Georgia sports psychologist Drew Brannon and coach Kirby Smart.
Mill Pine isn’t a resort, hotel or getaway. It advertises itself as a place where people participate in “personal and professional development sessions” so they can “reengage with their purpose.”
Basically, the opposite of your basic wall-to-wall football Saturday at Sanford Stadium.
… All Blacks, New Zealand’s national rugby team, is considered one of the most successful teams in history having won three World Cups while dominating international competition. Their 77% lifetime winning mark claims to be the highest of any professional sports team in the world.
Their approach in the tiny South Pacific country of 5 million is based on humility: better people make better All Blacks.
Smart became hooked on their inspirational phrases. “Sweeping the sheds” means leaving something better than you found it. Every Dawg at the SEC Media Days mentioned the mantra, “Better never rests.”
And what has become the Georgia staple for keeping that humility? “Eat off the floor.”
That graphic enough for you?
All of it has integrated from the Southern Hemisphere to Mill Pine to the Georgia locker room. Brannon and Smart had the idea to mesh the philosophy of an international rugby power into the minds of some damn, fine Dawgs. It started in January 2021, a few weeks after the Peach Bowl win over Cincinnati following the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season. That came a few months before the program embarked on a journey to back-to-back national titles.
“I think they drilled that into our minds into the offseason,” All-America tight end Brock Bowers said.
More than drilled. The All Blacks’ selfless dedication was reflected in a series of offseason “skull sessions” that had a weekly theme at Georgia. Is there a direct connection from Mill Pine to the All Blacks to football Saturdays? Let’s just say the approach hasn’t hurt.
No, it doesn’t start with offseason sessions in South Carolina. It begins a whole lot earlier.
In an era when the transfer portal is the great equalizer, Georgia has become the ultimate development program. Six of the 11 defensive players on the preseason All-SEC first team were Dawgs…
“The threat for us is complacency,” Smart said at last month’s SEC Media Days. “The first thing you have to do is acknowledge that it’s a threat. It’s the first step toward stomping it out.
“So, we look for two things when we look for people to join our organization. I’m not talking about players. I’m talking about anybody in our organization. Do they love football, and do they embrace being part of something bigger than themselves? Are they selfless?”
This team really is built differently.
Get The Picture 