Kirby Smart estimated that about half his Georgia football roster is preparing for their first year with the team, either coming out of high school or the transfer portal.

And looking over the early returns in spring practice, the Bulldogs head coach laments that some of his prospects aren’t exactly the kind to take being coached too hard.

Some of them, he has said, almost feel offended by the idea.

“We have a lot of guys that put their hands up, they’re offended when you coach them,” Smart told reporters about some players’ attitude recently.

“We’ve had multiple NFL coaches come through here, go to practice, and they talk about how their players love to be coached, they love to be given a nugget, a technique that might help them play longer. Some of our guys are offended by it.”

He added: “‘You’re coaching me hard? You’re telling me I’ve got to play with effort?’ Some of them, I guess, have never been held to that standard. That standard’s not going to change here.”

Coaching will be something Georgia’s players have to take more of as the program embarks on a new era of sorts following the departure of quarterback Carson Beck.

With him goes much of the Bulldogs’ stability on the offensive side of the ball after he led the program to a 24-4 record and an SEC championship in his two years as starter.

After winning two straight national championships in 2021 and 2022, Georgia failed to qualify for the College Football Playoff in 2023 and lost in its first CFP game in 2024.

And while Smart still commands one of college football’s premier rosters, it appears he has some work to do getting them more receptive to being led.

“We have to coach it. That’s what they pay us to do. Coach them,” he said.

“They have to be willing to receive coaching, and on the whole, my whole preach after practice was, we got a lot of guys that put their hands up. They’re offended when you coach them. I’m not talking about the freshman, I’m talking about in general.”

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