ATHENS, Ga — Behold, in all the usual glory, the Georgia football team: elite of the elite, two-time defending SEC champion, expected to contend for a national title. And behold the attention on this same team: not much, to the point of being overlooked, including by many of its fans.

Georgia held its spring game Saturday, and official attendance was 31,012, the lowest-attended spring game of Kirby Smart’s tenure, other than the pandemic-restricted game five years ago. The two upper sections of Sanford Stadium, full a decade ago for Smart’s first G-Day, were empty Saturday.

Part of it was outside factors: The hot weather. The devaluing of spring games throughout college football. Other things to do in Athens, including the annual Twilight bike race. Maybe the middle school Science Olympiad state competition on campus drew some away.

But part of it is the state of things for this Georgia team: No drama. No quarterback competition. No new coordinators. No worries about the program slipping. The drama, it’s assumed, won’t come until December and will revolve around whether this team can break a three-year drought of at least reaching the national semifinals.

But right now? Eh.

“I don’t like drama, so that’s a good thing,” quarterback Gunner Stockton said, smiling.

The best comparison for the current Georgia program might be from another sport but the same state: the Bobby Cox-era Atlanta Braves.

It was just a given that the Braves would be good, and they normally would be, with 11 straight division titles at one point. There would be offseasons when rivals would make more noise, and then spring training would roll around, and Cox would tell reporters (like me): “I like this team.” And sure enough, the Braves would go win the NL East by 10 games.

Then they’d flame out in the postseason, which, to be fair, was a crapshoot, as the expanded College Football Playoff is developing into, to Georgia’s chagrin. But no program has been to the CFP as many times (four) as Georgia in the past five years. And this year’s team is easily preseason top 10.

This can make for a boring spring. The most interesting thing to happen was probably Stockton’s passing being called “dog doo” by former NFL receiver Steve Smith, and Smart shooting back, “Do your homework.” Even that was mild enough that neither was asked about it Saturday, at least specific to Smith. The subject of Stockton airing it out hangs over this team. But it’s a relatively minor issue within a team that seems to have plenty else going for it.

Georgia’s defense, which has been hit or miss the past couple of years, should be back to being very good. There’s the usual array of talent but now also plenty of experience. It won’t be as great as the 2021 version — none will be in this era — but it can be dominant.

Georgia’s offense should at minimum be efficient: Stockton enters his second full season as the starter, has two game-changing tailbacks in Nate Frazier and Chauncey Bowens, an experienced offensive line and some good pieces at receiver and tight end.

The questions that would take this team from good to great …

Explosive passing

There are two issues here:

1. Georgia lost six of its top seven players in receiving yards and didn’t add a star transfer like it did last year with Zachariah Branch, who set the school record with 81 catches.

2. Stockton was inconsistent throwing downfield. He was fantastic at Tennessee and in the first Ole Miss game. He seemed afraid to air it out in other games, though, including the second Ole Miss game.

On the receiver front, Georgia did add Isiah Canion from Georgia Tech to be an outside, possession-type receiver. Otherwise, Georgia spent its money retaining young receivers — sophomores Talyn Taylor, CJ Wiley, Sacovie White-Helton and Thomas Blackshear — and hoping they pop this year.

Between them, senior receiver London Humphreys and tight ends Lawson Luckie, Elyiss Williams and Jaden Reddell, there might not be a Branch or Brock Bowers, but there are plenty of options.

“They’ve got to grow up,” Smart said. “We’ve got guys that can make plays if given the opportunity. Gunner can get the ball to them.”

Stockton showed he could do that last year — but not every week. He needs to not be tentative or over-reliant on his scrambling ability. To that end, Stockton said he’s working on his pocket presence and footwork. But he also cautioned it’s not just about slinging it downfield all the time.

“Every explosive play isn’t a 50-yard bomb downfield; it’s just getting the ball to your playmakers,” he said. “And I think we’ve got the playmakers to do that.”

It is a deep group. But unless one emerges as a clear No. 1, the way Branch and Bowers were, it will be on Stockton to find the right ones on the right plays. That might make it hard to be explosive every week, even though Stockton said that’s the goal.

“It’s hard to do that,” he said. “But it’s what we’re here for.”

Pass rush

Does everyone remember Trinidad Chambliss scrambling free and hitting game-changing plays in the Sugar Bowl? That wasn’t a one-off. Georgia had the fewest sacks — 20 — in the SEC last year. Sacks might not be the best measure of a pass rush, but that number is still bad and reflected the defense’s weakness.

Will that turn around? One positive is that Gabe Harris Jr. is healthy; Harris was coming on last year as a factor before being hurt in December and could have helped keep Chambliss in check. But spring brought some bad news with an ACL injury to edge rusher Amaris Williams, an Auburn transfer who had a chance to get major snaps. Still, there are options, such as junior Que Johnson, and the secondary could be good enough to buy time for the pass rush.

Smart seems optimistic.

“Pass rush is something that’s done as a group, not just one person,” he said, mentioning linebacker Chris Cole stepping up and defensive linemen doing better at getting a push. “That’s something you always want to get better at, but I’m very pleased at where we are.”

Smart didn’t exactly invoke Cox’s “I like this team.” But he essentially said it. Normally fairly critical, he said there was only one practice this spring, out of 12, that he didn’t like. Otherwise, he loved the team’s approach.

“They enjoy it; they compete,” Smart said.

Left tackle Earnest Greene III is one of the few remaining pieces from the national championship teams. He was a true freshman in 2022. Though not exactly comparing it to that team, Greene sees something about this 2026 version.

“The competitive nature of this team seems a little bit different,” Greene said. “It goes back to the first (spring) scrimmage. Usually, the first scrimmage is more one-sided; the next time, the other side shows up. This year, both scrimmages have been going neck-and-neck at each other. So I can just tell from that we have a real competitive squad.”

So the vibe of this team, Greene was asked, is no drama, but in a good way?

“Yeah, definitely,” Greene said. “You try to have your team be like that every year.”

So far, this Georgia team is pulling it off. But there’s a long way until September.

And then December.

Jones posted on Twitter that “Kentucky will have (absent a major change) either Freeman or Rancik by tomorrow,” while also noting the Wildcats still need to add another shooter and another big to round out the roster.

One of the top targets is Donnie Freeman, a 6-foot-9, 205-pound sophomore forward transferring from Syracuse. Freeman arrived in Lexington on Tuesday night and began his visit on Wednesday before leaving without a commitment. While there was concern he could land at UConn, that visit has since been canceled, leaving Kentucky and St. John’s as the top teams.

Freeman averaged 16.5 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game last season, while adding nearly a block and a steal per contest. He shot 47.4% from the field but 30.2% from 3-point range across 23 games.

The other option is Sebastian Rancik, a 6-foot-11, 220-pound sophomore forward transferring from Colorado. Rancik visited Kentucky starting Wednesday through Thursday and brings a versatile skill set, averaging 12.3 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 2 assists per game while shooting 33.1% from 3.

Either Freeman or Rancik would provide a significant boost at the power forward position for head coach Mark Pope. Kentucky has already added guards Zoom Diallo and Alex Wilkins in the portal.